It’s Christmas time in the city, and the Big Apple will slow down for a day. Today — Friday — sees the trains run on a Sunday schedule. The rest of the weekend is pretty light. With so many tourists in town and workers at home for the holidays, the MTA isn’t running too many diversions this weekend. Enjoy it while it lasts.
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.
From 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 27, there are no 5 trains running between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and East 180th Street due to rail repairs between 149th Street and Jackson Avenue. Customers should use the 2 train for service to affected stations.
From 4:00 a.m. Saturday, December 26 to 10:00 p.m. Sunday, December 27, Manhattan-bound 7 trains skip 111th, 103rd, 90th, and 82nd Streets due to track panel installation.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 26 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, December 28, uptown-bound A trains skip 135th, 155th and 163rd Streets due to a track chip-out at 163rd Street.
From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday December 26 and Sunday, December 27, uptown-bound C trains skip 135th, 155th and 163rd Streets due to a track chip-out at 163rd Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 26 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, December 28, uptown-bound D trains run local from 125th Street to 145th Street due to a track chip-out at 163rd Street (the D replaces the C at 135th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, December 26 to 5:00 a.m. Monday, December 28, uptown-bound D trains run local from 59th Street-Columbus Circle to 125th Street due to track work at 110th Street.
From 12:01 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Sunday, December 27, Brooklyn-bound F trains skip 23rd and 14th Streets due to track cleaning.
From 12:01 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Saturday, December 26 and Sunday, December 27, uptown-bound Q trains run local from Canal Street to 34th Street-Herald Square due to track work prep at 14th Street-Union Square.
6 comments
I was headed for JFK yesterday. I took the 6 and switched to the E at 51st. Between 67th and Forest Hills, the E stopped on the tracks for several minutes; the automated announcement said only that there was train traffic ahead. Eventually there was a different automated announcement saying the train would be canceled because of an incident ahead. Then the train pulled into Forest Hills, slowly, and there was an incomprehensible manual announcement; the announcement turned out to be that the train would be rerouted to 179th and skip Jamaica Station.
I only made my flight by getting out at Forest Hills and taking a taxi. Somehow I don’t think the MTA would agree to refund the taxi fare.
Article in the paper said a guy got hit and killed by a train there so that was what held your train up.
Oh, fuck. What happened?
Stuff happens. If your cab had gotten stuck in a monster traffic jam and you missed your flight, would you have expected the cab driver to reimburse you for your airline ticket?
You could have stayed on to Union Turnpike and gotten the Q10 bus there. Or, if you were running late, a taxi (for a shorter distance than from Forest Hills).
Or if you really wanted to ride AirTrain, it’s not a long walk (under half a mile) from Sutphin and Hillside.
It’s always good to have a plan B.
Andrew, trains can run far more punctually than cars. In Germany and Japan, train delays of more than 5 minutes are rare. Traffic jams occur anywhere.
I got on a taxi at Forest Hills because I didn’t know how long the train would take to travel to Jamaica. I might have stayed if the dispatcher had given more information – “We’re unable to run on our usual route, but we’ll run on the F without additional delays.” Then I might have walked to the AirTrain.
I wouldn’t take a bus without seeing a schedule first. Unlike transit agencies in Portland and LA, New York City Transit doesn’t publish frequent bus maps, let alone put them on subway trains. And I only trusted that I’d be able to flag a taxi because I was on Queens Boulevard.
If somebody gets hit by a train, service will be delayed. Anywhere in the world. My point is that this isn’t the MTA’s fault, any more than a traffic jam is the cab driver’s fault.
Presumably, the bulk of the delay had already passed by the time you got to Forest Hills – by that point, the decision had been made to reroute, and trains were moving again. I don’t think you would have been delayed staying on two more stops.
The Q10 is a major route. It’s fairly frequent, and, better yet, Union Turnpike is the first stop, so there’s a good chance you would have found a driver or dispatcher to answer your questions. And it’s still on Queens Boulevard, so it wouldn’t have been any harder to find a taxi.
So there’s your plan B in case this happens to you again.