Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 is one of New York City’s significant transit investments, extending the Q Line from 96th Street to 125th Street in East Harlem and adding three new accessible stations at 106th Street, 116th Street, and 125th Street. The project advances the long-planned Second Avenue corridor, easing crowding on the Lexington Avenue Line, improving travel times, and bringing modern rapid transit to a historically underserved neighborhood.

Under a joint-venture consultant contract—known as the Phase 2 Partnership—ELECSYS is providing mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering in support of MTA C&D’s multibillion-dollar expansion. The team is advancing design for a design–bid–build delivery approach across tunnels, stations, and systems packages, aligned with MTA C&D standards and FTA requirements.

ELECSYS’s scope centers on the MEP systems that make deep underground stations safe, reliable, and maintainable. Key elements include normal and emergency power distribution, lighting, fire alarm and life-safety systems, ventilation and cooling for public and back-of-house areas, plumbing and drainage, and enabling infrastructure for communications and traction-power systems. Working alongside tunnel, structural, architectural, and systems designers, ELECSYS helps define equipment rooms, utility pathways and interconnections so systems perform as an integrated whole.

Resiliency, accessibility, and sustainability are embedded throughout the design. Full ADA access, robust fire and smoke control strategies, redundant power and ventilation, and code-driven emergency egress support passenger safety and operational continuity. Energy-efficient lighting and mechanical systems, heat-recovery opportunities, and space for future technology upgrades help extend asset life and align with city and state climate goals.

In a dense urban environment, coordination with existing utilities, buildings, and transportation infrastructure is critical. ELECSYS supports utility relocation planning, construction staging needs, and temporary services strategies to help minimize disruption along the alignment, while strengthening regional connectivity through improved transfers at 125th Street for riders across New York City.