New escalators for six LIRR stations

The Metropolitan Transit Authority announced that it will replace six Long Island Rail Road escalators on the Babylon line, including those at Rockville Centre, Baldwin and Freeport.

In 2012, all LIRR escalators were evaluated for safety and 11 were repaired – including the six that will be replaced – after an 88-year-old woman died at the Lindenhurst station. She was strangled to death when her clothes were caught in the treads of the escalator.

“[We] had to know they were operating at maximum capacity,” Salvatore Arena, MTA spokesperson, said of the escalator repairs in 2012. “Replace whatever needed to be replaced and come back subsequently with a plan.”

The new escalators are estimated to cost $14 million. Work at the first three stations, Amityville, Lindenhurst and Baldwin, will start near the end of this year, and will be completed around June 2015. The next three stations, Rockville Centre, Freeport and Copiague, will be completed around summer 2016.

“The six on the Babylon Branch are the oldest and ones that need to be replaced,” Arena said. The new escalators will be state-of-the-art, with obstruction detection systems and sleep mode technology to reduce energy consumption and wear during low usage periods, according to the MTA. The wind-screen enclosures surrounding the escalators, the machines rooms, electrical devices and lighting will also be improved. The escalators will be widened from 24 inches to 32 inches where it is possible.

A $9.3 million construction contract for the new escalator instillation was awarded to LoDuca Associates of Long Island. Support work will be done by the LIRR for about $4.7 million. The MTA has two budgets: the operating budget for day-to-day operations and the capital budget for major construction. The funds for the new escalators come from the capital budget, which is funded partially by New York State and bonds sold to investors.

Arena said that more escalators will most likely be replaced in the future.