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B‐68 New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ TRANSIT) Case Study: New York – Newark, NY‐NJ‐CT Highlights: NJ TRANSIT has adopted an enterprise‐wide commitment to infrastructure and operational resilience across modes and departments. The agency's resilience initiatives are being undertaken in the context of Superstorm Sandy recovery and rebuilding. The agency's infrastructure and rolling stock sustained significant damage during the storm. Long term, NJ TRANSIT is focusing on resilience by incorporating "designs and materials that can resist and survive weather events." The agency is also in the process of designing and constructing NJ TRANSITGRID, "a first‐of‐its‐kind electrical micro‐grid capable of supplying highly‐reliable power during storms or other times when the centralized power grid or local power distribution networks are compromised;" and a Coast Storm Surge Emergency Warning System in partnership with NOAA and Stevens Institute of Technology. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, NJ TRANSIT put in place a very detailed, mode‐specific, Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan that is publically available online. NJ TRANSIT utilizes FTA's Hazard Mitigation Cost Effectiveness Tool to evaluate resilience as part of its capital planning process and adopted new service cessation and rapid recovery procedures. Key Resiliency Drivers Events including September 11th, the 2003 Northeast (NE)
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B‐69 Agency Details Geographic Location East Coast Modes Operated MB, CR, LR, CB, DR Vehicles Operated (all modes)
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B‐70 storm. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, NJT's recovery strategy involved efforts to "identify damaged infrastructure, deploy resources to effect immediate repairs and to make service restoration a priority." Intermediate recovery efforts focused on protecting vulnerable infrastructure and resources by implementing "near term protection measures." Long term, the agency is focusing on resiliency by incorporating "designs and materials that can resist and survive weather events." NJT has programmed $768 million dollars repairing damaged infrastructure in a resilient manner ($625m) and investing in long‐term resiliency ($143m)
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From page 367... ...
B‐71 The Resilience Program is within the Capital Planning and Programs Department. The staff is responsible for administering federal funds dedicated to resiliency projects. The Resilience Program works with project managers and others across the enterprise, using a matrix management approach. NJT brings on expertise as needed via staff hires and consultants. Metrics to Support Policy and Administration To evaluate the success of the Resilience Program, NJT applied the metrics embedded in the Federal Transit Administration's Hazard Mitigation Cost Effectiveness Tool. The tool estimates potential benefits and costs in terms of damage to fixed structures and rolling stock, costs associated with response and recovery/repairs; and "other" costs such as the projected number of commuter delay hours that are saved per day because of investments being made. Those hours are then multiplied by $19.40 per hour to provide one estimate of the value of an investment. Communications of the Resilience Program NJT highlights its Resilience Program to the public in several ways, including: Periodic updates to the NJT Board of Directors on specific resiliency projects. Creation and maintenance of a public website, www.njtransitresilienceprogram.com. The site includes: o The NJT Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan o Status reports on the progress of projects that enhance resilience of the system o Environmental assessments and impact statements Staff presentations at community meetings and at professional forums.
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B‐72 way that will afford NJT visibility of both inventory and state of good repair of all assets and infrastructure. The agency does maintain a geo‐referenced inventory of assets and has mapped the asset in relation to FEMA Flood Rate Insurance Maps (FIRM) and Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Superstorms (SLOSH)
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B‐73 centers of north Jersey and Manhattan and the southern beaches and attractions of the Jersey shore. Taking advantage of structural design approaches and materials that are able to withstand ocean surge forces and saltwater immersion, the new Drawbridge will be significantly less vulnerable to severe weather events. Proposed components to achieve infrastructure resilience include new reinforced concrete piers on piles; new steel superstructure; new drive motor and electrical controls; tie‐ins to existing track; vertical adjustment of existing track; and electrical catenary relocation. Projects that will raise vulnerable infrastructure above flood levels. NJT has completed an analysis of all infrastructure items damaged by Superstorm Sandy (substations, switches, other electronics, etc.) that can be elevated above flood levels and is systematically raising these items to reduce the risk of damage from future flooding. This includes raising an entire electrical substation to the second floor of a building NJT owns. To facilitate this effort, NJT has adopted a design standard for construction that specifies that facilities and equipment be built at an elevation of two and one‐half feet above base flood elevation. The general standard in New Jersey is one foot above base flood elevation.
