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Service Advisories

Weekend work impacting all the subway lines

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 22, 2013

Well, maybe not all, but just about. If you’re riding the D, G or L trains this weekend, you’re OK. Everyone else, pay attention….that is, after this YouTube video of LIRR crews rerailing a derailed train. Enjoy.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, there is no 1 train service between 14th Street and Rector Street due to signal operations and gap filler testing in the old South Ferry Terminal. Customers may take 2 or 3 trains and free shuttle buses as alternatives.

  • Free shuttle buses operate between Chambers Street and South Ferry.
  • 1 trains run express in both directions between 34th Street and 14th Street
  • 2 and 3 trains run local in both directions between 34th Street and Chambers Street
  • Overnight: Downtown 1 trains run local from Times Square-42nd Street to 14th Street


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, there are no 2 trains between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 135th Street due to station rehabilitation at 149th Street-Grand Concourse. 2 service operates in two sections:

  • Between 241st Street and 3rd Avenue-149th Street
  • Between the 148th Street (3) station and Flatbush Avenue

Free shuttle buses operate in three segments:

  • Between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 135th Street only
  • Between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse only
  • Between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and 135th Street only

Note: 5 service is suspended between East 180th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, 2 trains run local in both directions between 34th Street and Chambers Street due to signal operations and gap filler testing in the old South Ferry Terminal.


From 6:30 a.m. to 12 midnight, Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, 3 trains run local in both directions between 34th Street and Chambers Street due to signal operations and gap filler testing in the old South Ferry Terminal.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23, and from 11:45 p.m. Saturday, March 23 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, March 24 and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, March 24 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, downtown 4 trains run express from 125th Street to Grand Central-42nd Street due to track tie block work near 96th Street and 103rd Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, March 23 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, uptown 4 trains run local from Brooklyn Bridge to Grand Central-42nd Street due to electrical work at 14th Street-Union Square.


From 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, there are no 5 trains between East 180th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse due to station rehabilitation at 149th Street-Grand Concourse. 5 service operates in two sections:

  • Between Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street
  • Between 149th Street-Grand Concourse and Bowling Green, every 20 minutes

Customers should use 2 trains and free shuttle buses.

  • Take the 2 between East 180th Street and 3rd Avenue-149th Street.
  • Take the 149th Street shuttle bus between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 149th Street-Grand Concourse.

Note: There is no 2 service between 3rd Avenue-149th Street and 135th Street.


From 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, uptown 5 trains run local from Brooklyn Bridge to Grand Central-42nd Street due to electrical work at 14th Street-Union Square.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, downtown 6 trains run express from 125th Street to Grand Central-42nd Street due to track tie block work near 96th Street and 103rd Street.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25 (last of 13 weekends), there is no 7 train service between Times Square-42nd Street and Queensboro Plaza due to Flushing Line CBTC work. Customers may take the E, N, Q and S (42nd Street shuttle) and free shuttle buses as alternatives.

  • Use the E, N or Q* between Manhattan and Queens
  • Free shuttle buses operate between Vernon Blvd-Jackson Avenue and Queensboro Plaza
  • In Manhattan, the 42nd Street S Shuttle operates overnight

*Q service is extended to Ditmars Blvd. (See Q entry for hours of operation.)


From 10:45 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, uptown A trains are rerouted via the F line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street, then local to 59th Street-Columbus Circle due to cable work north of Jay Street-MetroTech.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 6:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23, from 11:45 p.m. Saturday, March 23 to 6:30 a.m. Sunday, March 24 and from 11:45 p.m. Sunday, March 24 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, Queens-bound A trains run express from Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts to Utica Avenue due to platform edge and tile work at Utica Avenue.


From 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, 168th Street-bound C trains are rerouted via the F line from Jay Street-MetroTech to West 4th Street due to cable work north of Jay Street-MetroTech.


From 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, Euclid Avenue-bound C trains run express from Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts to Utica Avenue due to platform edge and tile work at Utica Avenue.


From 10:45 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, Queens-bound E trains run express from Canal Street to 34th Street-Penn Station due to cable work north of Jay Street-MetroTech.


