Superstorm Sandy

Ever wondered what it’s like to deconstruct and rebuild a 93-year-old tunnel? Well, wonder no longer, and instead watch the latest from MTA videographer J.P. Chan. The tunnel, as you will recall, was completely flooded during Superstorm Sandy, and the MTA has taken it out of service for 14 months to rebuild the Brooklyn-Manhattan link.

Chan’s video is our first glimpse at the work in progress. Currently, crews are going through the to-do list of the first which encompasses repairs to all right-of-way components including significant work to tracks, tunnel lighting, circuit breaker houses, power substations, pump rooms, fan plant, power cable and ducts. The second contract will involve a rebuild of the signal system.

Anyway, take a look at the footage. It’s certainly a mess down there as the fixing and fortifying continues. (And in case you’ve forgotten, here’s a video of Montague prior to the start of construction.)

This week’s issue of Time Out New York features a backpage interview with staffers complaining about their least favorite subway lines. One TONY editor bemoans the impending R train shutdown. The need to repair the Montague St. Tunnel will, he says, cut off the fastest ride he has to SoHo. Now, it’s hard to imagine that the R train offers the fastest ride from anywhere in the city to SoHo, but the sentiment is a familiar one echoing throughout the city. The Montague Tube shutdown is a necessary evil that will be a major inconvenience for a small number of people over the next 14 months.

The shutdown starts in 23 hours from my writing, and it is the most extensive repair effort the subways have seen since the September 11 terrorist attacks and the collapse of the Twin Towers destroyed a pair of subway tunnels in Lower Manhattan. Until next November — the then two-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy — the R will run in two sections during the week and over the Manhattan Bridge during the weekend. Thousands of daily riders will have to find alternate routes, and it’s likely that already-crowded trains running between Brooklyn and Manhattan will be even more so.

“The job that we have ahead of us is an enormous challenge and we are grateful for the support that we have received from Governor Cuomo and the Federal Government in securing the funds necessary to perform these vital tasks,” Thomas F. Prendergast, Chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said in a statement yesterday. “These investments in repairing and reinforcing the system’s infrastructure will help safeguard the most vulnerable areas of our subway system for decades to come.”

In terms of the work, the MTA is essentially rebuilding the Montague Tube. The first contract will repair all of the right-of-way components except the signal system, and the second contract will repair the entire signal system. The total cost for this work alone will come in at $308.6 million. “Our goal is to complete this work as quickly and efficiently as possible while exposing our customers to as little inconvenience as we possibly can,” Acting NYC Transit President Carmen Bianco said.

Specifically, the ROW components that need repair include the track bed, the the tunnel lighting units, circuit breakers, power substations, pump rooms, fan plants, power cables and ducts. The signal work includes removal of sensitive equipment out of flood zones, modification of three signal circuits at Whitehall Street, Broad Street and Court Street and a temporary conversion of these stations into terminals. For railfans, Transit says that the last Brooklyn-bound train is scheduled to depart Whitehall St at approximately 11:33 p.m. The last Manhattan-bound train is scheduled to leave Court St at approximately 11:32 p.m.

Once the work starts, the R will not run between Court St. and Whitehall St. During the week, the trains will operate in two sections — in Brooklyn only and between Forest Hills and Whitehall St. During the weekend, the R will run via the Manhattan Bridge. For service to nearby stations, the MTA recommends the 2, 3, 4, 5, A or C trains, as applicable.

This is no one’s idea of a good time, but as far as work of this magnitude goes, it could be much worse. By and large, the R train service is a means to an end. For many Bay Ridge residents who need to get into Manhattan, the R is the first step on the way to a transfer to a speedier N or D train. The people who lose out here are those who live north of 36th St. but not too close to Atlantic Ave. and need to get to Lower Manhattan. Everyone else will find that their rides, while perhaps more crowded, aren’t much slower, and some may be faster. That’s a spin on a bad situation though.

Meanwhile, the MTA is also struggling to recover from Sandy in other ways. As WNYC’s Janet Babin reported this week, the agency has less catastrophe insurance this year than last. Premiums went up, and coverage amounts went down. That’s what happens when you have to file billions of dollars worth of claims. At least the reinsurance bonds have been popular, and by selling $200 million worth of bonds, the MTA has access to a bit more cash in the event of a storm.

“In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, the traditional avenues we use for insurance and reinsurance contracted dramatically, making it exceedingly difficult for the MTA to obtain insurance,” Predergast said. “But as a result of this savvy and novel reinsurance arrangement, we are now in a stronger position should our area, God forbid, face another large-scale storm-surge event within the next three years.”

With a floodline that nearly reaches the ceiling, the Montague Tube requires an extensive rebuild. (Photo via MTA)

Whenever the MTA announces something bad — weekend service changes, long-term repair projects, station rehabilitations — the knee-jerk reaction from New York City politics is to pile on. Sometimes, the criticism is deserved. After all, it takes the MTA an exceedingly long time to finish up what appear to be routine construction projects; the agency can’t control costs; and alternate service routings can seem insufficient. Other times, though, a catastrophic hurricane arrives.

