OP-ED: Is the Federal Transit Administration violating its FFGA with the NY MTA for LIRR Eastside Access to Grand Central Terminal?

On March 30, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced that a total of $30.5 billion in federal funding is now available to support the nation’s public transportation systems as they continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and support President Joe Biden’s call to vaccinate the U.S. population. Funding is provided through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Pub. L. 117-2), signed by President Biden on March 11, 2021.

What caught my eye was an additional $1.7 billion provided for projects in the Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program. This is the link to the document https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/apportionments/table-7-american-rescue-plan-act-capital-investments-allocations. Here you will find NYS2021-RPNS-016 New York-East Side Access $70 million. Since the project is already fully funded, why the need for an additional $70 million? The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority's February 23 Notice for a Public Hearing to discuss its potential FTA 2021 Program of Projects included no request for $70 million to support Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) East Side Access. The link to the document is here https://new.mta.info/document/28146.

Since 2001, the total direct cost for MTA LIRR East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal has grown from $3.5 billion to $11.2 billion today. This does not include $4 billion more for indirect costs known as "readiness projects" carried off line from the official project budget. These are the $2.6 billion Main Line Third Track, $450 million Jamaica Capacity, $387 million Ronkonkoma Double Track, $120 million Ronkonkoma Yard Expansion, $44 million Great Neck Pocket Track, just to name a few that support direct implementation for East Side Access. It is anyone's guess what the true final cost will be after reaching beneficial use, completion of punch list, receipt of all asset maintenance manuals, release of retainage and final payment to all the contractors and consultants.

The promised opening service date has slipped on numerous occasions from 2009 to December 2022. The NY MTA has repeatedly increased the budget by billions and pushed back the first day of service by 13 years

The original Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) between the FTA and NY MTA was approved in December 2006 for the LIRR East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal project. A FFGA puts a cap on the level of federal participation. Any additional cost overruns over the agreed upon project cost in the agreement are the legal responsibility of the MTA. Ask either the NY MTA or FTA for copies of the FFGA for LIRR East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal and read for yourself.

The $2.63 billion of FTA grant funding toward the original $6.3-billion project cost remains unchanged (virtually all of which has already been spent) with the NY MTA as local sponsor legally responsible to cover the $5 billion and growing in cost overruns. Ten years later in August 2016, the FTA amended agreement was signed off by both FTA and the NY MTA. After years of negotiations, the NY MTA and FTA finally came to an agreement which would reflect the current cost and schedule. The cost went up and the first revenue day of service slipped once more. A detailed project risk assessment by the FTA independent engineer as part of the FTA - MTA 2016 amended FFGA predicted a final direct cost of $12 billion. Ask either the FTA or MTA for a copy of this report and read it.

Is it legal to provide more federal dollars for covering additional costs? Does this not violate the FTA's FFGA?

The NY MTA has already programmed $800 million under the $51 billion 2020 - 2024 Five Year Capital Plan to cover the balance of remaining costs. Most of the project's $11.2 billion in direct costs have already been spent. The same is true for the $4 billion indirect costs for other supporting projects. The project has been fully funded since adoption of the MTA's $51 billion 2020 - 2024 Five Year Capital Plan approved in December 2019.

Taxpayers, commuters, transit advocates and elected officials deserve clarification from both the MTA and FTA on these issues.

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Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions of dollars in grants which provided funding for capital projects and programs to the NY MTA, NYC Transit, Long Island and Metro North Rail Roads, MTA Bus, NYC DOT, NJ Transit and more than 30 transit agencies in New York and New Jersey.