From 12:15 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24 and from 12:15 a.m. to 5 a.m., Monday, March 25, Jamaica Center-bound E trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Avenue due to ADA work at Forest Hills-71st Avenue.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, Coney Island-bound F trains run express from 34th Street-Herald Square to West 4th Street due to electrical work at 34th Street-Herald Square.


From 5:30 a.m. Saturday, March 23 to 10 p.m. Sunday, March 24, there is no J train service between Crescent Street and Jamaica Center due to structural rehabilitation from Cypress Hills to 130th Street. Free shuttle buses and E trains provide alternate service.

  • J trains operate between Chambers Street and Crescent Street
  • Free shuttle buses operate between Crescent Street and 121st Street, and connect with the E at Jamaica-Van Wyck, where service to and from Sutphin Blvd and Jamaica Center is available.


Until August 2013, M trains will bypass Central Avenue in both directions due to station rehabilitation work at Central Avenue.


From 11:45 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, Brooklyn-bound N trains run express from 34th Street-Herald Square to Canal Street due to track maintenance at 8th Street.


From 11:15 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 5 a.m. Monday, March 25, Coney Island-bound Q trains run express from Prospect Park to Kings Highway due to NYCDOT Emergency Concrete Removal south of Parkside Avenue Station.


From 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, March 23 and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 24, Q trains are extended to Ditmars Blvd. in order to augment service between Manhattan and Queens.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, Brooklyn-bound R trains run express from 34th Street-Herald Square to Canal Street due to track maintenance at 8th Street.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, March 23 and Sunday, March 24, Queens-bound R trains run express from Roosevelt Avenue to Forest Hills-71st Street due to ADA work at Forest Hills-71st Avenue.

(42nd Street Shuttle) (Overnights)
From 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday, March 23, Sunday, March 24, and Monday, March 25, 42nd Street S shuttle operates overnight due to weekend work on the 7 line.


From 9 p.m. Friday, March 22 to 4 a.m. Monday, March 25, all SIR trains will be terminating at the Tompkinsville Station due to maintenance and repair work inside the St. George Terminal. Shuttle buses will provide alternate transportation between Tompkinsville and St. George.

  • St. George shuttle buses will leave from the Skyway
  • Tompkinsville buses will leave from Bay Street/Victory Blvd.
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Queens

Photo: MTA targeting June for Rockaway subway service

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 22, 2013

A sheet wall will help protect vulnerable subway tracks from future storm surges. (Photo via Kevin Ortiz on Twitter)

If all goes according to plan, A train service to the Rockaways could resume in June, Transit spokesperson Kevin Ortiz tweeted today. Ortiz posted a series of photos of ongoing work on Broad Channel as crews are busy repairing and hardening the system. Including in the work is a 40-foot sheet wall across Broad Channel that will provide a seven-foot-tall wall against future storm surges.

The wall will diminish the once-grand views as the A train crosses the channel, but it’s a small sacrifice if it can better protect these vulnerable tracks from future wash-outs. Of course, the storm surge from Sandy topped seven feet in many areas. Hopefully, this wall will be tall enough to adequately protect key infrastructure.

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Queens

NY Congressional reps set to back Rockaway Beach rail reactivation study

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 22, 2013

Could rail return where vegetation has taken over? (Photo via Friends of the QueensWay)

As supporters of QueensWay await RFP responses, the movement to restore rail to the Rockaway Beach Branch line has gained some political allies from Washington, D.C. Hakeem Jeffries and Greg Meeks — two members of New York’s congressional delegation — will throw their support behind those arguing for the rail option this weekend, according to numerous reports.

The Queens Chronicle broke the story yesterday:

Supporters of restoring rail service to the long abandoned Rockaway LIRR line may be about to get a major break in their favor. A source familiar with the plan to bring transit back to the line, which runs from Rego Park to the Rockaways and has been abandoned since 1962, said it will get the backing of the two Congressmen representing southern Queens.

