Energy Services Programs

Project Profile:  NYPA, NYCT Team to Brighten Subways

Teamwork and attention to details paid off early in 2000 with the Power Authority-supervised completion of lighting upgrades along some 83 miles of subway tunnels of the nation’s largest transit system, nearly two full years ahead of schedule.

For New York City Transit (NYCT), one of the Power Authority’s largest customers, the 14-month project will produce estimated energy savings of $600,000 a year from lower electric bills and additional maintenance savings. A total of about 17,000 lighting fixtures were replaced along underground tracks in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, enhancing tunnel visibility while cutting power demand by about 75 percent.

NYPA staff members, who provided technical and construction management guidance, coordinated the work with NYCT crews and contractors to minimize train service interruptions.
Installations were performed between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. while trains were in normal operation.

NYPA has been asked to supervise additional tunnel work; in 2001, transit crews began replacing thousands of color-coded tunnel signals with new light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures, which are expected to save NYCT an additional $150,000 a year in energy costs and much more in maintenance savings because of the longer life of LED signals.

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