Home New York City Transit Subways, LIRR set for 6 a.m. return; Metro-North still out

Subways, LIRR set for 6 a.m. return; Metro-North still out

by Benjamin Kabak

Tracks at 145th St.and Lenox Ave under water. Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Leonard Wiggins

While The Post promised subway service by noon tomorrow, the MTA had other plans. Governor Andrew Cuomo and MTA head Jay Walder announced that subway service will begin to return at 6 a.m. on Monday, in time for the morning rush. Full service won’t come back right away, and trains will run less frequently. Meanwhile, Metro-North service will remain suspended throughout Monday while the LIRR will run trains on some routes tomorrow.

“Today government worked,” Gov. Cuomo said. “Days of preparation and coordination prevented much injury and loss. The MTA will begin resumption of subway service Monday morning. I applaud the good work of the thousands of MTA professionals, National Guard and first responders for their advanced planning. Suspending service allowed the MTA to secure equipment, thus expediting the return to service. None of us should underestimate the damage caused by Hurricane Irene. One thing we can all be proud of is how New Yorkers came together as one. In the darkest hours New Yorkers shine the brightest. They did once again.”

While subway service should allow for a mostly normal Monday morning, Metro-North, which suffered the brunt of the damage, remains down, and the LIRR does as well. “We still have a lot of work to do in parts of our 5,000-mile territory that were hit extremely hard by the storm, but we can now see very visible progress,” Walder said tonight.

The 6 a.m. launch is right now just a general guideline. The Staten Island Railway will resume normal service at midnight, and there a a few exceptions for the Monday commute. The MTA is warning that trains will be more crowded and waits longer than usual. The other important changes include the following:

  • 3 trains will operate between 137th Street/City College and New Lots Avenue; Substitute bus service will be provided between Harlem 148th Street and 135th Street connecting with the 2 train.
  • C trains suspended; A trains will make all local stops from 207th St. to Lefferts Blvd.?
  • No service in the Rockaways. (Rockaway Blvd. to Far Rockaway and Rockaway Park)
  • 6 trains runs local in the Bronx
  • 7 trains run local
  • S Franklin Avenue Shuttle (FAS) suspended
  • N trains terminate at Kings Highway. Shuttle bus service between Kings Highway and Stillwell Terminal.

For those coming in from outside of the city, though, the story is a different one. The Long Island Rail Road plans to operate regular rush hour service to and from Babylon, Huntingon, Ronkonkoma, Hempstead, West Hempstead and Port Washington while service to and from Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson, Long Beach, Far Rockaway and Montauk remains suspended.

There will be no Metro-North service at all on Monday. According to the MTA, the problems plaguing the commuter rail are numerous. They include:

  • The signal system is not fully functioning on any of the three lines.
  • Various sections of track along Hudson line have been damaged by mudslides and washouts. One mudslide in the area of Spuyten Duyvil has also undermined a home that is up a steep hill from the track. Another mudslide in the area of Scarborough has damaged 300-feet of third rail.
  • There is no signal or third-rail power on the Upper Harlem Line because of downed transmission poles and water-damaged substations.
  • The tracks through Tuckahoe station are flooded with up to 4 feet of water as the Bronx River continues to overflow its banks.
  • There is significant flooding at stations and parking lots. The underpass at Beacon Station is completely under water as is the North White Plains station parking lot.
  • Trees have fallen on the tracks on all three Metro-North lines.
  • West of Hudson, the Port Jervis Line has a dozen severe washouts and both the Port Jervis and Pascack Valley lines have numerous trees on the tracks.

New Jersey Transit to operate ‘light’ rail schedule on Monday

For those coming in from New Jersey, rail service is nearly non-existent. NJ Transit says rail service is suspended “until further notice,” but the Atlantic City Rail Line will operate. Trains will not run to the Meadowlands for Monday night’s Jets/Giants game, but buses will run from Port Authority. NJ Transit will run bus service on a modified weekday schedule. The Hudson-Bergen Light and Rail and River Line will operate on a weekend schedule while the Newark Light Rail will operate on a Saturday schedule. All area airports are expected to be open as well.

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16 comments

Mike August 28, 2011 - 9:09 pm

It’s kind of pitiful that this information isn’t on MTA’s website.

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MattSec110 August 28, 2011 - 9:14 pm

I agree. The MTA should have a list of every line and it’s status for 6am tomorrow.

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Jehiah August 28, 2011 - 9:26 pm

perhaps give them a few minutes? it’s up on their site now.

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Bolwerk August 29, 2011 - 7:27 pm

Wait a sec, I’ve been AWOL from the Internet mostly for the past day and a half, but didn’t they do just that? I saw a list of the lines that would be out on the MTA web site last night before 9pm or so, with a notice that things were generally working otherwise with some delays expected – more or less the information Ben shared in this post.

Hate to say it, but the MTA seemed to be doing a spectacular job keeping up on this one.

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Kai B August 28, 2011 - 9:23 pm

Also agree.

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Matvey August 28, 2011 - 10:18 pm

Would appreciate similar updates on NJ Transit, since all too often, this site seems to know what’s going on, and official sources don’t.

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Benjamin Kabak August 28, 2011 - 10:33 pm

Done and done. NJ Transit info now included in this post.

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Aaron August 28, 2011 - 10:24 pm

Wonder why the Franklin Ave S is suspended? The part near Park Place is elevated, including all the way into Franklin/Fulton, but I guess it does run into that below-grade trench south of Park Pl. Suppose it would make sense for that to be in bad shape, given that the S is often one of the first to go during heavy snow too.

Still, pretty damn amazing that they could get everything back up this quickly.

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Benjamin Kabak August 28, 2011 - 10:28 pm

The below-grade trench was flooded. Saw some photos earlier.

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Kai B August 29, 2011 - 12:07 am Reply
Eric Brasure August 28, 2011 - 11:17 pm

I wonder how many trains they are actually going to be able to move into position by 6AM. Terminating the N at Kings Highway sounds like a good portion of the Coney Island yard is still unusable.

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Alex C August 29, 2011 - 12:29 am

One of the photos had the area around 86 St on the N. flooded worse than the yard just farther south. They’ll probably use the center tracks (well, track north of Kings Hwy…) in the area of Kings Highway as storage for a while or just run less trains.

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Eric Brasure August 29, 2011 - 7:01 am

Oh yeah, that makes sense.

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Kevin August 29, 2011 - 9:18 am

It was a surprisingly easy commute this morning at 7AM. 7 train was running normal service at its regular frequency with both express and local service. Volume was pretty light though. Some people might not have gotten the message that the trains were back.

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John August 29, 2011 - 10:51 am

Did they expect a personal phone call saying they were back? The information was posted in the place where they should have looked for it.

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