The source says Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) and Greg Meeks (D-Jamaica), whose districts meet at the Ozone Park section of the line, will endorse the proposal and push to allocate federal transportation subsidies to study a plan for bringing rail service back.

The rail idea has been championed by officials in the Rockaways, especially Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Park). Supporters of reactivating the line, which connects to the LIRR’s main route into Penn Station at Rego Park, say it would drastically cut commute times for Rockaway residents, which are among the highest in the city. When the LIRR went to Rockaway Park in the 1950s, it took only about 40 minutes to get from the peninsula to Penn Station. Today, a ride on the A train could take more than twice that. Supporters also argue that the rail line would help spur development in an area that was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

Essentially, Jeffries and Meeks are poised to deliver on the line I’ve been pushing here for a while: If we’re going to spend taxpayer dollars studying the park option, we must also do a thorough assessment of rail reactivation. Any rail usage of the Rockaway Beach Branch right-of-way has the potential to be far more important for Queens’ development, its economy, and its post-Sandy recovery than a park that won’t see much usage.

Still, while the park has generated its own set of opponents, a rail line reactivation would as well. As No Way QueensWay’s Neil Giannelli said to the Chronicle, “Out of all the residents who signed this [anti-park] petition on the block, only one person wanted a train, and he’s a 6-year-old boy who likes choo-choos. Everybody else wants it to be left alone.” How’s that for literal NIMBYism?

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AsidesBrooklyn

Transit finally announces late April opening for Smith-9th Streets

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 21, 2013

It’s not quite the first quarter of 2013, but it will have to do. Barring an earthquake, alien invasion, Godzilla or some other act of God, the Smith/9th Sts. station on the Culver Viaduct will reopen during the week of April 22nd, Transit announced tonight. The station, which has been closed for the better part of two years, has undergone extensive renovations, and although some elements which do not impact overall functionality remain unfinished, the F and G trains can begin stopping there again soon.

“This has been a long and complicated project but we are grateful for the community’s patience while we performed this necessary work,” Thomas F. Prendergast, president of MTA New York City Transit, said in a station. “This station will be 80 years old this summer and this rehabilitation will see it reach that milestone with a much improved appearance and functionality.”

The elevated station — the highest in the system, in fact — spans the Gowanus Canal and serves as the subway gateway to Red Hook. The rehabilitation project has been reconfigured and delayed numerous times, and the 22-month station closure has impacted accessibility in transit-poor parts of Brooklyn. Its return in a month will be quite welcome indeed.

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AsidesSecond Avenue Subway

Link: Anatomy of a SAS construction rescue

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 21, 2013

On Tuesday night, Joseph Barone found himself in a life threatening situation as he trapped in a pit of mud and freezing water in the Second Ave. Subway construction site, 100 feet below street level. For first responders and construction crews, danger similar to that Barone faced has been rare during this subway project as safety has increased over the past century. When the city first built the IRT, 16 workers died, but for the SAS extension, no one has lost a life yet. Tuesday was, in fact, the closest we’ve come to a fatality so far.

Today, The Times goes underground to profile the Barone rescue mission. The worker found himself stuck in mud and pinned beneath plywood as his co-workers struggled to improvise. Using a rig, they braced Barone; using a ConEd suction cup, they tried to clear the mud. Meanwhile, the hours ticked away.

After four hours, Barone was freed, but he suffered ligament damage and hypothermia. One firefighter involved got stuck in the same muck and broke an arm. Two others suffered minor injuries, but all four are expected to make a full recovery. The photos we see of the construction sites are breathtaking, but there’s a human element involved. These workers put themselves at risk every day, and on Tuesday, one narrowly escaped. [The New York Times]

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Penn Station

Once more unto the Penn Station breach

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 21, 2013

According to some critics, this is the ugliest rail station in history. Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Aaron Donovan

Earlier this week, I railed against the New York’s attempts at using the WTC PATH Hub as some great symbol of New York. It may one day be a distinctive building, but $4 billion can buy around half a new Hudson River train tunnel. As the pot for transit infrastructure is seemingly limited and dollars for buildings compete with dollars for actual rail expansion, we shouldn’t be spending money frivolously on fancy building when the area’s economy truly needs transit capacity improvements.