As the city came to terms with the upcoming 12-14 month outage for the R train’s Montague Tubes and extensive work on the G train’s Greenpoint Tube, the outrage machine revved up. The most ridiculous voice seemed to belong to City Council Member Vincent Gentile. The Bay Ridge Democrat was angry! Irate! Annoyed! He wanted answers.

“This is absolutely outrageous! It’s hard enough as it is for residents of South Brooklyn who travel to Manhattan each day via public transportation – closing a main artery for over a year is just unacceptable,” he actually said in a real statement issued to the press. “Today I am calling on the MTA to propose some other options. I understand these repairs need to be done but telling people to ‘allow for extra travel time’ for the next 14 months is untenable. The MTA needs to put forth a realistic contingency plan which includes lowering express bus fares and increasing services – not only to the R line – but to the connecting N, D, 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines.”

The rhetoric is strong with this one, but these are just sentiments issued to score political points. I’d hope that Gentile knows the MTA’s hands are tied largely because his political brethren have given the agency little leeway for operations. The MTA can’t re-route R trains over the Manhattan Bridge during the week because the switches near DeKalb can’t handle another bunch of cars. The MTA can’t increase service on the IRT routes because there’s no room or rolling stock. The options ultimately are fairly limited.

I spoke with Kevin Ortiz, the MTA spokesman, yesterday evening about the MTA’s plans, and he compared the situation in the Montague Tube to the post-Sandy service patterns. The R train’s East River crossing was the last to be pumped out, and it’s the first to be shut down. During the 12-14 month outage, the MTA expects simliar travel patterns as during the weeks after Sandy. Some riders will stick with the express D and N trains; others may switch to the IRT lines; some will take express buses. Many will find the transfers annoying but the travel times identical. (And some residents in Gentile’s district believe that “virtually no one” will be too upset as the R is mostly used by those riders as a transfer train anyway.)

Terra cotta duct banks, nearly 100 years old, were completely wrecked by floodwaters. (Photo via MTA)

As documents released by the MTA show [pdf], the damage to the tubes is more than extensive. Crews will essentially have to rebuild the tunnel finishes from the bottom up. Terra cotta duct banks that date from the 1910s and 1920s were completed destroyed, and saltwater has begun to seep through the concrete track beds as well. Not closing the tunnel would push the timeline for work all the way out to 2017, and as the MTA documents say, wrapping this project next summer allows work to start in adjacent tubes once the R is back online.

Which brings me to a truth tough to swallow: The R train outage likely won’t be the only one. The MTA has issued no public plans for future Sandy-related tunnel repairs, but any East River tube that had standing water will require some kind of rebuild and repair. As the documents say, “24/7 shutdown in Montague means other tubes don’t need to wait multiple years for restoration work.” We don’t know what that restoration work will be or when, but if people are up in arms over the R outage, imagine what will happen when focus shifts to the Canarsie or Cranberry Tubes. Even considering shutting the Joralemon or Clark St. Tunnels is reason for nightmares.

Economically, the MTA figures to come out of this whole thing relatively unscathed. For the Montague and Greenpoint projects, the agency said last night that “it expects no material financial impact to result from the temporary closures.” Most subway riders will use alternate lines, and the closures will have a negligible impact on fare collection. Costs of the repairs will be covered by Sandy restoration funds.

Still, someone will pay in time and convenience, and we the riders will be those someones. For the foreseeable future, Sandy repairs will dominate the subway landscape with service changes expected for years to come. Hopefully, another storm won’t sweep through to roll back the progress, but right now, we’re relying on hope and crossed fingers. Andrea is on the way, and hurricane season is just getting started.

Contrast the new tie plates in the background with those damaged by Sandy’s floodwaters in the G train’s Greenpoint Tube. (Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit)

The big news of the day concerned the looming 12-14 month shutdown of the R train’s Montague Tube beginning this August, but the looming G train work, while less extensive, may be more painful for riders. For 12 weekends this summer and fall, the MTA will shut G service from Nassau Ave. to Queens. Then, during the summer of 2014, for five weeks, the MTA will have to close the Greenpoint Tube entirely.

“Closing these two subway tubes is a difficult but necessary step to restore them to the condition they were in before Sandy struck,” MTA Acting Chairman Fernando Ferrer said of the R and G train closures. “The temporary repairs that returned these tubes to operation after Sandy are not enough to provide reliable service. This is unfortunately the reality of recovery from Sandy: the damage is insidious and continuing, and repairing it will take billions of dollars over several years. We recognize that these closures will be an inconvenience for many of our customers, and we will do our best to provide them with alternatives. But there is no alternative to doing this work now.”

