Until the system is reprogrammed, the MTA has stationed contracted fire safety professionals to act as a so-called 24-hour fire watch along the line. | Kevin Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo Internal memo: Second Avenue subway’s fire alarm system offline since May

New York City’s Second Avenue subway line may be performing “very well” and have “dramatically reduced overcrowding” on the nearby Lexington Avenue line, but it does have at least one problem.

The fire alarm system has been offline since May 14, according to a memo Janno Lieber, the MTA's chief development officer, sent to board members on Oct. 12.


On Sunday, May 14, “an erroneous activation of the fire alarm system triggered the water mist system at the 86th Street station, which resulted in a one-week closure of the 83rd Street station entrance,” according to the memo, a copy of which was acquired by POLITICO.

The incident, which was caused by a previously undisclosed programming error, damaged the entrance's escalators, causing “substantial inconvenience to our customers,” the memo notes.

The incident means contractors now have to reprogram the entire fire alarm and water mist system, something that won’t be complete until December.

In the interim, the MTA has stationed contracted fire safety professionals to act as a so-called 24-hour fire watch along the line.

The cost of the fire watch will be $6.5 million, according to the memo. The MTA anticipates most of the cost will be covered by contractors, according to the memo.

Insurance is expected to cover the water damage to the escalators, though it's not clear how much those repairs will cost.

“The MTA will not pay for this cost and will file claims against the responsible parties involved to recoup any and all money that we are spending as a result of the false activation of the fire system — that includes the cost of the fire watch," MTA spokesman Shams Tarek said in a statement.

"Meanwhile, Second Avenue Subway is open, safe, serving roughly 170,000 riders a day and reducing pressure on the Lexington Avenue Line,” Tarek said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who effectively controls the MTA, made it a personal goal to open the three-stop extension of the Q line to the Upper East side by New Year’s 2017.

Cuomo, a Democrat, is positioning himself for a possible presidential run in 2020, and on the national stage he has cast himself as one of the only politicians capable of building big things.

In September, The New York Times reported that even after the Second Avenue Subway opened, the MTA was conducting safety tests, and grappling with 17,000 “defects”.

The story noted that the MTA was using safety crews to watch for fires, while final fire safety testing was completed.

Neither the cause of the May incident nor the need for the entire fire safety system to be reprogrammed has formerly been disclosed.

The subway extension, the first phase of the long-awaited Second Avenue subway, is believed to be the most expensive subway ever built, on a per-mile basis.

In the memo, Lieber says he expects the MTA to finish roughly $150 million over the final, $4.45 billion budget.

In addition to reprogramming the fire alarm system, the MTA still must complete above-ground paving and relocate “some fire alarm devices to improve accessibility and maintenance,” according to the memo. It must also complete elevator work at 96th Street, add “remote access control for security doors in the back of the house,” and complete another “roughly 2,000 contractor punch list items.”

A spokesman for the governor referred POLITICO to the MTA.