The weekend service advisories can be found in the bottom half of this post. To skip right to them, click here.
As the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks arrived on a gray and rainy Friday, our city’s attention again turned to security. The Times looked at ways in which we’ve put the attacks behind us a city, but not everyone felt confident that the city is safer than it was eight years ago. ABC News looked at subway security and came away alarmed.
Despite hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to create a state-of-the-art surveillance system for New York City’s subway system, the monitoring technology is still not in place and experts say the city’s underground transportation tunnels remain a leading and unnecessarily vulnerable target to terrorism eight years after the 9/11 attacks devastated the country.
“Terrorists, if they did surveillance, would know that security hasn’t really improved since 9/11,” said former national security officer Richard Clarke, now an ABC News consultant…
Four years ago, the MTA awarded a more than $200 million contract t Lockheed Martin to create a surveillance system to monitor NYC’s subway systems. The technology was supposed to be in operation last year, but it remains unimplemented as Lockheed Martin and the MTA are currently suing each other over the contract and all work has stopped.
The MTA has “already paid $250 to $300 million to Lockheed and the only thing they have to show for it is litigation, being in court,” said NYC Transportation Committee Chairman John Liu.
While Washington, Atlanta and other major cities have installed similar surveillance systems, New York police have had to add extra officers to patrol its subways as it awaits its own high tech system – a system that MTA Executive Director Katherine Lapp said would alert authorities so that “hopefully we can respond and hopefully prevent an attack from happening.”
This is, of course, not really breaking news to those of us who have followed the story. What is shocking though is the federal government’s response to it. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano basically had no idea that the MTA had suffered through costly delays in securing the system or was engaged in a lawsuit with Lockheed Martin. “I ride the subway, the mayor rides the subway, the vice mayor rides the subway,” she said to ABC. “So the overall safety of the subways is safe. Now are we there yet on technology? That I can’t comment to.”
Maybe cameras aren’t the way to secure the subway. Maybe increased police presence is all we need to deter any potential attack. But even now, eight years later, the MTA’s security measures remain a work in progress.
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Here are your weekend service advisories. These come to me right from the MTA and are subject to change with no notice. Check signs in your local station and listen to on-board announcements.
From 11:30 p.m. Friday, September 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, there are no 1 trains operating between 34th Street and South Ferry due to a track chip-out at Chambers Street station. 2 and 3 trains provide alternate service between 34th Street and Chambers Street. Free shuttle buses replace 1 trains between Chambers Street and South Ferry. Note: Downtown 23 trains skip Christopher, Houston, Canal, and Franklin Streets.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, downtown 1 trains skip 96th Street due to station rehabilitation.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, downtown 2 trains skip 96th Street, then run local from 86th to 14th Streets. Uptown 2 trains run local from Chambers Street to 96th Street. These changes are due to a track chip-out at Chambers Street and station rehabilitation at 96th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, downtown 3 trains skip 96th Street, then run local from 86th Street to 14th Street due to a track chip-out at Chambers Street and station rehabilitation at 96th Street. Note: Overnight downtown 3 trains stop at 86th and 79th Streets, then run express from 72nd to 42nd Streets.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, uptown 3 trains run local from Chambers Street to 96th Street due to a track chip-out at Chambers Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, Manhattan-bound 6 trains run express from Hunts Point Avenue to 3rd Avenue-138th Street due to a concrete pour at East 143rd Street-St. Mary’s Street.
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, September 12, Bronx-bound 6 trains run express from Hunts Point Avenue to Parkchester due to rail replacement at St. Lawrence Avenue.
At all times until January 18, 2010, Far Rockaway-bound A trains skip Beach 67th, Beach 44th, and Beach 25th Streets due to station rehabilitations. – This is a permanent service change until mid-January.