The Greenpoint Tube will be out of commission for 53 hours straight during the following weekends this year: July 6-7, 13-14, 20-21; August 3-4, 10-11, 17-18, 24-25; September 7-8, 28-29; October 5-6; December 7-8, and 14-15. The exact dates for the 2014 closure have not been determined yet.

Shutting the Greenpoint Tube will allow the MTA to repair the damaged systems during periods of lighter ridership, but the impact will still be felt by Greenpointers and Long Island City residents. According to the MTA’s statistics, Greenpoint Ave., 21st St., and Court Square affect around 57,000 total weekend riders — though most of those are using other lines at Court Sq. Greenpoint Ave. and 21st St. see a combined weekend ridership of slightly under 11,000. (The Montague Tube outage, on the other hand, will impact 65,000 daily R train riders and thousands of others on lines that will become increasingly more crowded.)

The MTA dodged a bullet when it avoided damage to movable parts and its rolling stock, but the tunnels absorbed the floodwaters. The Greenpoint and Montague Tubes were covered wall to ceiling, and now the repairs are coming into view. “Even after we restored service through the tubes again, signal and other component failures rose dramatically,” Thomas F. Prendergast, MTA Interim Executive Director, said. “The chief area of concern is the tubes’ mechanical and electrical systems that were subjected to salt water accelerating the deterioration of these vital systems and reducing their reliability over time.”

For views of the damage in the tunnels, check out this photoset. After the jump, a glimpse at the G train map during these Sandy-related outages.

WSJ.” width=”555″ height=”568″ class=”size-full wp-image-13304″ /> Map via WSJ.

Just last night I discussed the looming work awaiting R train riders on the Montague Tube. in the aftermath of Sandy. We knew the work would be long and service changes onerous, but we didn’t know the timing for the extensive repairs. Now, we do, and the news for R train riders is not good.

As Ted Mann of The Wall Street Journal reported tonight, the Montague Tube will be closed completely for 12-14 months essentially in order to strip everyone out of the tube and rebuild everything inundated by the Sandy floodwaters. I had heard rumors that such a shutdown was coming but did not know of the timing. My original source with knowledge of the situation also said the G train’s Greenpoint tube would undergo a similar outage, but the plans have changed. Rather, the G will not run between Brooklyn and Queens for 12 weekends later this year with similar outages planned for the summer of 2014.

It’s one giant mess with the worst of it in the Manhattan/Brooklyn connector. Mann reports that work will begin in August and last through most, if not all, of 2014. He calls it “the biggest post-Sandy setback for the MTA ” and writes:

While no similar outages are planned as yet for the MTA’s other under-river tunnels, the closure of the Montague tube underscores how hard it will be to complete some critical storm repairs while continuing to run a 24-hour subway system. “Pretty much anything down there that’s made of metal is rusting,” the official said. “And sooner or later, it has to come out.”

While the MTA was able to pump out subway tunnels and restart service on the trains after the storm, a threat to the system remained: the lingering corrosion from brackish floodwaters. The salt from storm surges heavily damaged sensitive electronic components in the tunnels, and continues to eat away at wires, cables and motors, causing failures that have snarled commutes. “They’re all starting to fail,” Wynton Habersham, the MTA’s chief electrical officer, said this spring before the decision to shut down Montague was made.

MTA work crews have spent months trying to fix problems in the Montague tube, which was among the most heavily damaged by flooding and the final under-river tunnel to be restored to working order, in December. Signal failures have been a chronic problem in the tunnel since the storm, leading to delayed trains and sometimes requiring rerouting R trains over the Manhattan Bridge to cross the river.

The official said MTA leaders determined earlier this spring that they couldn’t complete the necessary work using the normal mix of overnight and off-hour shifts. Instead, the full tunnel will be shut down this summer so the damaged components — from lighting to the signals that enable trains to safely move through the system — can be replaced. The cost will be at least $100 million, according to legal notices prepared for the project.

According to The Journal, during the 12-14 months of construction, R train service patterns will more or less resemble post-Sandy routing. During the week, the train will operate in two sections north from Whitehall St. and south in Brooklyn from Court St. During the weekends, trains will run into Manhattan via the Manhattan bridge.

The silver lining in all of this, though, are the nearby service redundancies. There’s no way around the transfer between the R and some other line for Manhattan-bound passengers, but the connections are relatively painless and more reliable than the R itself. The 4 and 5 East Side IRT closely mirrors the R from Atlantic Ave. to Union Square, providing easy access to the BMT’s Lower Manhattan stations. It’s not perfect, but it could be worse.

This news, though, is yet another reminder of the damages from Sandy and the system’s vulnerability. It would be silly to spend hundreds of millions and cause extensive service disruptions without hardening the system at the same time. But so far, news stories on anti-flood measures have been few and far between. It’s a dangerous roll of the dice.