MTA to vote on contract for cameras on LIRR cars

Bill San Antonio

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday will vote on whether to award $34.6 million in contracts for the installation of inward and outward-facing cameras on Long Island Railroad and Metro-North trains.

Officials said the cameras, which would be placed in engineer and conductor cabs as well as passenger areas, would help deter crime and be used as forensic evidence in criminal investigations.

“Cameras provide another measure of safety and security intended to ensure our trains operate as well as possible and reassure our customers,” said MTA chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Prendergast in a statement. “They will aid in investigations after accidents and other incidents, as well as deter behaviors that could affect safe train operations.”

After the National Transportation Safety board recommended in February that the MTA install the cameras, Prendergast directed its commuter railroads to begin designing and engineering inward and outward-facing cameras.

The MTA’s selection committee has since recommended the contracts be awarded to 4D Security Solutions for a $16.7 million Long Island Railroad agreement and to Sepsa North America for $17.9 million for Metro-North. 

Approximately 2,064 cars and locomotives would be equipped with the cameras under the proposed three-year contracts, officials said.

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