At this point, though, Calatrava’s hub is a foregone conclusion. Too much of it exists for the city to reallocate the money to somewhere more deserving, and it will open in a few years, replacing a temporary PATH terminal no one has ever called inadequate. A few miles uptown, though, a similar battle over Penn Station, Madison Square Garden and the future of West Side rail access is brewing.

I last tackled this topic not too long ago. In mid-February, the controversy over Madison Square Garden’s occupancy permit first reared its head, and I opined on the meaning of Penn Station. A subset of New York’s architectural community cannot seem to move beyond the reality that the current Penn Station is no great shakes. They bemoan decisions made 50 years ago and call upon leaders to reimagine a rail hub as a great public space worthy of the architectural musings of The Times.

Now, as then, Michael Kimmelman has taken charge, and from the headline on down, his latest piece prioritizes Penn Station’s future potential appearance over rail access and capacity. “Seizing a chance to right a wrong” is his angle, and from that alone, we see he’s talking not about improving transit but rather about improving the outward appearance of Penn Station.

“New York is at a crossroads,” he writes in the lede. “After half a century a fleeting opportunity has finally arrived to address the disaster of Penn Station, the nation’s busiest and most appalling transit hub, and to reimagine a new West Side for Midtown Manhattan that could be a center for development and innovation.”

Hello, hyperbole.

How goes the rest?

Because public officials haven’t wanted to derail Moynihan, they have soft-pedaled the figures, leaving many New Yorkers with the illusion that Moynihan will replace Penn Station and solve its problems. But just Amtrak will move there, not the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit. At the same time demands on Penn Station are about to explode, with the development of the Hudson Yards and the third phase of the High Line; the prospect of Metro North’s trains and its commuters coming into Penn Station after the completion of East Side Access; and Amtrak’s proposed Gateway Project, a first step toward high-speed rail, which could double the number of Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains coming into Manhattan.

It’s not only that Penn Station, designed a half-century ago in a declining city for what seemed then an unlikely capacity of 200,000 passengers a day, is now handling more than twice that number. It is also a shabby, hopelessly confusing entry point to New York, a daily public shame on the city. The station fails to conform to certain fire codes and safety regulations, local officials concede. Possible fixes being explored by Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and the Long Island Rail Road, which have hired the consulting firm Aecom, don’t address the big, systemic problems, because they can’t. Not with the Garden there.

But here’s the bright side. Madison Square Garden has moved twice since its inception in 1879, and its present building is its fourth. Yes, the Dolans and their customers benefit from the perch above Penn Station. But there are options aside from the Morgan building to which the Garden might move again, options linked to mass transit, that should be attractive to its owners and fans.

At a certain point, I’ve almost begun to feel bad for Penn Station. It’s certainly not the most scenic of train stations, and as an entry point in the city, it sure pales in comparison with Grand Central. But the scorn heaped upon it stems more from the mistakes of city politicians who didn’t stop private railroad companies from bulldozing McKim, Mead & White’s original than from anything else. True concerns over capacity and cramped quarters could be addressed by removing Amtrak’s office space and opening up the corridors. Worries over crowd conditions and the ability of the hub to handle demand could be allayed with investment in a new trans-Hudson tunnel. A fancy building should always come last.

But here we are in 2013 and fancy buildings come first. We put the transit design cart before the capacity horse, and all we have to show for it is a $4 billion porcupine in Lower Manhattan and prominent voices agitating for a takeover of the Farley Post Office. Let’s take those billions of dollars we spend on architecture and invest in rail. Future generations of New Yorkers will be far more thankful for the added rail lines than for a nice building.

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Manhattan

Photo: The signs of South Ferry’s reopening

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 20, 2013

Via Second Ave. Sagas on Instagram.

We know the old South Ferry loop is set to reopen in April, and all signs are pointing to this impending recommissioning. While exiting at Times Square this afternoon, I spotted the above sign hanging on the wall. It’s a familiar one to riders of the 1 train, and it serves as a reminder that we’re getting back an old station with all of its warts.

