MTA Opens ‘Storm-Resilient’ Car Maintenance Shop
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
MTA Staten Island Railway’s Clifton Car Maintenance Shop officially opened on Dec. 7. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA)
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Dec. 7 unveiled a 93,220-square-foot facility housing a repair shop, administrative offices and support buildings for MTA Staten Island Railway.
Staten Island Railway runs the only rapid transit line on Staten Island, N.Y., as part of MTA New York City Transit (NYCT).
MTA said the new Clifton Car Maintenance Shop replaces a facility that “suffered extensive damage that led to months of disruption following Hurricane Sandy a decade ago.” It can sustain Category 2 hurricane water and wind pressures up to 110 miles per hour sustained winds, plus a three-foot water surge, according to the agency.
Inside the shop there are four tracks for car inspections and repairs, interior car cleaning, and approved car modification programs, as well as an overhead-lifting system for changing roof-mounted air conditioning units and lifting railcar bodies for railcar truck maintenance.
Funding for the $165 million design-build project was allocated from the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Hurricane Sandy recovery program. Other components of the five-year project include:
- Demolition, removal, and disposal of structures and systems, including underground diesel.
- Reconfiguration of tracks and switches and realignment of indoor tracks, including traction power and underground utilities.
- Environmental work, including asbestos abatement, lead abatement and underground fuel storage tanks removal.
- Installation of communications systems, including clock/timekeeping, fire alarm, public address, CCTV and security systems, and sprinkler and standpipe systems.
“A new Clifton Shop means Staten Island Railway cars will be maintained and repaired on-site instead of in Brooklyn,” NYCT President Richard Davey said. “I’m excited for riders to see more reliable and efficient service for years to come.”
“It’s been 10 years since Hurricane Sandy struck the New York metropolitan area, significantly damaging the region’s transit infrastructure, including this shop, the only maintenance facility for Staten Island Railway,” FTA Regional Administrator Stephen Goodman said. “The culmination of our work demonstrates how we are investing in transit infrastructure and advancing key priorities. This project will reap enormous benefits for the riders of Staten Island and help them get where they need to go.”
For more on the hurricane, read Railway Age Contributing Editor David Peter Alan’s October 2022 article that looks back at the damage Sandy caused and how some of the issues Sandy raised are still affecting transit today.
