New MTA Construction & Development report reveals MTA saved $1.2 billion in 2025

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) Construction & Development (C&D) has released its year in review and strategic plan and revealed that it generated $1.2 billion in savings in 2025, bringing its total savings to more than $4 billion since its creation in 2020. The agency’s 2026 strategic plan highlights this progress and tracks its performance in delivering the slate of projects defined in its latest capital plan.

“C&D has transformed how the MTA delivers capital projects, and this $1.2 billion in savings is further proof that we are delivering a world-class transit system better, faster and cheaper,” said MTA C&D President Jamie Torres-Springer. “These historic savings show our new model is paying off: every dollar we saved in 2025 is going right back into the system, building a better experience for riders across New York.”

The MTA’s 2025-2029 Capital Plan, which was approved and funded last spring, makes the largest investments in state of good repair work in the authority’s history. C&D says more than 90% of projects are already in the design phase. In 2025, the agency made its largest single-year investment in transit infrastructure at $15.8 billion and completed $6.7 billion in work, more than $1 billion above 2024 levels.

“The new MTA is deploying a wide range of innovative strategies to complete projects on time and under budget,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “We’re modernizing the MTA system and preparing for the future while delivering record on-time performance for our customers.”

C&D was created in December 2019 to deliver the MTA’s capital program more efficiently. It has since identified more than $4.2 billion in savings from improvements in planning, contracting, delivery and management. Key 2025 accomplishments include:

• Signal modernization: costs cut by 33% per mile
  
  • While prior signal projects averaged $48 million per mile, C&D cut costs by 33% on the Fulton Line, advancing modernization faster and more efficiently than it ever had before.
• OMNY tap-and-ride fare payment: completed $60 million under budget  
  
  • C&D built out the technology so riders can tap to pay, installed 980 new OMNY vending machines in all 472 subway stations and removed the old MetroCard vending machines.  
• Elevator upgrades: doubled the previous record two months faster on average
  
  • C&D replaced 41 elevators in 2025 and made 10 new stations ADA accessible. Since 2020, C&D has made 56 stations ADA accessible, delivering more ADA stations in the last five years than in the previous 10 years combined. 
• Critical Metro-North improvements: 51 months ahead of schedule and $93 million under budget
  
  • Crews installed 128 bridges and installed and replaced more than 8,200 feet of track on the Park Avenue Viaduct–a 130-year-old structure carrying 98% of MTA Metro-North riders. No passenger service was disrupted.    

Looking forward to 2026 and beyond, C&D is laying the groundwork for more major improvements to the MTA system: strengthening climate resilience, creating more modern stations and setting the stage for future expansion projects like the 125 Street subway and the Interborough Express.