New York City and state officials announced a study Monday into whether excess heat from subway platforms can be captured, stored underground and used to warm nearby municipal buildings in winter.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Governor Kathy Hochul and the MTA said the project would examine what is known as a Thermal Energy Network at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station serving the 4, 5 and 6 lines, and at the Chambers Street J and Z station, Gothamist reported.
Radiant cooling technology would absorb heat from the platforms and transfer it through pipes to geothermal boreholes drilled beneath the abandoned center platform at Chambers Street, according to the governor's office. The stored heat could then be used during colder months in surrounding city buildings.
Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall is among the system's hottest stations, with average summer temperatures reaching 96 degrees Fahrenheit in 2025, ABC7 reported.
The study will cost roughly $800,000 and is fully funded through congestion pricing revenue.
Mamdani said there are few feelings worse than escaping summer heat only to find a subway platform that is hotter still, and that the city can make platforms more comfortable while putting wasted heat to work in winter.
Hochul said the partnership was harnessing climate technology for what she called a truly cool purpose, and described it as the kind of solution effective city and state cooperation can produce.
MTA Chair and Chief Executive Janno Lieber said officials were exploring approaches that have not previously been tested in transit systems.
The study coincides with a planned overhaul of the 113-year-old Chambers Street station, funded through congestion pricing revenue in the MTA's 2020-2024 capital plan. That project will rebuild structures, replace tiles, upgrade stairways and address water damage. The MTA expects to award a contract by the end of 2026.