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New trains, longer station platforms, modern signals and fresh coats of paint on bridges are included in the $5.7 billion that the LIRR stands to receive in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's next major infrastructure spending plan.
The projects are part of the MTA's proposed $51 billion capital program, which will fund major infrastructure investment across the MTA's various agencies, including the LIRR, through 2024.
Much of the LIRR's planned spending would go toward routine maintenance and replacement of existing infrastructure, LIRR president Phillip Eng said.
"It is going to be a modernized railroad. It is going to be one that gives the railroad employees the ability to operate the way they should have been," Eng said. "The work that has been deferred has been deferred for too long."
The MTA Board is expected to review the plan during its meeting Monday in Manhattan and vote Wednesday whether to advance it to the state's four-member Capital Program Review Board for final approval.
Here are highlights of what's in store for the LIRR in the 2020-24 MTA capital program.
Stations: $910 million
LIRR stations assessed to be in the worst condition of the railroad's 124 stations will be prioritized under the plan. Hollis, Forest Hills, Hunterspoint Avenue and Copiague will get new platforms, elevators and Braille signage. Other stations will get new station buildings, platform signage, shelter sheds, pedestrian overpasses, railings and lighting.
The LIRR's Mets-Willets Points station also is in line for upgrades related to the Port Authority's plan to construct a new AirTrain between the station and LaGuardia Airport.
The budget also includes $28 million to complete the rehabilitation of the Ronkonkoma station parking garage, and $74 million in investments at Penn Station - such as HVAC upgrades, stairway replacements and other platform-level improvements - and at the LIRR's future space at Grand Central Terminal.
The railroad...