Second Ave. Sagas

A weekend mess at Fulton St.

Written by

Benjamin Kabak

in

Planning on transferring from the 2 or 3 at Fulton St. to another subway line this weekend? Well, don’t.

As part of the work on the Fulton St. Transit Center, the ramp and passageway connecting the 2 and 3 platform with the IND Fulton St. stop at Broadway/Nassau St. (A/C) and the Lexington Ave. IRT trains (4/5) will be closed. A press release from Transit has more:

Customers will not be able to transfer between the 2/3 and A trains [at Fulton Street]. They may transfer between the 2/3 and the uptown A at Park Place-Chambers Street. Brooklyn-bound A trains will operate on the F line between West 4th Street and Jay Street this weekend. Travelers wishing to make a transfer between the uptown A and the downtown 4/5 must ask the station agent for a transfer ticket, exit the station and reenter at Broadway.

In addition, there are no transfers at Fulton Street/Broadway Nassau Street between 2/3 and 4/5 trains. Customers should plan to transfer between the 2/3 and 4 at Nevins Street in Brooklyn. Signs announcing the service changes have been posted on trains and station platforms and pamphlets are also available at the station booth. Station personnel and platform conductors will be on hand to help riders with directions. Announcements will be made on the affected trains and at the station. We apologize for any inconvenience to customers and urge them to allow extra time for travel.

Yikes. Anyway, don’t forget to check out our map from Subway Weekender that shows just how the subway changes impact travel. Download this week’s version right here or by clicking on the image below. Remember: These weekend service changes come to me from the MTA and are subject to change without notice. Check signs in your local station and listen for on-board announcements for up-to-the minute changes. The specific alerts follow.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, there are no transfers at Fulton Street-Broadway Nassau Street between 2/3 and 4/5 trains or between 2/3 and A trains due to Phase II construction of the Fulton Street Transit Center. Customers may transfer between the 2/3 and 4 at Nevins Street in Brooklyn and between the 2/3 and uptown A at Park Place-Chambers Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, downtown 1/2 trains skip 66th, 59th, and 50th Streets due to tunnel lighting installation.


From 12:01 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22, overnight 3 trains operate to and from 34th Street-Penn Station due to tunnel lighting installation.


From 1 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, November 22, downtown 4 trains run local from 125th Street to Grand Central-42nd Street due to signal cable pull.


From 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sunday, November 22, downtown 5 trains run local from 125th Street to Grand Central-42nd Street due to a signal cable pull.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 10 p.m. Sunday, November 22, Manhattan-bound 7 trains skip 111th, 103rd, 90th, 82nd, 74th, 69th, 52nd, 46th, 40th, and 33rd Streets due to track panel installation.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, Manhattan-bound A trains run local from Euclid Avenue to Canal Street, then express to 59th Street-Columbus Circle, then trains run local to 125th Street. The work being done on this line includes the Chambers Street Signal Modernization, station rehab at 59th Street-Columbus Circle, and a track chip-out at 163rd Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, uptown A trains run express from 125th to 168th Streets due to the track chip-out at 163rd Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, Brooklyn-bound A trains run local from 168th Street to West 4th Street, then on the F line to Jay Street, then resume local A service to Euclid Avenue due to the Chambers Street Signal Modernization project.


At all times until January 18, 2010, the Far Rockaway-bound platforms at Beach 67th, Beach 44th, and Beach 25th, are closed for rehabilitation.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, there are no C trains running due to the Chambers Street Signal Modernization project. Customers should take the A instead. (Note: A trains run local in Manhattan and Brooklyn with exceptions. See above.)


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21, to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, uptown D trains run local from 125th Street to 145th Street due to the track chip-out at 163rd Street.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, November 20 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, there are no D trains between Pacific Street and 34th Street due to construction of the free transfer passageway from Broadway-Lafayette Street to Bleecker Street. N trains and free shuttle buses provide alternate service.


From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Saturday, November 21, Manhattan-bound D trains skip 167th, 161st, and 155th Streets due to track cleaning.


From 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday, November 22, Bronx-bound D trains skip 155th Street due to track cleaning.


From 8:30 p.m. Friday, November 20 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, there are no G trains between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Court Square due to track maintenance. Customers should take the E or R instead.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, Coney Island-bound N trains run express on the D line from 36th Street to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue due to NYC DOT repair work on the 65th Street bridge.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, Coney Island-bound N trains run local from Pacific Street to 36th Street due to due to installation of communications equipment at DeKalb Avenue.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, Manhattan-bound N trains run local from 59th Street (Brooklyn) to Pacific Street due to installation of communications equipment at DeKalb Avenue.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, Coney Island-bound N trains run on the R line from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to installation of communications equipment at DeKalb Avenue.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, Manhattan-bound N trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from DeKalb Avenue to Canal Street due to track maintenance in the Montague tunnel.


From 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22, free shuttle buses replace N trains between Ditmars Blvd. and Queensboro Plaza due to switch maintenance and Amtrak bridge repairs at Ditmars Blvd.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, November 21 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, Coney Island-bound Q trains run on the R line from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to track maintenance in the Montague tunnel.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November 22, Manhattan-bound R trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from DeKalb Avenue to Canal Street due to track maintenance in the Montague tunnel.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, November 20 to 5:30 a.m. Monday, November 23, free shuttle buses replace R trains between 36th and 95th Streets due to NYC DOT repair work on the 65th Street Bridge.


From 10:30 p.m. Friday, November 20 to 5 a.m. Monday, November 23, free shuttle buses replace S trains between Rockaway Park and Beach 60th Street due to station rehab work.

