Staten Island Railway

Borough President James Oddo and Councilman Vincent Ignizio have confirmed with Metropolitan Transportation Authority sources that the agency will designate $300 million of its proposed capital plan to roll out a completely new fleet of Staten Island Railway trains. (StatenIslandAdvance/Jan Somma-Hammel)

(jan somma-hammel)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The 40-year-old Staten Island Railway trains are at the end of their line.

Borough President James Oddo and Councilman Vincent Ignizio say the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will designate $300 million of its proposed capital plan to roll out a completely new fleet of trains for the Staten Island Railway (SIR).

"The borough president, as well as Councilman Ignizio, has made it very clear how important it is to Staten Island to get new cars," said an MTA official. "The MTA understands what they've pointed out and agrees that it is a key priority."

Exact features and specifications of the 64 new cars are still unknown, but Ignizio (R-South Shore) said the trains will be equipped with updated technology to work more closely with the SIR's real-time arrival system and a more enunciated public address system. Commuters should also expect a quieter and more comfortable ride.

"It's safe to say the MTA got its money's worth with the old cars," said Oddo, who has been petitioning a new fleet of trains alongside Ignizio since 2005. "The Staten Island Railway is a critical part of the mass transit system on Staten Island. To be able to have the governor and the MTA respond in this manner is a great thing."

The trains will be fully funded in the MTA's proposed capital plan, which will be announced on Monday. The five-year outline will likely cost at least $27 billion.

It's not yet clear when the new trains will begin service. Oddo said the new cars will be introduced incrementally over a period of time.

The SIR has been known to inherit aging, "hand-me-down" trains, as Assemblyman Joseph Borelli once put it, from the rest of the city. The cars have undergone numerous facelifts and refurbishings over the years to hide their old age. If the MTA deemed a car structurally unsound, it was replaced with old cars leaving other city lines.

"We reached out personally to the governor last year about how big of a priority this was," said Ignizio. "We couldn't have gotten this done without Cuomo and MTA chairman Tom Prendergast."