Expect more cuts to L train service this fall
Photo by Stephen Rees on Flickr
While the L train slowdown has gone largely unnoticed so far by commuters, the MTA is throwing an unexpected wrench in next weekend’s travel plans. The L train will not run between Manhattan and Brooklyn from Friday, Sept. 13 to early Monday, Sept. 16 to make space for new accessibility projects, the agency announced on Wednesday. The shutdown allows the MTA to install an escalator at the Union Square station and make the L and F, M platform at 14th Street-6th Avenue more accessible.
Next weekend, there will be no L train service between 8th Avenue in Manhattan and Brooklyn Junction in Brooklyn, starting at around 10:45 p.m. on Sept. 13 to 5 a.m. on Sept. 16. And, for three to five weeks in October and November (with the dates still to be determined), the L train will not stop at 8th Avenue or 14th Street-6 Avenue stations, with service ending at Union Square on nights and weekends.
The service disruptions join previously announced changes coming to the L train this fall. There will be no overnight service between Lorimer Street and Broadway Junction on weeknights from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27 and from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 between 11:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. The L train will also not run between Lorimer and Broadway Junction on the weekends of Oct. 4 to Oct. 6, Jan. 3 to Jan. 6, Jan. 10 to Jan. 12, Jan. 17 to Jan. 18, and Jan. 24 to Jan. 26. Free bus service will run between the stations during the closures.
According to the agency, the accessibility projects are possible because rehab work on the Canarsie Tunnel is “ahead of schedule.” At the 14th Street-6th Avenue station, the project will add two elevators from the street to the mezzanine and an additional two from the mezzanine to the platform. The agency said the work will start on or before Dec. 31 2020 and take at most two years to complete.
On the F, M platform, the MTA has preliminary plans to add two elevators to connect to the street level, the mezzanines, platforms, and to the passageway leading to the station on 7th Avenue. This project will be a part of the 2020-2024 Capital Plan proposal, which needs funding approvals to start construction within those years.
“While the L Subway Project was initiated because of the damage from Superstorm Sandy, it was designed to address many other critical needs—namely, accessibility,” Alex Elegudin, NYC Transit’s senior adviser for systemwide accessibility, said in a press release.
“Advancing this work now at these critical stations as we had promised will help to minimize disruptions later while also getting the accessibility and ease-of-access improvements done as quickly as possible, a huge win for our customers.”
Find alternative service options to the L train here.
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