The MTA’s long-awaited plan to overhaul the faulty fire sprinkler system at the East New York Bus Depot is one step closer to reality.
MTA’s construction and development wing issued a solicitation this month seeking bids from contractors to replace the crumbling plumbing that has kept the massive Brooklyn facility without working fire suppression for more than three years.
As previously reported by the Daily News, the MTA has been struggling to repair a 2,000 foot underground pipe at the East New York depot since 2021, when the pipe — which is responsible for feeding the sprinkler system from the city main — failed to hold pressure.
Since then, several attempts to patch the pipe and repressurize it have failed, though work crews have flooded the facility’s boiler room and disturbed subterranean asbestos piping in the process.
Meanwhile, the MTA has spent nearly $5 million each year in overtime pay to transit workers tasked with conducting an around-the-clock “fire watch” — much of it going to the same group of roughly three dozen workers, with some making three times their base salary.
According to the solicitation, the MTA is budgeting between $5 million and $10 million to replace the damaged line as well as replace the thousands of sprinkler heads across 19 different portions of the four-story bus depot.
The winning bidder will also be responsible for any lead or asbestos abatement related to the work.
The repair plan, which was first reported by The News last summer, is expected to take two years — meaning the MTA will likely spend another $10 million in overtime on top of the repair contract.
Bids are due by July, with work expected to be completed in 2027.
