The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) board of directors has approved a series of capital projects that will make 2025 a transformative year for the transportation system – including more reliable new subway cars, more efficient new Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) locomotives, improvements station accessibility, etc. Signaling improvements on the A and C lines in Brooklyn and Queens. The projects, many of which will be funded with congestion pricing revenue, will reduce future maintenance costs across the system and provide customers with more efficient and reliable transit infrastructure.
“We have an incredible capital program history, delivering major projects on time and on budget,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber. “The MTA delivered 15 ADA stations in 2024 and 36 more stations under construction, and we have billions of dollars in new procurement to advance work like buses and railcars coming in 2025. We’re getting this capital program into full swing – 2025 is going to be a big year.”
“We are advancing transformative projects, including accessibility work at 10 stations, hundreds of modern rail cars, and critical work funded by congestion pricing like modern signals and the Second Avenue Subway, and we continue to build faster and more cost-effectively thanks to it.” to innovative tools such as design-build and bundling projects,” said Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction & Development.
Modern rolling stock
The MTA continues to modernize its rolling stock, ordering 435 additional R211 subway cars and up to 44 new dual-mode LIRR locomotives. New York City Transit orders 355 enclosed cars and 80 open gangway cars, bringing the total number of R211 cars ordered to 1,610. The new railcars replace the R46, which first entered service between 1975 and 1978.
MTA notes that R211 cars are about five times more reliable than the R46 and travel an average of 220,000 miles, 174,000 more than the R46, before needing service for a mechanical problem. The R211 features security cameras in every car, more accessible seats, brighter lights, clearer signage and 58-inch-wide door openings, which are 20 inches wider than the standard door openings on existing cars.
LIRR is exercising option three of a previously awarded contract, ordering up to 44 dual-mode locomotives to replace the existing LIRR passenger diesel locomotives, which the MTA says have exceeded their useful life in order to maintain reliable service. For 2024, the LIRR has achieved a higher on-time performance of 95.7 percent year to date compared to the same period in 2019, while operating 40 percent more service (over 900 weekday trains). Additionally, the LIRR announced the best November in its history with an on-time performance of 96.2 percent and a service delivery rate of 99.6 percent.
MTA says the new locomotives will provide more reliable operation and will be Tier IV compliant, reducing air pollutants by more than 85 percent. The project is supported in part by funding from congestion pricing.
Accessibility improvements at five subway stations
The MTA continues to implement Americans with Disability Act (ADA) accessibility projects and has provided more ADA stations in the past five years than in the previous decade combined. MTA Construction & Development completed work on 15 stations this year and currently has 36 subway stations under construction.
The MTA board approved awarding a contract for ADA upgrades at five subway stations, including the 6 Middletown Road station:
- Norwood Avenue J, Z
- Myrtle Avenue J, M, Z
- Avenue I, F
- 4 Burnside Ave
- 6 Middletown Rd
Projects financed through congestion pricing are moving forward
MTA Construction and Development has added the Gates Avenue J, Z station to an upcoming request for proposals for a package of ADA improvements to three stations. According to the MTA, ADA Package 9 is among the first projects enabled by the introduction of congestion pricing to move into procurement. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to select a contractor will be sent out by the end of the year. Construction is expected to begin at the end of 2026 for:
- Parsons Boulevard F
- Briarwood E, F
- Gates Avenue J, Z
The authority notes that a separate package will also be awarded by the end of the year to make the 42 St.–Bryant Park B, D, F, M, 7 Station Complex fully ADA accessible. Congestion pricing will provide funding to make an additional 19 stations fully accessible.
Work to install advanced signaling and communications-based train control (CBTC) on the Fulton St. line in Brooklyn and the Liberty Avenue line in Queens on the A and C lines is advancing into the procurement phase. CBTC will provide more reliable and faster service to the East New York, Bedford Stuyvesant and Ozone Park neighborhoods.
Requests for Proposal (RFP) for Contract 2 of Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway Project will be issued by the end of this year. The contract is expected to be awarded in 2025. Phase 2 will extend Q train service from 96 St. North to 125 St. and then west on 125 St. to Park Avenue, a total of about 1.5 miles.
MTA notes that there are two new stations at 106 St. and 116 St. on Second Avenue, as well as direct passenger service with the existing 125 St. 4, 5, 6 subway station on the Lexington subway line Avenue will give. Phase 2 will also feature an entrance on Park Avenue to provide convenient transfers at the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem-125th St. station.