LIRR'S BILLION-DOLLAR FIX.

The Long Island Railroad is now winding up a five-year, 1. 1-billion capital improvement program. The big-ticket items in LIRR's program are 186 million worth of new cars, a 238-million shop complex, a 189-million storage yard, and a 154-million extension of electrification (28 miles from Hicksville to Ronkonkoma). Transit America (formerly the Budd Co. 's Rail Division) is supplying 174 cars, designated M-3, at a cost of slightly more than 1 million a piece. As of mid-January, 78 of these cars were on the property with the remainder due to be phased in by the end of 1986. Equipment availability, and attendance relief for riders during peak-hour rushes, will be further enhanced when two other major projects in the current capital program are completed - the 238-million new Hillside shop complex, which will replace a number of existing old facilities (one of which dates back to 1889); and the new 189-million West Side storage yard near Penn Station in Manhattan, which will relieve the railroad of the need to store its trains in the nether reaches of Long Island, far from where the peak-hour action is.