The MTA is building a flood barrier around Coney Island Yard, the subway system's largest rail yard, 14 years after Hurricane Sandy put it underwater, according to the agency's capital project records.
Sandy flooded the 75-acre yard in October 2012, swamping hundreds of subway cars and work equipment and knocking several lines out of service for weeks. The yard sits exposed on Coney Island Creek and Gravesend Bay, and it has stayed vulnerable ever since — this project is the fix.
The work was first reported by Hoodline, which put the price tag at $500 million. The MTA's own capital program listings describe a resiliency package of flood walls, deployable barriers, and raised or protected electrical and signal equipment around the yard's perimeter, the kind of scope that typically rolls out in multiple construction contracts rather than one.
A project this size at one yard means multiple trade packages over several years: concrete and sheet-pile wall work, electrical relocation, pump stations, and mechanical work to protect signal rooms and substations. Contractors who already do MTA resiliency work — the kind let after Sandy at other yards and tunnels — are the likely bidder pool once individual contracts are advertised.
The MTA has not yet posted a construction bid specifically tied to this phase of Coney Island Yard work on its procurement pages. Prime and sub-tier contractors with MTA resiliency experience should watch the agency's capital project tracker and bid-results pages for the first package to post, since a program this size is very unlikely to be a single contract.
## What to do next If you've bid MTA storm-resiliency work before — flood walls, deployable barriers, or electrical relocation at a rail yard or tunnel portal — get on the MTA's bid notification list now, because a $500 million program at one yard will generate several contracts over the next few years, not one. Track the MTA capital program pages for Coney Island Yard specifically; the first package (likely site work or flood walls) usually leads, with electrical and mechanical following in later phases.