This sign will soon be going up in 1 trains across the city, and although it has a few more languages and some snazzy colors at the top, it’s a throwback to the days before the new South Ferry terminal opened. There’s still no official timeline on the when the new station will be rebuilt and rehabilitated, but at least ferry-bound riders and those trying to reach Battery Park will have convenient West Side subway service starting in just a few weeks.

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AsidesMTA Politics

Still no replacement 79 days after Lhota’s departure

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 20, 2013

It took the Cardinals in the Vatican two days to pick a new pope. It’s been 79 days and counting since Gov. Andrew Cuomo last had a permanent MTA Chairman and CEO. Joe Lhota, the GOP’s leading fundraiser in the race for mayor and, as of last Friday, still a straphanger on the 42nd Street shuttle, left his role as the agency’s CEO and Chairman as 2012 melted into 2013, and in the meantime, there’s been absolute silence from the governor’s office.

Earlier this week, DNA Info’s Jill Colvin canvassed the usual suspects as she assessed the MTA vacancy. The agency is in very good interim hands right now with Tom Prendergast serving as the MTA’s operational head and Fernando Ferrer as temporary Board chairman, but the lack of action from Albany on a key political appointee is concerning to transit advocates. “They have other fish to fry and this is not at the top of their to-do basket,” Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign said. “It can go on too long. I don’t think it’s at that point yet, but I wish it were further along than I sense it is.”

When Jay Walder left, Gov. Andrew Cuomo quickly convened a search committee to identify the best replacement, but no such body has been put together this time around. Cuomo, whose name has been at the forefront of the MTA’s post-Sandy recovery efforts, hasn’t shown much willingness to engage in transit policy and politics, but Ferrer, who doesn’t want the permanent job, believes something will happen soon. “I know he’s working on this,” he said. “That answer satisfies me completely. And I expect a move here fairly soon.” Meanwhile, the agency is in a “wait-and-see” mode as the days tick away.

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LIRRService Advisories

Photo: Derailed LIRR train still wreacking havoc

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 20, 2013

A non-passenger train sits derailed in Rego Park, Queens, on Monday night. (Photo: Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin)

A non-passenger LIRR train derailed on Monday night near Rego Park, Queens, and although crews worked through the snow and sleet two nights ago to rerail the train, the incident is still impacting commutes. According to the LIRR, their crews have been working non-stop to repair nearly three quarters of a mile of track damaged when the train jumped the rail, and cancellations during peak hours are expected through Friday.

One of Second Ave. Sagas’ Twitter followers who was a few blocks away from the derailment described it as an earthquake, and the impact has aftershocks, so to speak. The LIRR had to cancel 11 peak hour trains in the morning and seven in the evening. A few have been diverted from Penn Station to Atlantic Ave. while others run only to Jamaica. The full list of changes is available here.

According to the MTA, the derailment knocked one of the four tracks between Jamaica and Penn Station out of commission. Crews have to replace concrete ties, the running rail and the electrified third rail as well. As yet, there has been no determination of the cause of the derailment, but an investigation is ongoing.

After the jump, scenes from the derailment courtesy of Patrick Cashin and the MTA.

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AsidesSecond Avenue Subway

Worker trapped in mud at Second Ave. Subway site

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on March 19, 2013

A worker at 2nd Ave. and 95th St. is trapped in mud at the Second Ave. Subway construction site, according to multiple reports. As NBC New York reports, “The worker has been stuck in what firefighters at the scene described as ‘muck’ from the waist down inside a trench about 75 feet below street level at 95th Street and 2nd Avenue. The 911 call was placed at about 8:40 p.m.”

According to recent reports, crews are attempting to, according to PIX 11, use “hands, buckets and small tools to keep the man from slipping deeper into the muck.” While the worker’s condition is unknown, he has since been anchored by a series of ropes and will not be further trapped in the muck. As of 30 minutes ago, the vacuum truck was still on the way. I’ll update this post as more information comes in.

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