Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit received two Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grants totaling $57,141,634 for two major storm resiliency projects in subway stations: a new emergency communications system and a hardening project to protect station rooms that are critical to service delivery.

“These federal grants enable New York City Transit’s recovery from a devastating storm by funding critical improvements and repairs for a system that moves six million people a day,” said MTA Chairman/CEO Thomas F. Prendergast. “The MTA’s goal is to make the subway system stronger and more resilient than ever if and when we face another historic storm like Sandy. To do that, we look to our federal partners to help us protect a trillion-dollar asset that powers the New York region, and we thank the FTA for acknowledging how vitally important the New York subway system is to the city and its people.”

As part of the ongoing process to fix and fortify the system against future catastrophic weather events like Sandy, NYC Transit plans to replace the current emergency booth communication system that provides emergency and security communications between train supervisors and personnel across the subway system.

The first grant of $52,425,000 funds a new state-of-the-art system that will provide instant communication between station agents and Rail Control Center supervisors and enable direct communication between customers and supervisors system-wide in the event of an emergency. The project includes installation of the new system at the Rail Control Center and at all subway stations; new work areas at subway, bus and electronic maintenance centers; and connection and integration with existing service delivery technology in use at NYC Transit.

MTA will match that federal grant with $17,475,000 in funds from the 2010-2014 Capital Program, for a total cost of $69.9 million.

A second grant of $4,716,634, with a $1,572,211 match from the MTA, will fund the hardening of critical station rooms to prevent widespread flooding elsewhere in the system from breaching areas that house sensitive electronic equipment. This includes storm resiliency measures to protect station facility rooms at the Federal Emergency Management Agency 100-year flood level, plus one foot, but NYC Transit will seek to exceed this level whenever possible. The design will seal conduits; move vents; add watertight or marine doors, and install drains and valves.

This grant covers work for up to 21 rooms at four stations and is intended to pay for the first phase of a station-hardening project that will ultimately improve the flood resiliency of a total of 54 rooms.