New York City Transit (NYCT) will soon use far less energy to keep its tracks clear of ice during the winter months, thanks in part to a $2 million award from the TIGGER Program.

NYCT operates the city’s subway system and maintains 660 miles of track, including ground-level sections that are exposed to the elements. Each autumn, the agency activates nearly 1,000 heaters to ensure the tracks’ third rail remains ice-free. The heaters stay on throughout the winter and early spring, regardless of the outside temperature, resulting in substantial energy waste.

To reduce energy use, NYCT is installing about 350 wireless control points that will link to about 600 of the third-rail heaters, enabling the agency to monitor, activate, and deactivate the heaters from a central location, as weather conditions require. These energy efficiency improvements will lead to a direct reduction in NYCT’s annual power consumption.

The NYCT Remote Third-Rail Heater Project is projected to reduce the heating system’s energy use by more than 90%, resulting in substantial energy savings for NYCT over the 20-year project lifetime.

New York Power Authority is financing and procuring materials, and NYCT is using the TIGGER award to fund labor for installing the wireless control points and setting up the control systems. The project is expected to be complete in the spring of 2012.