MTA completes LED station lighting upgrade ahead of schedule

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) announced that it has completed refurbishment work to brighten, clean and enhance stations and improve the transit experience for riders across its entire system. Fluorescent light fixtures in all 472 subway stations have been converted to LED lights, with crews replacing the final fixtures at the Times Square–42nd Street Station at the end of 2025. Crews also repainted and replaced tiles across subway stations, removed more than 1,460 tons of bagged garbage from all stations and cleared nearly 700 tons of debris in between stations, among additional refurbishment work.

“NYC Transit is committed to providing safe and reliable service and that effort starts right when customers enter the system with brighter and cleaner stations,” said NYCT President Demetrius Crichlow. “With historically high on-time performance, new ridership milestones and a continued emphasis on reviving stations, 2025 was a great year to be a subway rider.

LED Lighting

The upgrade to all LED lighting across the New York City subway system started off in January 2024 as part of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s five-point safety plan for subway riders. Since then, more than 181,000 fixtures within the system have been replaced or upgraded to LED lights. This undertaking was completed ahead of the original target of mid-2026 and, the authority says, is expected to save approximately $5.9 million each year.

LED lighting is both more cost effective and brighter than fluorescent lighting and creates better visibility for the nearly four million daily subway riders. The upgrades will also enhance the images of the more than 15,000 security cameras across the subway system, helping create more detailed videos for law enforcement to use when needed.

“These improvements make a real difference in the day-to-day experience of our subway riders, giving them brighter, safer and more welcoming stations across the system,” said MTA Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara. “From lighting upgrades to station renovation projects, these efforts reflect our commitment to serving the millions of New Yorkers who rely on us, and we will continue to make investments in the system both today and for years to come.”

This set of station upgrades comes as NYCT works to upgrade fluorescent lights in other parts of the subway system, including aboard trains and in AC-powered tunnels, which will result in further energy savings once completed. Currently, 73% of subway trains are equipped with LED lighting.

The LED conversion project was completed in tandem with NYCT’s ongoing Revive initiative, which utilizes planned weekend outages to also give stations a refurbishment so customers return to an overhauled station. Crews completed 40 Revive projects in 2025.