Jan. 14, 2012 Staff Report
Expect service delays and closures on the No. 7 train through 2016.This week when the MTA announced that it was shutting down No. 7 service between Queensboro Plaza and Times Square for 11 weekends, it noted that it was part of a four year plan to install a new signaling system and make upgrades to the tunnel that goes below the East River.
The MTA said it needs this 4-year period to make such a radical change since it is relying on a signaling system that is anywhere from 50 to 90 years old. The MTA claims that by installing a new one, the train will be more reliable and easy to maintain. Additionally, the MTA said it needs to make repairs to the tunnel between Vernon Ave. and Times Square.
The MTA said that the tunnel only has two tracks and is so narrow that there is no room for subway workers to step aside when oncoming trains pass by. Therefore, the MTA has to stop service altogether for the work to be done. This problem dates back to around 1900, when the tunnel was constructed as part of the New York City trolley system—before being incorporated as part of the subway in 1915.
The MTA said that this current project began in 2011 and the project should be completed by 2016. Many service changes are going to take place until its completion.
Service diversions, as reported earlier, are scheduled for the weekends of January 21-23, January 28-30, February 4-6, February 11-13, February 18-21, February 25-27, March 3-5, March 10-12, March 17-19, March 24-26 and March 31-April.
The MTA anticipates a number of other weekend closures in October and November. These are likely to take place on the following weekends: Oct. 6-8, Oct 20-22, Oct. 27-29, Nov. 10-12 and Nov. 17-19.
The MTA said that the work schedule will typically take place in the winter and fall to avoid interrupting Mets baseball games and the US Open tennis.
Additionally, a major station rehabilitation project will begin at the Court Square Station in Long Island City. The station will be closed from Jan. 21 through April 2.
MTA NYCT Press Release-Week… by on Scribd
Featured Events
20 Comments
I think they should do it in the summer so the Met fans and rich folk going to the US Open can experience our problems. I hope when things are finally finished (if I am still alive) that we can get more local trains running. One of the curses of living in Sunnyside is that you sometimes get skipped over by 2 or 3 express trains before a local comes when heading to work in the morning. Very frustrating but not sure if anything can be done about it.
I saw a couple of people pretending to “work” the other day. At this rate, this project will go on for another twenty years.
I’m not always so quick to jump on the MTA, since it’s basically held together by scotch tape right now.
That said, I wish there was some way to “Fast Track” this project as they have been doing with some other lines. It doesn’t make any sense to me to keep putting things back on and off over the course of 3 months, I aimagine it only makes things take longer to fix and is therefore more expensive. Just curious.
The number 7 line – the project that doesn’t end!
A lot of these issues were addressed at the public meeting last week with the MTA.
There was good attendance and the meeting was mentioned in advance in this site.
Oh and for the person suggesting a place to put a video, how about posting a video from a cell phone on YouTube? No need for hosting ir anything else, then post a link here. People can reply with their own videos also on YouTube.
A lot of these issues were addressed at the public meeting last week with the MTA.
There was good attendance and the meeting was mentioned in advance in this site.
Oh and for the person suggesting a place to put a video, how about posting a video from a cell phone on YouTube? No need for hosting ir anything else, then post a link here. People can reply with their own videos also on YouTube.
Instead of taking 4 years of part-time construction (none during the spring/summer months), why not get it done faster by doing the work year round? The argument that they don’t want to disrupt service during the baseball season is ridiculous. Why can’t those riders do the same thing that weekend commuters will be forced to do during the fall/winter?
They should have done this work a long time ago, before they loaded LIC with all the people swarming there now. Its all about money. They left it alone for 100 years because it didn’t pay them to fix it before. Now that they are reselling that part of Queens to a load of people with money, whoops! they have to give those folks better service. Screw the working people who’ve lived with it their whole lives.
Roger: “Probably not going to change with the stranglehold the unions have on the city. The politicians don’t care because the public pays the bill.”
This has nothing to do with unions. What stranglehold do they have over the city?!?
You want to blame the politicians for squandering your public tax dollars – I’m all behind that. But it’s not due to the unions – that’s just what they want you to believe. “Oh woes me, those horrible unions and their evil pensions are bankrupting this city…. let’s throw $1 billion per year to outside consultants, let’s have no-bid contracts for our “friends”, let’s create for-profit schools, all on the tax-payer’s money…”
How about restoring the B24 on weekends as well — that would help immensely with the difficult transfer to the G train since it connects with the G train in Greenpoint and at Lorimer.
Confused too, so the 7 station is closed altogether at Court Sq?
And again, why not late evening closures along the 7 instead?
Robert, champion your cause. Why wait for someone else to start the website you want? Just do it! Lack of knowledge is no excuse these days. You are on the internet now, use it to find a free web host and free tutorials on how to set it up. Be pro-active!
TED
understand your frustration but the Court street platform needed repair even before the much vaunted connection was built. Concrete on the platforms is in very bad shape and has been for years
This whole situation stinks to high heaven.
1. You get the feeling that there has been shoddy work done in the past and they have to keep going back and fixing earlier mistakes. Just look at the Court Street situation – shortly after the vaunted (and much-delayed) construction connecting the 7 to the M, G, E – the MTA is going to shut down the entire station – and once again we are left with a ‘walking transfer’ at another station. One HAS to think the people who did the construction on the elevator/tunnel damaged the infrastructure of the platform and now they’re having to go back and fix it (I noticed the Court Street platform literally SWAYING as trains approached the last few times I was there). Who does this construction anyway, does the MTA farm it out to private contractors?
2. Why not keep the Q trains running on weekends the 7 is down, as we need more trains on that line to make up for no 7 train? How about more Q36 and Q60 buses running on those weekends?
3. Since we have to wait at the OUTDOOR station at Queensboro Plaza, closing the 7 train in the coldest months of the year is a great hardship for residents of Queens.
The Bloomberg administration seems to be doing a terrible job overseeing all of this – they seem to have no sense of accountability and don’t do anything to minimize the inconvenience.
Did the guy in the photo drop his phone? I don’t mean to malign just MTA workers. A lot of people are lazy. Their work ethic is lacking and when they get a chance to scam their employer they will. Look at the LIRR “disability claims.” How many so-called honest neighbors of ours took advantage of that scam? It’s amazing things to get done. Luckily for me tomorrow’s a holiday or I’d have to call in sick because of the hangover I plan to have after watching the Giants today.
How about doing the work privately with a signed contract and a deadline?
Let Donald Trump do this work and kick some butt to get this job done for the city… let him fire people for goofing off… We need some tough people to get our job done not linger forever and never finsih…Why not get shuttle buses to work 24/7 and just get this work done and finsihed we are always have this issue with the 7 train line… why us
@Robert
I agree. I’m tired of seeing a bunch of workers standing around gabbing and watching maybe one or two guys do anything that resembles work.
Probably not going to change with the stranglehold the unions have on the city. The politicians don’t care because the public pays the bill.
If you ever see the construction workers “working” on the tracks, all you ever see are guys huddling around talking to each other, goofing off and checking their phones. How about some supervision so this track work is actually getting done. Please, please, please- could someone start a website so we can upload all this video of these guys not working so that it could get done within a reasonable time period.
I feel like i’m in a movie Groundhog Day
This is a joke, right? Maybe we need the Soviet five year plan.