Revised MTA capital program reflects new way of doing business

Written by jrood

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority released a revised draft 2010-2014 Capital Program. The $26.3-billion program reflects a nearly $2-billion reduction as the result of a comprehensive review and a new MTA focus on cost effectiveness and efficiency. The plan will be considered by the MTA Board at its monthly meeting on Wednesday, and if approved will be sent to the State's Capital Program Review Board for its approval. Thanks to last year's rescue legislation, the first two years of the program are funded and the MTA is seeking approval to begin work immediately. The full plan and an executive summary are available online at www.mta.info.

"We are overhauling
every aspect of our business here at the MTA, and we’ve taken the same approach
with the Capital Program," said Jay H. Walder, MTA Chairman and CEO.
"The revised program reduces costs, generates operating savings and takes
an entirely new approach to our critical investments. The economic crisis
dictates that we use every dollar wisely, but it also demands that we move
forward as soon as possible to stimulate the economy with the funding available
right now."

Over the past 30 years, a
series of five-year capital programs have revitalized the transit system. While
the more than $64 billion spent in that time helped turn around the regional
economy, maintaining and improving the 100-year-old transportation system is an
ongoing need and we cannot afford to disinvest.

Projects included in the
program will reduce annual operating costs and realize ongoing savings long
after each project is completed.

Elements of this new
approach include:

• Subway Stations: NYC
Transit will systematically replace, repair, or rehabilitate only components
that need it, greatly expanding the number of stations that can be improved.
Stations will enter a far more aggressive, responsive, and sustained
maintenance program so that investments provide long-lasting benefits.

• Shops, Yards and
Depots: The MTA will invest in facilities that maximize their ability to serve
the needs of more than one agency in order to make the best use of capital
funds. A good example is Metro-North’s Harmon Shop, which provides capacity to
service locomotives for both Metro-North and LIRR.


• Rolling Stock: The age
of the fleet will no longer be enough to justify investments with a new focus
on determining the best mix of fleet replacement and component overhaul at a
lower price. Specifications will seek to lower rail car weight, reducing the
cost of cars, track wear, and energy consumption.

The result is a $1.8-billion
reduction in cost from the previous $28.1 billion plan and a stronger, more focused
program that delivers benefits for MTA customers and the economy

While much of the capital
program work is done behind the scenes, every investment helps the MTA provide
a good service to customers 365 days a year. Every project in the capital
program will benefit customers in one of three ways:

• Maintain the high
levels of service reliability and safety provided today. That means repairing
trains, buses and subway cars, and replacing them when their useful life ends.
It means maintaining the track, signals, yards, depots and bridges that keep
our customers safe and on time. And it means addressing components in our
stations in need of repair.

• Improve service on the
existing system. The Capital Program also includes projects that maximize the
capacity of the existing system and advance customer improvements.

• New signal technology
(Communications Based Train Control) on the #7 subway line will enable the line
to run a train nearly every two minutes, creating about 2,500 more seats each
rush hour on this crowded line.

• Several projects
develop and test new technology to improve the customer experience, from train
arrival signs to all-electronic tolling and camera enforcement of bus lanes.
One of the key initiatives in the capital program is the introduction of a new
smart card fare collection system that is expected to reduce costs and make
travel easier across the region.

• Complete critical
expansion projects to ease crowding and support growth. The final group of
projects in the capital program expands the MTA’s transportation network for
the first time in more than a generation. This program advances the commitment
to completing East Side Access and the Second Avenue Subway, long overdue
projects to reduce commute times and ease overcrowding.

The program also includes
$250 million to continue improving the security of the transportation network
in a post-9/11 world, working directly with the MTA PD, NYPD and other local
and federal law enforcement agencies.

The MTA’s 2010-2014 Capital
Program will create vital economic activity:

• More than 20,000 new
jobs annually over nine years

• Nearly $37 billion in
economic activity

Companies across the
state play a role building rolling stock, supplying parts or rebuilding
infrastructure and working on new facilities. These projects provide jobs in
communities from Buffalo to Albany to Plattsburgh and many places in between.

The MTA’s capital
program, as submitted for CPRB approval, is supported by a combination of local
(city, state and MTA) and federal funding sources. Taken together, existing
resources are expected to provide $13.9 billion of the $23.8-billion funding
need (the $2.5-billion Bridges and Tunnels program is funded directly through
tolls), fully funding the first two years ($9.1 billion) of the five-year
program. Approval of this resubmission requires no additional funding until
2012. The importance of the program to customers, to the MTA system and to the
economy dictates that it move forward immediately with available funds. The MTA
will work with our partners in government to identify full funding for the projects
scheduled to be done in the last three years ($9.9 billion) of the program in
time to contract for this essential work.

Once this program receives
final approval, the Website will feature a user-friendly, interactive system to
let the public track progress. Projects will be color coded – green for those
meeting their goals and red for targets that are not being met. This
information will be available for each project in the 2010-2014 Capital Plan
and select projects still under way in the 2005-2009 Program.

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