S&P: New York transportation infrastructure did well in Sandy storm credit test

The credit quality of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) did not suffer as a result of 2012's Hurricane Sandy despite significant service disruptions, according to a Standard & Poor's Ratings Services report released yesterday.

Most MTA services resumed "relatively quickly" following the October 2012 storm. Similarly, PANYNJ-operated facilities returned to full operation in less than a week in most cases, S&P officials said in a press release.

"We believe these operators' strong contingency plans, along with their good liquidity positions, ability to obtain additional interim borrowing capacity, and actions to reinforce steady financial performance, and our expectation of insurance proceeds and federal aid demonstrated effective management and mitigated our concerns about the storm's financial fallout," said S&P's credit analyst Joseph Pezzimenti.

The report is titled, "New York-Area Transportation Infrastructure Providers Passed The Superstorm Sandy Credit Test."