A test train arrives at Broad Channel. (Photo via MTA New York City Transit)
Seven months after Sandy swept through, the A train returns. Beginning tomorrow at noon, the A will again run from Howard Beach to the Rockaways. First announced two weeks ago, this service restoration is approximately a month ahead of schedule, but despite the good news, lots of Sandy-related work looms large in the future.
As part of the relaunch of the A train tomorrow, the MTA will run a Nostalgia Train from Howard Beach to the peninsula. The R1s and R9s will depart at 10:30 a.m. with various agency officials and local dignitaries on board. There will be speeches at Rockaway Park-Beach 116th Street Station, and then regular A/S service begins anew. If you want to ride the H train, get thee to the Rockaways as tonight and tomorrow morning are your last chances.
7 comments
So the first in-service trains to use the new Rockaway-Jamaica Bay crossing will actually be about 20 years older than the first trains to use the original Rockaway-Jamaica Bay crossing 57 years ago when A service to the peninsula began. And neither train is/was part of the regular A railcar fleet, but was brought in for the special occasion — in 1956 because the TA wanted their newest cars to show off their newest line, and in 2013 because they want their oldest functioning cars to welcome back an old service.
Interesting little oddball fact, but like the restoration of the Port Jervis line following Irene, it’s a credit to the MTA to get things back in just over half a year, and to now have all pre-Sandy stops reopened again (minus, of course, the rear five cars of the 1 train at South Ferry).
Speaking of old train cars, does anyone know if the MTA will do the summer shuffle and move all those R32s back onto the A again?
The original Rockaway-Jamaica Bay crossing 57 years ago… in comic form: http://www.rockawaymemories.com/R-DAY.htm
Credit goes to Gothamist poster “chuzzlewit” for digging that up.
Based on the pictures of the damage I saw I think this is a tremendous achievement by all concerned – and especially by the men and women who did all the hard work of removing the c**p from the damaged tracks after the storm right through to relaying the tracks and repairing the signals etc etc etc
They are the ones who deserve the credit !
This nostalgia ride is public? Or only elected officals are invited?
If the MTA and the city want to promote the Rockaways they should really run some reverse-peak A trains to Rockaway Park on weekends this summer for us day-trippers so we don’t have to keep waiting for the shuttle at Broad Channel. It’s comical to watch the parade of boogie boards and sunscreened bodies lumber out and wait there on a Saturday at noon.
Might also be useful to put some signs at Howard Beach/JFK on summer weekends to move to the front of the platform as the rears of the trains get ridiculously packed in the afternoons.
Suitcases and surfboards don’t mix!