The $2.4 billion 7 train extension will not, as it turns out, be ready for passengers this June, as projected. This is not particularly surprising, however, considering the following facts: 1) It is a project being undertaken by the MTA. 2) See previous fact.
This news comes right on the heels of the MTA announcing that its East Side Access Project is also delayed and over budget. It also, as 2nd Ave Sagas' Benjamin Kabak points out, follows the "unexpected" delays of basically every MTA project of the past decade. "The litany of missed deadlines and cost overruns for only the MTA's megaprojects could fill a post, and I'm not going to recite them here again," Kabak writes. "Everything is late, and nothing is on budget."
As of right now, the 7 Train Extension delays, which are being caused by problems installing high-rise and incline elevators, have only pushed the opening date back a few months, and the budget has not increased ... yet. Considering that the extension basically exists to serve the Hudson Yards megaproject, the delay isn't particularly disastrous—the first building of the complex, an office tower, is expected to be completed in 2015, and the first residential building won't be ready until 2018. There's no way an MTA project could ever be delayed that long, right?
· Planned 7 train extension faces delays: MTA [NYP]
· On the MTA's Capital Construction accountability problem [2nd Ave]
· 7 Train Extension coverage [Curbed]
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