The MTA Capital Program Amendment, Examined

So many of the MTA’s projects are over budget that the agency has proposed cutting $2.7 billion in capital projects, as described in an amendment to the agency’s current 2005-2009 capital program, submitted to board members last month. Officially, the projects (mostly station rehabilitations and needed infrastructure such as bus depots, subway fans, tunnel lighting, and commuter rail signal improvements) will be “deferred” into the next capital program — but whether the MTA will receive full funding for that capital program is an open question. The MTA pointed to increased construction costs, caused by rising commodity costs, the devalued dollar, and regional competition for labor, as the main culprit.

The amendment will likely be voted on by the MTA board this month, and if passed will go to the state Capital Program Review Board. The NY Daily News has reported that the four New York City-recommended MTA board members intend to vote against the amendment. Overall, the capital program grows from $22.6 billion to $23.7 billion, mostly because a federal grant for Second Avenue Subway work was larger than expected.

NYC Transit – Amended Program $11.13B, from $11.22B

NYC Transit, as the largest agency of the MTA, has been hit particularly hard by rising costs. Its capital program shrinks in size, the result of funding being transferred to pay for over-budget projects from the 1992-99 and 2000-04 programs. The need to transfer even more cash to over-budget projects in the current program results in a laundry list of deferrals, some of which are below:

• Subway stations: Rehabilitation of 4 stations in the Bronx (on the 6) and 15 stations in Brooklyn (on the D-M, N, and F-G), additional entrances at Times Square, stair improvements at 42-Grand Central, escalator replacement at Roosevelt Ave.
• Bus projects: Replacement of Jamaica bus depot, bus washers at three other depots, and central bus radio system. Rehabilitation of Ulmer Park and Flatbush depots in Brooklyn is also deferred.
• Line equipment: $385 million of fan and vent update/repair work along the A-C-E in Manhattan and the F in Manhattan and Queens; Repairs of pump wells on 2 and 5 in Brooklyn and G in Queens; $177 million in structural repair and painting projects throughout the system.
• Fare collection: A project to introduce “smart card” contactless fare collection is delayed, with some money left in the program to continue testing different fare media.

NYCT will, however, buy 66 more subway cars and 950 more paratransit vehicles than originally planned, a significant expansion of paratransit service.

Long Island Rail Road – Amended Program $2.2B, from $2.17B

Major deferrals include signal improvements between Babylon and Patchogue and a signal project in Jamaica pending the completion of a “Jamaica Capacity Study.” The LIRR will also defer rehabilitation of several road bridges it owns.

Several projects were added to the current capital program, including gap closing measures on trains and at Penn Station, a project to soften the volume of train horns, elevator replacement at Atlantic Terminal, new elevators at Flushing-Main Street and Queens Village, and new ramps at Forest Hills. (Gap-caused passenger injuries were the focus of a major Newsday series; the train horn project is also a response to community concerns.)

Metro-North – Amended Program $1.4B, from $1.38B

Deferred projects included Tarrytown station platform and overpass rehabilitation, Croton-Harmon/Peekskill station improvements, and some Grand Central Terminal rehabilitation work. Metro-North will also reduce refurbishment of its oldest train cars because new M-8s for the New Haven line are arriving earlier than originally planned.

Added to the program were station projects between Fordham and Wakefield on the Harlem Line in the Bronx.

Other

$60 million from a discontinued Laguardia Airport access study was transferred to fund study of Shea Stadium/CitiField station projects and the MTA’s share of the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 Corridor study.