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Testing Efforts Must Triple to Complete 2nd Ave. Subway on Time: Engineer

 Much of the Second Avenue Subway excavation involves mining to make way for tunnels.
Much of the Second Avenue Subway excavation involves mining to make way for tunnels.
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MTA

UPPER EAST SIDE — Just a day after a local congresswoman gave the MTA an A+ and said she had "no doubt" the authority would finish the Second Avenue Subway on time, an independent engineer said workers would need to triple their efforts for the project to make its deadline.

READ MORE: 'No Doubt' Second Avenue Subway Will Finish by December, Rep. Maloney Says

The MTA wants to open the new line to riders by the end of December, and much of the actual construction work on the line is complete. But numerous tests on things like escalators, elevators, fire alarms and HVAC systems must be done before the line is straphanger ready.

"Tests aren’t being completed at the rate needed to finish all testing by the end of December," said independent engineer Kent Haggas at an MTA meeting Wednesday. "The progress to date needs to be almost tripled on a weekly basis to give us confidence we’ll finish by the end of December."

According to Haggas' report, as of Oct. 21, key tests were being completed at a rate of 14 per week over the last five weeks.

That rate needs to increase to an average of more than 40 per week in order to finish by mid-December, Haggas said.

He added that in the last week since he completed his report, there was a "major increase" in productivity.

Haggas gave a similar warning at last month's meeting, when there were still 300 tests to complete.

READ MORE: Everyone Agrees Second Avenue Subway Could Be Late, MTA Board Says

Haggas also noted issues with the 72nd Street and 86th Street stations last month, some of which remain.

Work remains to be done on installation and testing of the escalators and elevators at the 72nd Street station, some of which was supposed to be complete in September and is now projected to finish by the end of November.

Escalator installation is currently underway at the 86th Street station, with 10 out of 13 escalators complete, and the rest projected for Oct. 28.

Testing is underway on the 10 escalators that have already been installed, but the remaining three are projected for completion by Dec. 14, cutting close to the MTA's goal of opening the line to riders by the end of December.

Fire alarm testing at all four stations — 63rd, 72nd, 86th and 96th Streets — is slated for completion throughout November, which Haggas' report highlighted as having the potential to impact the MTA's opening of the line to riders.

But Haggas noted the MTA has assigned "dedicated teams at each station to continue to reduce these deficiencies."

The MTA started running test trains through the tunnels earlier this month, apparently without issue.

"For the moment, the trains are running and they're running well," said MTA Program Executive Anil Parikh.

And MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast expressed optimism that the authority will meet their deadline.

"There's still a ways to go, and we're still hopeful at this time for December 31," he said.