Comments

15 responses to “A weekend mess at Fulton St.”

  1. AlexB

    How come the F is finally working, did they give up on that whole viaduct rehab thing?

    Reply
    1. Jerrold

      Maybe they FINISHED it!

      Reply
      1. Benjamin Kabak

        The project isn’t scheduled to be finished until 2011. It’s not done. They just don’t need to close the local tracks for the work they’re doing this weekend.

        Reply
      2. Jerrold

        Oh yes, and it seems that this is the first weeekend on a LONG time on which there are no service changes on the F, and none on the E. Both of these facts seem almost too good to be true.

        Reply
      3. Jerrold

        Ben, I think my last comment and your last comment “crossed” each other.

        What about the E?
        Are they at least finished with the work that was requiring the incoming E to go down 6th Ave., and only until 34th St.?

        Reply
        1. Benjamin Kabak

          For now. The MTA slows down the major disruptions when a lot of tourists are in town. I would expect to see fewer changes between now and New Years.

          Reply
  2. jamabam

    “Planning on transferring from the 2 or 3 at Fulton St. to another subway line this weekend? Well, don’t.”

    LOLOL!! that was great.

    Reply
  3. Ed

    To be fair, I just used the Fulton Street station to transfer between lines two days ago (and it was the easiest possible transfer, 2 to the M), and I was reminded about what a mess that place is when its working “normally”. I think the new station, or transit center, or whatever is needed. Not as needed as the 2nd Avenue subway but it should be a higher priority than the 7 extension. If you deliberately set out to make a series of passages linking different subway lines as un-user friendly and depressing as possible, I’m not sure if you would wind up with anything much different than the current Fulton Street connections.

    One thing though, the 2/3/4/5/M/J/Z, plus the N and the R (though not the A and C) connections can be done much more easily at Boro Hall, only three stops away.

    Reply
    1. Henry Man

      The reason why it is so confusing is because the station was a shared station for 3 independent entities back then. It was well after Unification when fare barriers (that existed at the foot of the ramps) were removed. Even when the barriers were removed, the number of ramps used were rather intimidating as well.

      The FSTC project involves extending the mezzanine level in both directions so that ramps would be removed, and that there will be no need to use the A/C platform for a transfer passageway (effectively freeing up some of the crowding here).

      Borough Hall is one of the worst places to transfer. That station is even more confusing than FSTC. It took me around 7 minutes to get from the last car of the southbound 4 to the R platform at Borough Hall. The thing is, I had to cross-over to the uptown platform, walk all the way down (500 feet), then walk through the passageway to the uptown 2. Walk down the platform, go through another passageway, a flight of stairs…

      FSTC got a lot of publicity, especially after the attacks. Of course, it is close to ground zero of FiDi, so there was a lot of politics involved. Borough Hall, though important, is not so attention-grasping as FSTC.

      Reply
      1. Adam G

        Henry Man, just for reference, unless you’re going to Lawrence St or DeKalb Ave, it’s best to just stay on the 4 until Atlantic/Pacific and change to the R there.

        The transfer between the Brooklyn-bound 4 platform and any of the other lines in the complex isn’t great; I live in the area, and I generally think of the 2/3/R and 4/5 stations as being two separate stations. I still don’t think it’s worse than Fulton St, though

        Reply
        1. Henry Man

          Technically, they are technically different stations. The 4/5 station was built first. Then the Clark Street Tunnel (the 2/3) opened later. Out of the matter of logistics, it was decided to have the inbound platform to be at level with the 4/5. The Montague Tunnel opened a year later. At that time, it was run by the BRT, who didn’t want to offer a connection to the then competing IRT.

          Fulton Street is a story by itself. The IRT lines were the first to exist there. However, at that time, they were 2 blocks apart and the company saw no incentive to construct a passageway between them. No physical connection existed until 1931 when the Nassau Street Subway opened. Ramps and passageways showed up for the first time and where lined with turnstiles at the end of each ramp. This made sense as the construction of the Nassau Street line was, relatively, concurrent with the construction of the 8th Avenue line (which opened in 1932). Again, the companies did not seek to offer free connections, so the idea of a seamless interchange did not exist until well after the Unification.

          To be frank, even with the Unification, barriers were not removed wholescale until the fare jumped from 5c to 10c. Many transfers then were not physical, transfer tickets were used (42nd Street and 5th Avenue)

          Reply
  4. Eric

    Why doesn’t the MTA just give up the pretense that the G ever runs to Forest Hills?

    Reply
    1. Andrew

      Because the Queens politicians object strenuously every time the MTA tries, and the MTA ends up dropping it.

      The weekend G to Forest Hills was only added in 2001 as a political concession, and the MTA made it quite clear at the time that it would rarely actually run.

      Reply
  5. Ed

    Actually many of the transfers on the subway were jerry-rigged from formerly independent lines and are pretty crappy. Fixing them should be a pretty high capital construction priority.

    At Borough Hall, getting between the M and R and the 2,3,4,5 is somewhat difficult because you are travelling between two stations, Court Street and Borough Hall itself, separated by two blocks. Its like trying to get between the 2,3, and F on 14th Street. But its hard to see how switching between the 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 could be any easier. To switch between the number trains, people are much better off trying to do that at Borough Hall than at Fulton Street.

    Reply
    1. Henry Man

      The psychology then was then to compete with other companies. That is why companies built lines parallel to each other without offering an interchange.

      It is in recent did they began to speak of passenger convenience more.

      Reply

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