Janet Babin, Host, WNYC News
Janet Babin is a host and reporter at WNYC.
Overnight Subway Service Suspension Starts on 7th Ave Line
Sunday, February 12, 2012 - 12:00 AM
Overnight subway service on a large part of New York’s City’s Seventh Avenue Subway line will be suspended from Monday to Thursday this week as part of the MTA’s so-called Fast Track program to fix subways more quickly without having to stop for train traffic.
- The MTA will stop service on the No. 1, 2 and 3 lines from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. between 34th Street Penn Station and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, in both directions. No. 1 train service will be halted between 34th Street-Penn Station and South Ferry.
- During the planned suspension, service will operate between 34th Street-Penn Station and East 180th Street. It will then be rerouted via the No. 5 train, between East 180th and Dyre Avenue.
- No. 5 train service will operate all night in Manhattan and to/from Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. No. 5 service will be rerouted via the No. 2 line between East 180th Street and 241st Street.
- Additionally, while No. 3 service will be completely suspended from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the MTA will provide free shuttle buses to and from No. 3 stations at 148th, 145th and 135th streets.
- No. 4 trains will operate local in Brooklyn and extend to New Lots Avenue, and the 42nd Street S shuttle will operate through the night.
Last month, MTA implemented the first-ever Fast Track program with an overnight shut down of large parts of the No. 4, 5 and 6 subway lines. The authority says crews were able to complete 300 tasks during the four night outage, work that would normally have taken weeks or even months to complete.
An MTA spokesman said the Fastrack program will save $600,000 in labor costs because more work is completed in a shorter amount of time. The projected savings for the year is more than $10 million, according to authority.
After the red line suspension, the next overnight closures will be on parts of the Sixth Avenue B,D and F lines, February 27 to March 2.
Comments [4]
I think it's a good idea. If they actually complete the work in the scheduled time, at the very least it will prevent a lot of other delays over the coming weeks and months.
Since this part of the line is relatively near to a lot of other trains (it isn't like it is the outskirts of the city), I think the people who work during that time will not be too hard-pressed to find a work-around for 4 days. It will be a huge cumulative time-savings for all riders in the end.
But I do like that the subway is generally running at night, because, unlike cities like London that close subways at night, here in NY we love our restaurant and bar workers and realize how hard their jobs are! Same goes for our one-fare citywide policy-- I'm glad it is equal for everyone no matter where they live, unlike many other cities around the world.
They should just close the 1, 2, and 3 lines at night. After all, no one really uses the subway that late.
$*&%# you very much, MTA. The notion that people stop working after 10pm is ludicrous. How about doing the work from, say, 1pm-5am and actually having people work instead of snoozing or gossiping in the stations, as I see all the time? Nobody looks like they're in a terrific hurry. Disagree? Well then perhaps call in an independent monitor to check out your operations, books, etc. P.S. Any of you geniuses noted the exploding rat population?!
I'm curious about one aspect of the planned service change, which has come into play on earlier service disruptions.
What is the purpose of switching the routing of the "2" and "5" lines in the Bronx north of East 180th Street?
It can't be to keep trains off one set of tracks, since both tracks -- the tracks to Dyre, and the tracks to 241st -- are both being used.
Is there some sort of switching issue involved at 180th?
I just don't understand the logic of this.
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