2nd Ave Subway Tests Performed at 86th Street Station

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — One of the newest subway stations in New York City may be ready for train service. Trains were recently spotted performing test runs through the newly constructed 86th Street station on the Upper East Side — part of the much-anticipated 2nd Ave Subway.

YouTube user Bryan M. Wade posted a video (embedded at the bottom of this post) showing train cars running on both the northbound and southbound tracks of the new station.

"This northbound test-train entered 86th Street on the uptown track, paused and then proceeded north past 96th Street into the layups. Mayor Lindsay broke ground on that section in 1972," Wade wrote in this YouTube post. "The test-train then headed back from the layups southbound on the uptown track, crossed over to the downtown track south of 96th and then proceeded south into 86th Street. After a short pause at 86th it continued south towards 72nd Street."

The train travelled through the station smoothly, indicating the test run may have been a success. Wade's video also gives viewers a look at the design of the station at 86th Street, which seems to mirror the station at Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street.

On YouTube commenter was not impressed with the new station.

"A shame. I was expecting something a bit more modern in design. This just feels really sterile. And once those floors get filthy, it's going to look just like every other gross MTA station," said the commenter.

When complete, the 2nd Ave Subway project will construct new Q train stops at 96th, 86th and 72nd street stations along 2nd Ave and connect the Q to the existing Lexington Avenue-63rd Street station. The additions made to the Q line along 2nd Ave are expected to support a ridership of 200,000 people.

The MTA has said it expects revenue service to be running on the new line by Dec. 31, and is sticking to its guns despite reports that systems tests may be behind-schedule. An independent engineer consulting the MTA warned in September that the pace of testing would have to be tripled to launch service on the line by the end of the year. The same engineer again reiterated concern over the project's ability to meet the launch goal in a meeting this month.

Check out the 2nd Ave Subway in action at the new 86th Street station:

Photo: Screengrab of video posted to YouTube by Bryan M. Wade