(The following article by Sewell Chan was posted on the New York Times website on April 26.)
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority intends to put off 12 full-scale rehabilitations of subway stations as part of a plan to trim $1.1 billion from its capital program for 2005 through 2009, according to documents provided to members of the authority’s board late yesterday.
The authority also plans to shelve, for at least the next five years, a $191 million plan to build a 16-track storage yard on the Port Jefferson branch of the Long Island Rail Road.
Earlier last month, the Legislature approved a $21.1 billion five-year capital plan, less than the $27.8 billion the authority had requested last September. Most of the gap is expected to affect three expansion projects: the first segment of a Second Avenue subway; a Long Island Rail Road link to Grand Central Terminal that would take longer to build than originally envisioned; and a rail link from Lower Manhattan to Kennedy International Airport.
The most important part of the plan, known as the core program, goes toward the replacement and modernization of aging infrastructure. The authority estimated yesterday that the Legislature had provided $16 billion of the $17.2 billion core program the authority sought.
The $1.1 billion in cuts will be felt across several of the authority’s operating subsidiaries, including New York City Transit, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.
The authority’s staff detailed the proposed cuts in an 85-page document provided yesterday to members of the finance committee of the authority’s board. A board member gave a copy to The New York Times last night.
By far the largest cuts will be felt by New York City Transit, which now anticipates an $11.3 billion budget, $800 million less than it sought in September. The largest cuts, totaling $400.6 million, are proposed in the area of station rehabilitation.
The 12 stations where repairs would be delayed include Lawrence Street on the M and R lines in Brooklyn; 47th-50th Streets at Rockefeller Center on the B, D, F and V lines in Midtown Manhattan; 71st and Continental Avenues on the E, F, G, R and V lines in Forest Hills, Queens; and five stations along the N line in Brooklyn.
Several stations would receive only urgently needed repairs, instead of a full-scale rehabilitation: Smith and Ninth Streets on the F and G lines in Brooklyn; Chambers Street on the Nos. 1 and 9 lines in TriBeCa; and Chambers Street on the J, M and Z lines in Lower Manhattan.
Gene Russianoff, a lawyer at the New York Public Interest Research Group, said last night that he was particularly disappointed that rehabilitations of so many stations would be put off.
“Most of the rehabilitations have been geared around the major Manhattan stations, with the argument that everybody’s work trip ends there,” Mr. Russianoff said. “That’s left a lot of places in the outer boroughs with aged and decrepit stations.”
Suburban riders will also see scaled-back expectations under the revised capital program.
The Long Island Rail Road, which now estimates it will spend $2.2 billion on capital projects through 2009, will buy 12 fewer M7 rail cars than it had hoped, a reduction of $27 million. But the most significant change is the decision to defer the design and construction of the storage yard east of Huntington.
Railroad officials had said the yards would support an expansion of service and accommodate a 20 percent increase in the electric car fleet, which would be required for the Grand Central project. But residents in Huntington, Smithtown and other nearby towns said they feared the yards would bring traffic, pollution and noise.
The Metro-North Railroad, which projects spending $1.4 billion on capital improvements through 2009, appears to have been spared from deep cuts. It is proposing to cut $15 million from the September proposal by putting off plans to expand parking.
The document avoids discussion of the major expansion projects. It asserts that the feasibility of those projects depends on a $2.9 billion bond act to go before the voters in November. Half of that amount would go to the authority, and the other half to state highways and bridges.
The document notes that the Legislature provided for $2.5 billion for the three expansion projects, less than one-third of the $7.9 billion requested, but it does not explain how the projects would be affected.
Transportation advocates who had lobbied Albany for more money expressed disappointment about the limited funds. “It’s obviously not all that we hoped for,” said Robert D. Yaro, the president of the Regional Plan Association, a research and advocacy organization.
Mr. Yaro added: “What we bumped up against were very real fiscal limits. We’re going to need the bond act and additional resources, particularly for the expansion projects. It’s very frustrating.”
A planned expansion of the No. 7 line, championed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, is not affected by the state’s capital budget because the city has agreed to pay its estimated $2 billion cost.
In a significant shift, the transit agency is altering its September plan by increasing planned spending on its signal systems by $56.3 million, while decreasing spending on communications by $85.8 million.
On the F line in Brooklyn, the transit agency will move forward with repairs on complex track switches, known as interlockings, but it will put off plans to computerize the signaling system.
The computerization effort, known as communication-based train control, has already begun on the L line in Brooklyn and Manhattan. One component of the plan – eliminating a conductor on each subway train – has drawn bitter opposition from labor leaders and some politicians.