The United States’ largest pre-fabricated traction power substation has been installed in Long Island City, Queens, as part of the East Side Access Program,
The pre-fabricated structure spans over 250 feet in length. It consists of 20 sections with each section over 45 feet wide and weighing up to 96,000 lbs.
E-J Electric Installation Co. installed the substation for the Long Island Railroad.
It contains three separate 3MW traction power lineups each with a dedicated 26.4kV incoming utility service. Each lineup consists of Medium Voltage Utility and Service Switchgear, Rectifier Transformer, Rectifier, AC and DC Bus Duct and DC Switchgear.
DC Tie Buses rated up to 30kA along with over 40 DC Feeder, Main and Tie Breakers will provide traction power to LIRR’s Main Line and Sunnyside Yard tracks.
All traction power equipment is integrated with a SCADA system which will allow remote operation and monitoring.
In addition to traction power equipment, the structure also has dedicated control, communications, battery, electrical distribution, storage and crew rooms.
E-J Electric used the latest technology during structural and foundation vault design phases including Trimble Scanning and Trimble GPS layout tools to collect data from the construction site and utilized prefabrication techniques to create distinctive design layouts.
These methods ensured that installation of the building and electrical Infrastructure in the foundation vault is accurate, properly coordinated and safely executed.
“We are excited to deliver this infrastructure project for the East Side Access Program,” said Anthony Mann, president and CEO of E-J Electric. “Utilizing Trimble 3D Scanning, GPS Layouts and Revit modelling allowed for design optimization as well as helped to ensure safety.”
East Side Access is a public works project under construction by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which will extend the Long Island Rail Road from its Main Line in Queens into Grand Central Terminal on Manhattan’s East Side.
The $11.2 billion project is slated to be completed by the end of 2022.
