MTA Continues The Fight Against Sandy’s Destruction – This Time It’s the Greenpoint Tube

Queens/Brooklyn, NY, July 25, 2014 – As part of the recovery from Superstorm Sandy, parts of New York’s subway system was closed to rail traffic to speed repairs so trains could run again. Beginning Friday, July 25^th, a second tunnel, the Greenpoint Tunnel of the IND’s ‘G’ line, will be taken out of service to apply major fixes to damaged tunnel walls. For five weeks, riders using the Court Square, 21^St-Van Alst, Greenpoint Avenue and Nassau Avenue stations will need bus connections to go between Queens Plaza and Nassau Avenue. 125,000 riders use the G train daily and 30,000 of them are directly affected by the station outages.

This work is not suited to weekend closures and requires full 24/7 access to get the work completed effectively. The MTA’s Fix and Fortify Sandy Recovery Work is the protocol to combat the destruction for the tube that connects Long Island City, Queens with the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn until September 2.

The tunnel was ruined when 3 million gallons of salt water flooded the tunnel at the height of the storm. Tracks and equipment were totally submerged, and the tunnel’s pump controls, electrical, communications, fan control and signal equipment all incurred serious damage.  Power cables immersed in salt water corroded from the inside, while corrosion on rails and fasteners increased the potential for delay-causing failures. The controls for ventilation, lighting and communication systems were all destroyed and have yet to be restored to their level of pre-Sandy reliability.

NYC Transit President Carmen Bianco said in a prepared statement, “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 by using the more lightly-traveled summer weeks to make repairs. To that end, we are providing an extraordinary amount of information to help our customers navigate around this vital work.”

Commuters are being offered a $4 ferry service ride from the India Street Pier in Greenpoint to Manhattan as a supplement to the bus substitution. 

Photo caption: NYCT's IND 'G' Crosstown local line in Queens with R-68 type equipment. Court Sq/21St-Van Alst/Greenpoint Ave. will be closed for 5 weeks to repair the damage in the Greenpoint Tunnel between Brookyn and Queens caused by Superstorm Sandy.

NYCT Subway Service 2012 Investments Announced

New York, NY, July 19, 2012 – The draconian service cuts made 2 years ago during the apex of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) fiscal crisis may make a partial reversal while keeping the IND Queens-Brooklyn crosstown local ‘G’ train service extension in addition to some new transit operations. At that time in 2009, two subway lines and some bus services were either eliminated and others re-routed. Commuter trains were pared or combined to save money.

According to published reports, of the $90 million extra dollars stated in the MTA's most recent finance report (than were projected in the February budget), $20 million of that could go to fund the restored service. The news for straphangers isn’t all good as a 7.5% fare increase is expected to pay for it in March, 2013. The MTA’s adding and extending service on almost 40 bus, subway and commuter rail lines to better serve its customers, enhance access to mass transit, accommodate ridership growth and attract new transit customers. These investments come at a time when MTA ridership is steadily increasing across all forms of mass transit: subway ridership is at levels not seen since the 1950s; commuter train ridership is approaching all-time records and; bus service is at a premium for riders.

The G train story is of particular interest because the line was extended due to the Culver Viaduct repair work at the Smith-9th Street elevated stop over the deep-bottomed Gowanus Canal. Built in the 1930s, it was the only IND (New York City-built INDependent line) service constructed as an elevated. Due to wear and tear over the decades, the structure needed rebuilding which included a complete gutting and overhaul of that station. With the advent of the Culver Viaduct restoration work in 2009, the line was extended 5 stops to its current Church Avenue terminus with intermediate stops at Fourth Avenue-Ninth Street, Seventh Avenue, 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway.



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