The Jamaica G08 Substation Replacement is a major investment in the reliability and resilience of one of the LIRR’s busiest hubs. At Jamaica—where riders transfer between multiple branches and connect to the New York City subway and AirTrain—dependable traction power is essential to keeping trains moving and service on time.

As part of the design–build team, ELECSYS is providing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering, along with BIM/Revit coordination, for a new traction power substation and support building. The project replaces aging infrastructure with a modern, prefabricated two-story electrical building set over a cable vault, designed to improve maintainability, provide safer access for operations staff, and strengthen flood and weather resilience.

The new facility receives three 26.4 kV utility services from Con Edison and distributes power through new service and distribution switchgear meeting EO-2022 high-tension requirements. Within the building, ELECSYS is coordinating the layout and integration of rectifier transformers; direct-current traction power switchgear; signal-power systems, including motor generators and associated switchgear; 125 V DC battery systems; and a SCADA system for local and remote monitoring and control.

Because the substation sits in a constrained, operational rail environment, constructability and staging are central to the approach. ELECSYS is supporting a modular, prefabricated strategy that reduces time on-site and minimizes disruption to yard and mainline operations, while also simplifying future equipment replacement and upgrades.

The upgraded substation provides a robust platform for current and future service demands at Jamaica and demonstrates our firm’s strengths in traction power, utility coordination, and multidisciplinary engineering for safety-critical transportation facilities.