From 5 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 10 p.m. Sunday, September 13, Coney Island-bound D trains run on the N line from 36th Street to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue due to 38th Street Yard work.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, D trains run local in both directions between 34th Street and West 4th Street due to a track chip-out in the 53rd Street tunnel.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, E trains are rerouted on the F line in Manhattan and Queens due to a track chip-out in the 53rd Street tunnel:
- There are no E trains between 34th Street-Penn Station and World Trade Center. Customers should take the A instead.
- Manhattan-bound E trains run on the F from Roosevelt Avenue to 34th Street-6th Avenue.
- Queens-bound E trains run on the F from 34th Street-Herald Square to 47th-50th Sts. Trains resume normal E service from 5th Avenue-53rd Street to Jamaica Center.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, Manhattan-bound E platforms at Queens Plaza, 23rd Street/Ely Avenue, Lexington Avenue-53rd Street and 5th Avenue stations are closed due to a track chip-out in the 53rd Street tunnel. Customers may take the R or G instead. Note: Free shuttle buses connect the Court Square G/23rd Street-Ely Avenue, Queens Plaza, and 21st Street-Queensbridge F stations.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, Queens-bound E trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue due to cable work north of Roosevelt Avenue.
From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, Manhattan-bound E trains run local on the F line from Roosevelt Avenue to 21st Street-Queensbridge due to track maintenance.
From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, Jamaica-bound E trains run local from Queens Plaza to Roosevelt Avenue due to track maintenance.
From 12:30 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, F trains run local between Roosevelt Avenue and 21st Street-Queensbridge due to track maintenance.
From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, Queens-bound G trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue due to cable work north of Roosevelt Avenue.
From 8:30 p.m. to midnight Friday, September 11, and from 6:30 a.m. to midnight Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, there are no G trains between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Court Square due to the track chip-out in the 53rd Street tunnel. Brooklyn-bound customers may take the R to Queens Plaza, transfer to a shuttle bus connecting to Court Square. Queens-bound customers may take the E instead. Note: Queens-bound E and R trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue.
From 4:30 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 10 p.m. Sunday, September 13, there are no J trains between Broadway Junction and Myrtle Avenue due to switch renewal north of Broadway Junction. Free shuttle buses provide alternate service.
From 4:30 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 10 p.m. Sunday, September 13, there are no M trains running due to switch renewal north of Broadway Junction. Rerouted J trains replace the M between Myrtle and Metropolitan Avenues.
From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13 and from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, Manhattan-bound N trains skip Lawrence Street due to station rehabilitation and construction of the underground connector at Lawrence Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, Brooklyn-bound N trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to station rehabilitation and construction of the underground connector at Lawrence Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, September 12 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, N trains run local between DeKalb Avenue and 59th Street-4th Avenue due to station rehabilitation and construction of the underground connector at Lawrence Street.
At all times until December 2009, the Coney Island-bound side of the Avenue U and Neck Road stations are closed for rehabilitation. Customers should use Kings Highway B/Q, Sheepshead Bay B/Q, or Avenue U F stations as alternatives.
From 9:30 a.m. Friday, September 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, free shuttle buses replace Q trains between Prospect Park and Kings Highway due to Brighton line station rehabs.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, Brooklyn-bound R trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to station rehabilitation and construction of the underground connector at Lawrence Street.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, Manhattan-bound R trains skip Lawrence Street due to station rehabilitation and construction of the underground connector at Lawrence Street.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, Queens-bound R trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue due to cable work north of Roosevelt Avenue.
From 10:30 p.m. Friday, September 11 to 5 a.m. Monday, September 14, there are no Rockaway Park Shuttle S trains between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park due to station rehabilitations at Beach 105th Street and Beach 90th Street. A trains and free shuttle buses provide alternate service.
4 comments
Perhaps ABC news should not be “advertising” that information publicly. Why give anybody ideas?
It’s news. It deserves to reported because New Yorkers have a right and a need to know about these issues. ABC isn’t reporting anything — Lockheed lawsuits, slow rates of adoption for technology — that haven’t been readily available elsewhere for years.
What is a “track chip out” exactly?
Chipping old track that’s embedded in/attached to concrete out so that new track can be laid.