For Queens residents who live along the 7 train, the last few weekends have been headache-inducing, to say the least. With no 7 trains between Times Square and Queensboro Plaza, those heading east (or into the city) had to find alternate routes involving transfers, shuttle buses or the N and R trains. This work was to continue for the next three weekends, but Transit announced earlier this week that the work had wrapped up ahead of schedule. For Queens residents, this came as welcome news indeed.
“We were able to accomplish a lot of extremely important work in a shorter time period than we had planned and we are grateful for the patience of 7 Line riders for whom this service is a lifeline on the weekend,” NYC Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast said in a statement. “After meeting with the community, we took another hard look at what we could do to restore service as quickly as possible.”
Transit says they replaced the tracks on the curve leaving Vernon-Jackson and installed a new switch at Hunter’s Point station. Workers shored up the tunnel wall in the Steinway Tube and installed the elevator shaft at Court House Square. With this announcement of an early completion, 7 train riders are in for a smooth ride until after the baseball season when Transit plans to conduct track work near the 111th St. station.
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Although I feel bad for the residents of LIC, since their weekend travel involved shuttle buses, I do have to say that service along the rest of the line was more consistent and frequent than usual (perhaps due to the overall shortening of the route). It reminded me of when they eliminated Express service for a while a year or two ago…the trains were on-time and uncrowded, 61st-Woodside to Grand Central in about 15 minutes. BEST THING EVER.
So the work at 111th Street starts in July? Because the baseball season ends early in Queens.
(Sorry. Couldn’t help it.)
It’s worth keeping this happy story in mind when you read all the stuff about TA workers being lazy, over paid, et al.
It’s March, I’m sure we’ll learn in the next post that it was actually leprechauns who did it ;p.
It’s amazing how much Transit Workers can accomplish when they get to work on time and stay all day.
The TA has been posting pictures oand videos off the orange vested elves on their Twitter site. It is really pretty amazing how much deconstruction and reconstruction takes place out of the public eye. Too bad that Transit Reality TV program (recent NYTimes) got shelved. Would have been more relevant than Ice Road Truckers!
[…] advisories. Subway Weekender has the map, and it’s worth repeating that work on the 7 line has wrapped three weeks early. As always, these comes to me via the MTA and are subject to change without notice. Listen to […]