Queens train lines prone to flooding soon may weather storms better.

New York City Transit already is upgrading its pump system for the Queens Boulevard line, where the E, F, R and V lines run, and yesterday moved toward adding another pump to the mix. NYC Transit began revamping 10 pump rooms along the lines in late 2005.

While NYC Transit reported no outages during yesterday's steady soaking, Wednesday's downpour was another story. Rain shut down parts of the E, F and R lines, and knocked out the entire V line last week.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority executive director Elliot Sander said that pump improvements, the first since the 75-year-old line was built, limited delays.

Yesterday's luck with the rain wasn't just due to pumps - it was because the lines were hit with a steady, not abrupt, downpour, NYC Transit president Howard Roberts said.

The MTA board will vote on the extra pump tomorrow.

In other transit news:

The MTA is considering rolling out 620 new train cars on the lettered lines. The cars will replace their 40-year-old counterparts.

The transit committee decided to wait until September to decide whether to order new equipment for the L line. When NYC Transit decided to automate the L, it did not predict areas such as Williamsburg would become inundated with new residents. It bought more cars, but the agency doesn't yet have the technology to link them with the existing 212 computerized cars on the track. Meanwhile, NYC Transit added conventional cars to make Brooklyn residents' commutes less congested. The system will not be fully automated until summer 2009.