MTA Board approves record $68.4B spending plan, though electrification could be nixed without money

Long Island commuters’ hopes of having the LIRR expand its capacity in Suffolk County, including by electrifying its tracks through Yaphank, could be dashed if the MTA is forced to downsize its next five-year capital program, according to the head of the transit authority, which approved the $68.4 billion plan Wednesday.

The 11-member Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board unanimously voted in favor of the plan — the most expensive in its history — at its monthly meeting in Manhattan.

Final approval is still required by the State Legislature, which must also come up with a way to generate a new revenue stream to fund roughly half the plan, while also figuring out how to fill a $15 billion budget gap in the MTA’s current capital budget that was created with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s indefinite pause on congestion pricing.

The 2025-29 capital budget concentrates on maintaining, rather than expanding, the MTA’s transit system, which the agency has said includes about $1.5 trillion in assets. But it does set aside funding for system expansion projects, including $2.75 billion to begin work on the Interborough Express — a light rail line linking Brooklyn and Queens with a connection to the Long Island Rail Road at East New York. It also has $800 million to study, and potentially begin work on, other expansion projects, including the possible electrification of the LIRR to Yaphank and capacity improvements on the Port Jefferson and Montauk lines.

MTA chairman and CEO Janno Lieber signaled that expansion projects would be the first on the chopping block if the transit authority was forced shrink the size of its proposed capital budget.

“If we were forced to squeeze down the program, we would look at expansion as maybe something that would have to be reexamined,” Lieber said after the meeting. “Priority one is preserving the existing system.”

Despite making contingency plans, Lieber said he was “very optimistic” that Albany lawmakers would support the full plan, adding, “I don’t think there’s a lot of fat to cut. It starts to impact important investments.”

Port Jefferson Mayor Lauren Sheprow said in a statement she would “strongly support” keeping funding in the capital program to study capacity improvements on the Port Jeff LIRR line. “Any investment by the MTA would have a multiplier effect on economic opportunity and growth,” Sheprow said.

But Republican Sen. Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue), whose district includes the Yaphank LIRR station, said he believes the proposed projects in Suffolk County were included only as a “carrot” to win support from local lawmakers.

“They mismanage, complain we’re not giving them enough money, and if we don’t give them enough, then the projects that we’ve been pushing for will be the first to be removed,” said Murray, adding that he’s willing to sacrifice the proposed electrification of the LIRR’s tracks to Yaphank if it means no longer "throwing good money after bad.”

“I think at some point you have to put your foot down and say, ‘Then I guess we’re going to have to delay it. I guess we’re going to have to lose it for now,’” Murray said of the Yaphank project.

After accounting for new bonds that would be issued and for regular federal, city, and state subsidies, the MTA has said it expects to be around $33 billion short of funding the new plan. Meanwhile, the state is still figuring out how to fill the $15 billion budget gap in the MTA’s current capital budget that was created with Hochul’s decision on the Manhattan toll.

Asked for comment about the MTA’s approval of the plan and the prospects of funding it, a spokesperson for Hochul referred to an earlier statement made by the governor in which she said she would “review” the program and “fight to secure as much funding as possible” for it.

The LIRR stands to get about $6 billion from the proposed budget, including funding for about 160 new electric trains — enough to completely replace the railroad’s fleet of 1980s-era M3 rail cars — to allow for accessibility upgrades at several stations, repairs of deteriorating bridges and 29 miles of new signals.

Other investments include the purchase of 1,500 new subway cars, the installation of new fare gates at more than 150 stations to combat fare evasion and the purchase of 500 electric buses.

Long Island’s three voting MTA Board members all supported the plan. Nassau representative David Mack said the program is "all about" keeping the MTA as an "economic engine" for New York. Suffolk representative Marc Herbst said that while $68 billion "sounds like an outrageous number," the investment will transform areas near the transit system to places "where people will want to go and live and work."

Board member Sammy Chu, of Lindenhurst, visited some of the aging electrical substations in line to be replaced and likened them to "set pieces in a remake of Frankenstein’s monster."

"These investments are critical to avoid critical issues down the road," Chu said.

While commending the MTA for advancing several important projects, some transit advocates, speaking before the meeting, expressed disappointment that the proposed plan doesn’t go further and blamed Hochul for creating uncertainty over how the plan will be funded.

"The capital program is good, with important projects that have been overlooked and underfunded for decades. But it isn’t the great plan it could be," said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the MTA’s Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee, which includes the LIRR Commuter Council.

Daglian said a better plan would have grown the size of the LIRR’s reliability-challenged diesel fleet and made 100% of LIRR stations accessible. The proposed plan aims to replace some diesel trains and make the LIRR 98% accessible.

"The caution being exercised is understandable, but lamentable," Daglian said. "It’s a shame that one key unknown is caused by the former champion of riders, Gov. Hochul.”

In June — weeks before congestion pricing was set to take effect — Hochul pulled the plug on the plan, citing affordability concerns. Under the plan, most vehicles would have paid a $15 toll for driving below 60th Street, generating $1 billion in annual revenue that would have financed $15 billion in capital projects. Hochul has vowed to make up the lost funding.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.