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B‐74 of storing power in batteries in non‐revenue service vehicles. The power is to be collected during off‐peak hours. All the projects taken as a whole are a package of improvements that will protect assets and operations, and, speed recovery and a more rapid return to full services, including key elements of the bus network and light rail, commuter rail, and paratransit services. Finance NJ TRANSIT does not have a separate process for financing resiliency efforts. Resiliency requirements are considered in the planning, programming, and budgeting of projects. NJT accumulates the costs of damage due to weather‐related events by establishing separate accounts for charging labor and other costs allocated to recovery. Those costs form the basis for insurance claims and for claims to the Federal Transit Administration's Emergency Relief Program. System Planning NJT's planning for resilience includes all departments of the enterprise. It is also integrated with the activities of the NJ State Police, Office of Emergency Management. NJT uses modeling, including inundation models to assess infrastructure and service vulnerability to flooding and storm surge. In addition, NJT is developing its own in‐house modeling capability. In partnership with researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology and its consultant, BEM, NJT is building out a Coastal Storm Surge Emergency Warning System for its Hoboken and Kearny facilities. The system will use active tide gauge data to model the potential impacts of storm surge in real time. The system will map effects of potential surges on NJT property, including the effects of surges on areas as small as three meters by three meters. When the system is built out, NJT will be able to correlate surge forecasts to specific assets at Hoboken Terminal and Kearny and potential impacts of a surge. The totality of data collection and modeling tools enable NJT to correlate predictions of storm surges and flooding with the latitude, longitude, and elevation of specific NJT assets. That will, for example, inform the decision to implement the plan for removing components of switching systems to protect from likely flooding. Operations and Maintenance NJT evaluates data from regular maintenance inspections to access the condition of its infrastructure upon which the assumptions of the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan are based. In preparation for a severe weather event, inspections are conducted by operations to identify specific conditions of infrastructure. Emergency Management Planning NJT's emergency management functions are coordinated through the New Jersey Transit Police Office of Emergency Management. Since, 2014, NJT formally promulgates its CEMP annually. Based on an all hazards, whole‐community approach to emergency preparedness, the CEMP includes a Basic Plan that sets an overall concept of operations for managing emergency situations and assigns responsibilities to NJT departments and personnel in terms of their roles during emergency events. In addition to the
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B‐75 Basic Plan, the CEMP includes six annexes that provide guidance on preparedness, response and short‐ term recovery. A Business Continuity Plan with six similar annexes for operational continuity is under development. Guidance regarding business continuity in terms of NJT's corporate/administrative functions, the functions of NJT Police as well as the operation of NJT's commuter rail, light rail, access link, bus services and information technology immediately before, during and after an emergency event is included In addition to the CEMP, NJT has also developed redundancy in terms of its emergency operations center with a new mobile emergency operations center. The agency has also upgraded its communications interoperability; and has placed renewed focus on building and sustaining relationships with regional, state and local government agencies/jurisdictions that enhance preparedness and improve outcomes when a disaster occurs. In addition, NJT has undertaken the construction of a new, state‐of‐the‐art Emergency Operations Center. Finally, NJT maintains a robust enterprise‐wide emergency preparedness training program. Annual training on the CEMP and its associated annexes is also conducted. As part of the program NJT personnel from across modes and departments regularly participate in immersive, scenario‐driven, tabletop simulations and exercises through the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) . Additional exercises, tabletop through full scale – some of which are FRA‐mandated – are held throughout the year. Members whose skills are essential to response and recovery attend more than once. The winter storm of January 2016 resulted in the activation of the CEMP, including several of its various annexes. Activation of the plan improved outcomes and reduced customer disruptions. Services were shut down for approximately 24 hours and restored on a rolling basis, with all services recovered within 48 hours. Activation of the plan included a provision for shutting down service to eliminate the risk of bus accidents on snow‐covered streets in low‐visibility conditions and of stranding passengers in trains or buses in a hazardous environment. Shutting down service also allowed for reserving and allocating resources to protection of the system and recovery. Success of the CEMP operations reflected the fact that operations staff and managers of all transit modes had been trained in CEMP procedures. After The winter storm of January 2016, NJT Office of Emergency Management facilitated an after‐ action "hot wash" with management to discuss and detail how NJT operations performed under plan activation and how the CEMP might be changed to improve outcomes even further. The hot wash was supported by hardware and software that records decisions and actions on an active basis during each emergency event. There is also an infrastructure impact assessment during and immediately after the event that assists in understanding what is needed to restore services effectively. Based on the experience of NJT with the winter storm of January 2016, NJT rated itself well prepared for responding and recovering from winter storm events. They rate themselves as progressing toward becoming "very resilient" overall.
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