MTA to shut transit if blizzard hits

Parts of the area's massive train and subway system will be shut down by the MTA this winter if forecasters see a major blizzard bearing down on the region, officials said Tuesday.

The plan to limit public transportation even before the worst of a storm passes through is just one new effort announced by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Officials said they are intent on avoiding a repeat of last year's post-Christmas commuting nightmare.

"We were immensely disappointed with ourselves in not being able to provide New Yorkers with all that they deserved during that extreme weather emergency," Thomas Prendergast, the president of New York City Transit, said Tuesday at a hearing before the City Council's Transportation Committee.

The blizzard that hit last Dec. 26 paralyzed the mass transit system, shut down airports and dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on Long Island and New York City. Some Long Island Rail Road riders were left stranded at the Hicksville and Jamaica stations while other commuters rode the storm out while stuck at Penn Station. The MTA tested emergency plans during Tropical Storm Irene and the snowfall in October.

An new emergency coordinator position will be filled soon, and "situation rooms" across the MTA's service area will centralize decision-making, speed emergency response and give delayed or stranded customers a place to call, officials said.

For its part, the LIRR will deploy trains that can scrape ice and spray antifreeze on the current-carrying third rails, to prevent ice buildups that can cause trains to become stranded. The LIRR also introduced a brand-new snow-cleaner for its main tracks and replaced three 40-year-old snowblowers with newer models.

"For the safety of our customers and employees, we may have to suspend service if snow accumulations reach between 10-13 inches," said LIRR president Helena Williams. "Some 80 percent of LIRR service is electric, meaning our trains must be able to maintain good contact with the third rail to draw sufficient power."

In New York City, the authority will also use modified subway cars to spray de-icing chemicals on rails, and jet-powered snowblowers to clear tracks in the event of a snowstorm. Each bus depot will have its own salt-spreading plow trucks, which will work closer with the Department of Sanitation to clear bus routes. Buses are being fitted with GPS trackers and will be issued more consistent tire-chaining orders than last year, when many buses drove in the storm without chains.