MTA Board approves contracts advancing accessibility, zero-emission fleet transition and infrastructure improvements
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board has approved a series of pivotal procurements that advance the authority’s goals of achieving systemwide accessibility, reducing its carbon footprint and maintaining the transit system in a state of good repair.
“The procurements moving forward today advance top 2023 MTA goals – expanding accessibility systemwide, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and keeping the transit system in a state-of-good repair,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Together they will help move forward the transit system riders deserve. Many of these projects include federal funds from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act and – as always – we thank Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Democratic Leader [Hakeem] Jeffries (D-NY), the New York congressional delegation and our USDOT partners.”
The authority completed eight station projects across all five boroughs in 2023 and 24 stations since 2020.
The new elevator cabs are equipped with modern technology features, including security cameras and two-way communication systems that give riders the ability to reach MTA staff at the Operations Control Center in the event of an emergency. Customers can communicate audibly via speakers or visually using a touch screen in the elevator.
Accessibility upgrades at 13 more subway stations
The package of accessibility upgrades encompasses 13 subway and Staten Island Railway stations and spans all five boroughs. The project includes the installation of new elevators or ramps compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act at each of the stations, as well as other accessibility upgrades and work to bring the facilities into a state of good repair.
The following subway and SIR stations will receive accessibility upgrades:
- Van Cortland Park – 242 St. 1
- Harlem 148 St. 3
- 96 St. B, C
- 81 St. B, C
- 86 St. 4, 5, 6
- Broadway N, W
- Court Sq-23 St. E, M
- 33 St-Rawson St. 7
- 46 St-Bliss St. 7
- Classon Avenue G
- New Lots Avenue 3
- 36th St. D, N, R
- Huguenot Station SIR
Broadway Junction
The MTA will perform a significant rehabilitation of the Broadway Junction complex, which is the third-largest subway station in Brooklyn and serves as a major transfer point between the A, C, J, Z and L lines. The project will create a stair-free path of travel throughout the entire complex rendering it fully ADA-accessible. In addition, crews will replace existing escalators and construct a new entrance from Van Sinderen Ave that leads riders directly to the L train platform. The MTA will also build a new comfort station at Callahan Kelly Playground.
Bus fleet modernization
The MTA Board approved two contracts to purchase a total of 429 new buses for $552.8 million that will replace buses that have reached the end of their useful life. The purchase includes 205 low-floor battery-electric buses (with two options for up to 1,215 additional battery-electric buses) and 224 low-floor 60-foot clean diesel buses (with two options to purchase up to 446 additional 60-foot clean diesel buses). The purchase contracts also include related items such as spare parts, special tools, equipment, diagnostic testing, technical documentation and requisite training from the bus manufacturer. The battery electric bus purchase, part of the MTA’s current capital plan, was made whole with support of the $116 million in federal low-or-no-emission grant funding via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The purchase of 205 low-floor battery-electric buses supports the authority’s commitment of transitioning to a fully zero-emissions bus fleet by 2040 and is the first set of battery-electric buses earmarked in the 2020-2024 Capital Plan. The projected pilot bus delivery for the first of the 205 battery-electric buses is slated for 2025, with production deliveries beginning later that year. While work to retrofit the necessary infrastructure to support the 205 battery-electric buses is underway, beginning fall of next year, 60 battery-electric buses will begin arriving to multiple depots across all boroughs, with prioritization to environmental justice communities, putting green buses on the roads of the neighborhoods that will most benefit from them.
Accessibility and State-of-Good-Repair on LIRR
Systemwide accessibility remains a top priority for Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) which is committed to maintaining its significant level of investment to make stations ADA-accessible. The projects moving forward will make the stations at Forest Hills and Hollis accessible and improve accessibility at Babylon. In addition, platforms at Forest Hills and Hollis will be extended to allow for increased future capacity. Babylon will also receive a full platform and canopy replacements.
Webster Avenue Bridge replacement
The Webster Avenue Bridge spans the LIRR’s Port Washington Branch in Manhasset and has reached the end of its useful life. This project will replace the bridge and reconstruct the adjacent roadway, sidewalks and retaining walls. Crews will also install catch basins and a new drainage system to prevent roadway drainage onto the track.
Metro-North Railroad’s Brewster Yard Improvement Program
MTA Construction & Development and Metro-North Railroad have planned multi-phased improvements at Metro-North's Brewster Campus in Putnam County.
The Brewster Yard Improvements program will transform the campus into a strategic maintenance facility and transportation hub. The current campus includes Southeast station, customer surface parking lots, the Harlem Line tracks, the existing train storage yard and the Brewster Yard maintenance facility.
The project scope comprises of the existing MNR Brewster Campus and an undeveloped 52-acre property situated to the east of the Harlem Line.
The Brewster Yard Improvements Program is structured into three distinct phases:
- Southeast Station Parking and Access Improvements
- Northward Yard Expansion
- Existing Yard Reconfiguration
The first phase will include relocating the existing Southeast station parking lot to a new facility to facilitate future yard expansion. Crews will construct a state-of-the-art 1320-space parking garage with an overpass that will take riders to the platform level.
“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act delivers real and transformational change to New York,” Jeffries said. “This law provides the largest single federal investment in infrastructure in the history of the Republic and will help make our mass transit systems accessible to every single American, including right here in Central Brooklyn and East New York. I applaud the MTA for working to implement such updates here in Brooklyn so those with disabilities will have the access and accommodations they deserve.”
