The MTA’s plan to fix the ailing East New York Bus Depot, which has been without a functioning fire sprinkler system for nearly three years, has been pushed back again, the Daily News has learned — a delay that could cost the agency $5 million in overtime.
As previously reported by The News, the MTA has been struggling to fix a 2,000 foot underground pipe at the facility since 2021, when the line responsible for feeding the sprinkler system from the city main failed to hold pressure.
Since then, countless attempts to patch the pipe and plug the leaks have failed, though repair crews have flooded the facility’s boiler room and uncovered asbestos piping beneath a storeroom in the process.
A plan to replace 2,000 feet of leaky subterranean piping with an above-ground loop, first reported by The News, had initially been scheduled for completion in August 2026.
But sources with knowledge of the facility said this week that that date has now been pushed back to late June 2027, nearly an 11-month delay.
A contract for the work, which had been due to be awarded this month, has not yet been solicited — the award is now scheduled for June of this year.
“This project will be awarded and commenced in 2025, as anticipated,” MTA spokesperson Kayla Shults said in response to questions about the reason for the delay. “We look forward to delivering upgrades to this nearly century-old depot,” she added.
The broken subterranean pipe is designed to provide pressurized water to the depot’s thousands of sprinkler heads in the event of a fire. As previously reported by The News, the pipe has repeatedly burst and failed pressure tests.
The repair project — which also includes the replacement of 3,000 sprinkler heads on the depot’s first floor — is expected to cost the MTA more than $4.5 million to complete.
Meanwhile, the transit agency is expected to continue to pay dozens of transit workers overtime to patrol the sweeping facility as a so-called “fire watch,” looking for fire 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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