MTA Managing Director Veronique Hakim will supervise L Tunnel Project

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) held an emergency meeting Jan. 15 regarding the alternative schedule of the L Tunnel Project, which did away with a planned 15-month shutdown of the Canarsie Tunnel following recommendations made by an expert panel that the L Train tunnel could be repaired while service continues. 

The project's designer, WSP, presented its new proposed plan and recommendations for rehabilitating the L Train Tunnel and MTA said it would implement four actions to ensure the project is delivered in a safe and timely manner. 

The actions MTA will take as the project moves forward include:

• MTA Capital Construction, led by MTA Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber, will take responsibility for construction of the project.
• MTA Managing Director Veronique Hakim will be directly responsible for supervision of the priority project.
• A new, third party consultant will be engaged to report to the MTA Board, coordinate the construction with the ongoing train operation and make sure the transition from construction to operation is seamless. The consultant will also review safety and environmental considerations and perform its due diligence to ensure safety and quality of service are followed.
• The MTA will launch a review of its contracting and design process and policy of requesting designs as “replace in kind,” rather than requesting improvements, innovation and new technology. The MTA will also launch a review to expand use of the design-build contracting method agency-wide. MTA notes that design-build is an innovative approach whereby a single private sector entity both designs and builds a project, paving the way for cost and time savings compared to having separate entities take on the closely related tasks.

The emergency meeting was called following a determination by an expert panel of engineers from the Cornell and Columbia Schools of Engineering, in collaboration with WSP, that a 15-month planned closure of the L Train Tunnel was unnecessary to accomplish the project goals. Following the expert panel's presentation, MTA leadership accepted their recommendations, which included a series of innovative engineering methods to streamline the required repair work and limit the impact on L Train service. Work could be completed on nights and weekends only, with a single tube providing continued service in both directions during work periods. 

MTA Acting Chairman Fernando Ferrer said: “The L Train tunnel is a vitally important project to New York City and hundreds of thousands of customers. Given the new approach to the rehabilitation of the l tunnel, I am asking the highest levels of MTA management to oversee this project and engage an independent consultant will be engaged to report to the Board and to validate the safety and longevity of the work.” 

At the direction of Hakim, New York City Transit will continue to handle subway service on the L line, public outreach, customer service and alternate service planning and delivery tasks, both before and during the reconstruction project.

“Intensive public outreach and collaboration with stakeholders and partners such as NYCDOT, and an unprecedented focus on customer service, have been hallmarks of this project, and I know that [NYCT] President [Andy] Byford and his excellent team will continue to deliver that critical commitment,” said Hakim.