Subway repairs continue, new plan for F-train 7 years after Superstorm Sandy in NYC
NEW YORK (WABC) -- It has been seven years since Superstorm Sandy transformed the Tri-State area.
The powerful system came ashore and devastated the area in 2012 and people are still working to rebuild homes and infrastructure.
Sandy damaged more than 2,000 miles of MTA train tracks.
On the seventh anniversary of the storm, workers are still shoring up the vulnerabilities above the Coney Island railyard, which serves six of the city's subway lines. MTA planners are determined to protect it.
Workers are running high voltage cables on steel bridges above the railyard, installing a vast network of drainage pipes beneath it and building a huge 14-foot wall around it.
Seven years ago, you couldn't even stand there. The railyards were flooded with nearly thirty million gallons of seawater and floating debris. The huge wall is intended to prevent that kind of damage in future storms.
The storm battered New York and brought the entire regional transit network to a halt. The damage was catastrophic.
It took nearly three days before the subways were running again. Some lines were crippled for weeks. Others are still recovering.
"So you have to put everything on a prioritization order based on severity, which needs to be worked on first," said former MTA Chairman Joe Lhota. "You do that you then go on to the next and on to the next and on to the next."
Transit officials told reporters Tuesday that they are exceeding federal standards for storm preparedness, because the challenges posed by climate change are increasingly difficult to predict.
"I think that as weather becomes more extreme, this is going to be a continuing effort," said MTA Chairman Patrick Foye. "We're proud of the progress that's been made on the railyards, and on New York City transit and the subways and in the tunnels. But this is an effort that's going to continue far into the future."
The railyard project will be complete within two years. But officials admit that fortifying the entire transit system will take far longer.
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