With snow set to arrive — at some point? by this evening? eventually? — the MTA has announced that all weekend subway work is canceled. Barring any drifts that build up in the system’s at-grade sections, service will run as per the normal weekend schedule. There is however a catch: The 7 train to Manhattan remains suspended.
According to Transit, in order to protect trains and remove them from the Corona Yard, 7 service will operate between Main Street and Queensboro Plaza with a train shuttle connection to Vernon-Jackson Avenues. The 7 will not run into Manhattan beginning at around midnight and ending when trains can be safely returned to the Yard, but no earlier than late morning tomorrow. In the meantime, the 42nd St. Shuttle will run all night, and N service — but not the Q — will allow for connections from Manhattan to the 7 at Queensboro.
In other weather-related news, Metro-North has issued a series of service advisories, and the LIRR will halt service if snow piles start to reach 10 inches or more. The MTA, Gov. Cuomo and the mayor have all urged New Yorkers to travel out of the city earlier rather than later today.
8 comments
How much storm surge are they expecting at Flushing River?
I saw an interesting, but laughable, post on Facebook that said that upstate New York was expecting 956′ of snow. Better pack up…
“halt service if snow piles start to reach 10 inches or more.”
A one million pound train can’t handle 10″ of snow? 3rd rail issue?
Or are they shutting down so crews can collect copper?
LIRR always seems to have it in for passengers and taxpayers.
In some parts of the LIRR there is no third rail. So there is likely no third rail issue.
The LIRR is probably shutting down because it doesn’t have cowcatchers that shovel away the snow in front of the train, and 10″ of snow could be potentially hazardous in that case. Derailments could even occur.
I ended up stuck with my family for a day on the LIRR between Babylon and Patchogue trying to get back into the city during the Blizzard of ’69 (to be specific, we were stuck on LIRR Car No. 10, which I would later learn was a P-54D built in the 1920s and whose heater didn’t make it to late winter of ’69).
They finally got an eastbound diesel out there late at night to get us back to Patchogue, but the experience wasn’t a fun one. In these days of heightened media awareness, cellphone cameras and drop-of-the-hat lawsuits, I can understand why the MTA would be wary of similar situations
That was 44 years ago! Things have changed dramatically since then (I haven’t even been alive that long.)
Besides, why would the LIRR use 50-year-old railcars in a blizzard?
The MTA was all of 10 months old at the time and the M-1s were just getting on property. Forty- and even fifty-plus year old MP-54s were still as much a part of the LIRR as the Standards were on the LL and the wooden Q cars were on the Myrtle Ave. el in early 1969.
7 train service General Order is cancelled.