53rd st tunnel shutdown

[flexliner]

https://www.google.co.il/amp/s/ny.curbe ... el-repairs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Apparently MTA felt that due to significant decrease in riders between Xmas and new year better to accomplish the fix all at once working 24/7 rather than piecemeal over a bunch of weekends

[Head-end View]

It sounds like a good plan to me. The work has to get done and that's the week to do it.

[russellsal8]

Glad to see that the MTA is using this opportunity to do necessary repair work. It's good to see them being creative in how they schedule service changes. I hope they provide enough extra capacity on alternate routes during this time period, as without the M train there would only be 3 service on Queens Boulevard, and only 1 local (assuming both the E and F run express). In that vein, I hope they do one of two things: run additional R service, or alternatively, extend the G up to 71st Avenue using the M equipment already stored at Jamaica Yard. In the case of the R, they could just re-route the W train along Queens Boulevard and just call those trains the "R" during that week. Regardless, Queens Plaza is going to need more than just regularly-scheduled R train service during the week.

Also, it's dissapointing that they're curtailing R service over nights. That means that there would be NO subway service whatsoever to Queens Plaza during the overnight hours, and that is not acceptable. If ever there were a time to have the R train run 24 hours to 71st Avenuye, it would be during this service change.

[andrewjw]

I wonder if they need the late-night shutdown of QP in order to do some of the tunnel work?

[Allan]

I wonder if they need the late-night shutdown of QP in order to do some of the tunnel work?

That is the whole idea of this particular G.O. They are working on the 53rd St tunnel. Since the E trains are being rereouted via 63rd and the M trains suspended and the R train terminating at Whitehall after midnight, there is no reason the keep Queens Plaza open during the overnight hours

[trainbrain]

Disappointing. They should be extending the G up to Forest Hills 71st borrowing R46's from the R and splitting them into 300 foot trains. Then use extra R160's that aren't running on the E to replace them on the R. Problem is there still isn't a connection to the F or rerouted E for anyone on the G, so the solution could be a temporary out of system transfer between Queens Plaza and 21st Queensbridge.

And the late night issues could easily be resolved by running the F local during that time.

[Allan]

Disappointing. They should be extending the G up to Forest Hills 71st borrowing R46's from the R and splitting them into 300 foot trains. Then use extra R160's that aren't running on the E to replace them on the R. Problem is there still isn't a connection to the F or rerouted E for anyone on the G, so the solution could be a temporary out of system transfer between Queens Plaza and 21st Queensbridge.

And the late night issues could easily be resolved by running the F local during that time.

The E runs local during late night hours although it will be starting at 36th St rather than at QP.

Also during late night hours there are free shuttle buses connecting Court Sq-23rd, 21st-Que3ensbridge and QP so anyone at QP needing the E (or F) can take the shuttle to 21St-Queensbridge.

[trainbrain]

Good to see that they have the buses availabe. While I believe that they should run the G to 71st during this, maybe it doesn't make sense since the only thing you could transfer to there would be the R which already runs local via QB.

The C will also start running full length trains because it will be the only local on 8th Ave between 59th Street Columbus Circle and West 4th Street. It will either be 8 R46's or 10 R32's. The 8 car R160's are going back to the J/Z.

[Allan]

Good to see that they have the buses availabe. While I believe that they should run the G to 71st during this, maybe it doesn't make sense since the only thing you could transfer to there would be the R which already runs local via QB.

The C will also start running full length trains because it will be the only local on 8th Ave between 59th Street Columbus Circle and West 4th Street. It will either be 8 R46's or 10 R32's. The 8 car R160's are going back to the J/Z.

Keep in mind that the 7 is also available at Court St so G riders can take that to Queensboro Plaza (which is only about 1 block from Queens Plaza or to 74th and get the E (if that will serve thier travel need).

[adamj023]

The tunnel was shut down for weekends for a long period of time as they supposedly rebuilt the tunnel in previous Sandy repairs. They could have added a few weekends in that project and finished it already. It doesn’t make sense that the work wasn’t completed already because they were supposed to have done electrical, signals, track, and other work during the past project. They claim new signal cable but signal cable was included in the previous project with new conduits as well as track work. One hopes this will finish all the work in the 53rd street tunnel that needed to be done.

I am very doubtful that the L tunnel will only be shutdown for 15 montha when the project is started. With the 53rd street tunnel, the work is essentially finished sans the five days of work which hopefully finish off the project.

Fortunatelt there are a lot of redundent tunnels and so the E line shutdown for 5 days won’t be so bad, but the L shutdown will cause major delays,

[GirlOnTheTrain]

Montague Tube was done a month ahead of time...so what's your point with complaining about the Canarsie tube probably not being done on time?

[trainbrain]

Rode two C trains today. It's going to be pretty confusing with some of the trains still using 480 foot R160's and the rest using 600 foot R46's. They need to pick one length and stick with it.

There are still a large number of R46's on the A because the A fleet is larger than the C fleet.

The change is rumored to be permanent so my guess is they'll also make the G 480 foot trains permanently so the R179's could end up in Coney Island Yard rather than 207th and Pitkin. If they didn't make another B div line 480 foot trains they would have too much equipment for trains of that length.