NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will hold the first of a series of Open House meetings on its 2025-29 Capital Plan next Monday, Oct. 21, at Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall.
The open house, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., will feature posters, pamphlets, and videos explaining elements of the plan. MTA representatives will also be on hand to discuss business opportunities for minority-, woman-, disadvantaged- and service-disabled veteran-owned firms.
“Every New Yorker depends on the transit system and the 2025 – 2029 Capital Plan adopted by the MTA makes that continue with a historic level of investment to keep the system in good repair,” MTA CEO Janno Liber said in a press release. “With accessibility upgrades, thousands of new railcars, modern signals to make the system more reliable, and more, this plan benefits everyone across the 12 county MTA region.”
The MTA board approved the capital plan in late September. It projects $68.4 billion in investments in rail and bus transportation, as well as bridges and tunnels, over the next five years. Goals of the plan, available in full here, include ordering 2,000 new railcars; modernizing shops and yards, including Brooklyn’s 100-year-old Livonia Shop, responsible for serving 3 Line trains; installing some 75 miles of new signals on the N, R, Q, W, A, S, J, and Z subway lines; and making at least 60 more subway stations accessible.
However, the plan may well qualify more as a wish list than an actual roadmap. As the New York Times reports, only about half of the necessary funding currently exists, in light of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to block a congestion pricing plan that was to generate $15 billion for the MTA [see “New York governor halts Manhattan congestion pricing …,” Trains News Wire, June 5, 2024]. Hochul has yet to indicate how she will offset the loss of those funds. MTA officials have previously indicated the loss of the congestion-pricing money will have a dire impact; the MTA board placed some $16.5 billion in projects on hold in June [see “New York MTA votes to pause …,” News Wire, June 27, 2024].
Still, the agency is proceeding with its long-term planning. Additional open house events are planned through the MTA’s operating region through the remainder of 2024.
