PANYNJ OKs $134.5 million for PATH substation work

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's (PANYNJ) board yesterday approved a $134.5 million plan to replace two aging substations on the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rail system.

Located in Jersey City and Harrison, New Jersey, the nearly 50-year-old substations sustained extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The new substations will be designed to sit several feet above the Federal Emergency Management Agency's estimated flood elevation levels, according to a PANYNJ press release.

The existing substations will remain in service until the new ones are built. Work on the new structures is scheduled to begin later this year and be completed by fall 2021.

"[These] investments in the rail line's aging substation system will help power PATH's trains for decades to come and help accommodate the ever growing numbers of customers traveling between New Jersey and New York," said PANYNJ Chairman John Degnan.

PATH is providing a "critical lifeline" for millions of New York and New Jersey commuters during summer trackwork outages at New York City's Penn Station, Degnan added.