Cost Savings Come as MTA Makes Historic Investments, Advances Accessibility and Signal Modernization at Record Pace
MTA Construction & Development (C&D) today released its Year in Review and Strategic Plan and announced it generated $1.2 billion in savings in 2025 alone, bringing its total savings to more than $4 billion since the agency's creation in 2020. C&D’s 2026 strategic plan details this progress and tracks the agency’s performance in delivering the ambitious docket of projects outlined in its latest capital plan.
“The new MTA is deploying a wide range of innovative strategies to complete projects on time and under budget,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “We’re modernizing the MTA system and preparing for the future while delivering record on-time performance for our customers.”
“C&D has transformed how the MTA delivers capital projects, and this $1.2 billion in savings is further proof that we are delivering a world-class transit system better, faster, and cheaper,” said MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer. “These historic savings show our new model is paying off: every dollar we saved in 2025 is going right back into the system, building a better experience for riders across New York.”
Approved and funded last spring, the MTA’s 2025-2029 Capital Plan makes the largest investments in State of Good Repair work in the Authority’s history. Today, C&D is delivering on that plan at a record pace with more than 90% of projects already in design. That momentum translated into historic results in 2025: the agency made its largest single-year investment in transit infrastructure at $15.8 billion, and completed $6.7 billion in work, more than $1 billion above 2024 levels.
C&D was created in December 2019 to deliver the MTA’s Capital Program more efficiently and has since identified more than $4.2 billion in savings thanks to improvements in planning, contracting, delivery and management. The agency’s work has generated tangible improvements for riders. Key 2025 accomplishments include:
Signal Modernization: Costs Cut by 33% per Mile
While prior signal projects averaged $48 million per mile, C&D cut costs by 33% on the Fulton Line, advancing modernization faster and more efficiently than ever before.
OMNY Tap-and-Ride Fare Payment: Completed $60 Million Under Budget
C&D built out the technology so riders can tap to pay, installed 980 new OMNY vending machines in all 472 subway stations and removed the old MetroCard vending machines.
Elevator Upgrades: Doubled the Previous Record Two Months Faster on Average
C&D replaced 41 elevators in 2025 and made 10 new stations ADA accessible. Since 2020, C&D has made 56 stations ADA accessible, delivering more ADA stations in the last five years than in the previous 10 years combined.
Critical Metro-North improvements: 51 Months Ahead of Schedule and $93 Million Under Budget
Crews installed 128 bridges and installed and replaced more than 8,200 feet of track on the Park Avenue Viaduct – a 130-year-old structure carrying 98% of Metro-North riders. No passenger service was disrupted.
Looking forward to 2026 and beyond, C&D’s strategic plan lays the groundwork for more major improvements to the MTA system: strengthening climate resilience, envisioning more modern stations and setting the stage for future expansion projects like the 125 St subway and the Interborough Express.