Second Ave. Sagas

Portending more services outages for Sandy-related repairs

Written by

Benjamin Kabak

in

,

It is fitting that, after I wrote about subway delays this morning, the news of the afternoon concerns, well, even more subway delays. Despite the subway system’s quick rebound after Superstorm Sandy, all is not well underground. As we know, once saltwater gets inside of any piece of electronics, there’s no going back. No amount of cleaning will stop the erosion, and that’s what happening to Transit’s infrastructure.

As Jim O’Grady reports today at Transportation Nation, service disruptions will become the norm as the MTA races to spend the billions of dollars in storm aid it will soon have at its disposal. Over the next few years, the MTA will receive nearly $9 billion for both repairs and system hardening, and it must spend the money quickly or forfeit it. To that end, warned Transit President Thomas Prendergast expect delays, especially along those lines most hit by the storm surge.

As the MTA noted, a pair of recent signal problems in the Montague St. Tunnel could be blamed on salt water damage caused by Sandy’s flooding, and that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. “The subways have recorded more than 100 signal failures related to Sandy since service was restored after the storm, plus problems with switches, power cables and other infrastructure,” spokesperson Adam Lisberg said to WNYC. “Most of those failures happened in yards, but some were on mainline tracks and led to at least short service disruptions.” The disruptions will likely be concentrated in Lower Manhattan, the East River Tubes and parts of Williamsburg, but as with the storm itself, the ripple effects will be felt all over the city.

Comments

22 responses to “Portending more services outages for Sandy-related repairs”

  1. Andrew Smith

    $9 Billion.

    Imagine how much could be accomplished with that money if we could reform our capital project procedures to embrace best practices from around the world before spending a nickel.

    What does that buy in Madrid?

    Reply
  2. Someone

    $9 billion…

    They can spend a lesser amount of money installing CBTC ASAP.

    Reply
    1. Benjamin Kabak

      It doesn’t work like that, it never works like that, and this line of thinking is pointless. The money is given to the state to perform specific tasks. Those tasks do not include capital upgrades. They include storm-related repairs and hardening at vulnerable areas. We can talk about what $9 billion buys until we’re blue in the face, but it doesn’t change the fact that you can’t move earmarks. If the MTA doesn’t spend the $9 billion on vulnerable areas, they lose the money.

      Reply
      1. Someone

        I know, but the MTA should start performing capital upgrades anyway, to save the cost of more delays later.

        Reply
        1. SEAN

          I’m going to remind current & future posters that THIS MONEY is for REPAIR & NOT for anything else. Use it or Lose it.

          Reforming the capital program is for another post.

          Reply
          1. Bolwerk

            And, if they are just repairing the present old school signal system, there is perhaps something wrong with that scope. Replacing obsolete technology with obsolete technology when more affordable/sustainable modern technology can be found is stupid. You can even argue that it makes more sense to spend more on modernizing, in this case, since presumably this is going to happen again.

            I get there needs to be a scope for the earmark, but maybe it should be a little more…I dunno, forward-thinking? Even the New York-hating wanks down in the deep south have to admit it’s preferable not to give New York a moral imperative to ask for money again next time a Sandy-esque storm hits.

            Reply
            1. D.R. Graham

              Most of these lines in need of signal repair are not due for the signal upgrades that transit seeks for another couple of decades. So the problem then becomes upgrading the signal system to something modern now when you’re going to spend the money upgrading to what is compatible with CBTC trains later? And if you mean upgrade to CBTC now? That price tag would suck up all the money meant for repairs. Not just the slice meant for repairing the signal damage. CBTC signal and wiring is highly expensive.

              Reply
  3. David Brown

    If they actually had some money left over for East Broadway (F) Station, after the Rutgers & Montague Streets Tunnels, South Ferry and the Rockaways repair jobs I would be happy (Of course, it would require a Smith & 9th St 1 years plus type shut down, but the station is so bad, it would be worth it).

    Reply
  4. D in the Bush

    Those waterlogged railroad sleepers in the L Train East River tunnel have swelled and warped the rails.
    Parts of it is like riding a roller coaster as passengers are tossed about. Eventual derailment can’t be too far ahead.

    Reply
    1. Jerrold

      Just what are “sleepers”?

      Reply
      1. Sic Transit Philadelphia

        “Sleepers” are what the rest of the world outside of the US calls the objects we call “railroad ties”. I suspect Britain is leaking again.

        Reply
        1. Someone

          Even though I prefer British English, I’ll still go with “railroad ties”.

          Reply
          1. Brooklynite

            You snotty uppity subway bitches are hilarious. Railroad ties tie together both rails but the MTA subway doesn’t do that right? Both rails sit on an independent block of creosote wood.
            What a bunch of pissy subway snobs…

            Reply
            1. Sic Transit Philadelphia

              I suspect California is leaking again…

              Reply
              1. Someone

                I suspect that many American English speakers have more fuckity things to do with words than speakers of all the other English dialects combined…

                Reply
                1. Someone

                  Oops, this was for another comment.

                  Reply
            2. Someone

              I suspect that many American English speakers have more fuckity things to do with words than speakers of all the other English dialects combined…

              Reply
            3. Jason

              There are plenty of places in the NYC subway system where railroad ties are used, especially on the express tracks.

              Try harder next time Trollington.

              Reply
  5. John-2

    Sounds like drawing up a rotating series of Fastrack shutdowns of the East River tunnels and their access branches is in order for the MTA schedulers to set up. If the funds are designed for hurricane recovery work and have an expiration date, you’d want to get dates set so that Montague would be shut down on Week (and/or Weekend) A, Cranberry on Week B, 14th Street on Week 3 and so on down the line until the Sandy-related damage is fixed on the key access points into Manhattan (the outer storm damaged areas can also be set-up for extended shutdowns to get the work don as fast as possible, if there’s some worry that the federal funds might go away if that work is delayed until the tunnel and station repairs are done).

    Reply
  6. Larry Littlefield

    There will be, net, no federal aid to help the city recover from Sandy.

    The requirement to spend the money fast will allow the contractors to raise their prices by $9 billion, leaving the MTA with the same debt increase as if it received no federal aid at all.

    Perhaps the federal government could at least allow the MTA to bring in electricians from out of state. Otherwise, the work will be done on 100 percent done on double and triple time overtime.

    Reply
    1. sharon

      and who wrote the provisions to hire only a small group of union electricians. It is the paid off politicians who stand in the don’t raise the fare marches . The reason I am not in favor of any more sock the motorist to pay for mass transit is that the more money comes in the politicians and unions will find a way to steel it

      Reply
      1. Larry Littlefield

        They I hope you are agree that the Pataki policy of doing road construction only on nights and weekends, which vastly inflated the cost of road repair, should be repealed.

        For one thing, it is nights and weekends when those who generally use transit are more likely to be driving.

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More posts