MTA To Add 1,000 Trips Per Week During L Train Shutdown

NEW YORK CITY -- The MTA will add an additional 1,000 roundtrips per week during the 15-month L train tunnel shutdown slated to hit New York in 2019, the agency announced Monday.

The MTA will increase service on subway lines that ferry New Yorkers between Brooklyn and Manhattan between April 2019 until repairs on the Canarsie Tunnel are finished, according to NYC Transit president Andy Byford.

“The tunnel reconstruction project will be the most impactful Superstorm Sandy-repair work we will undertake,” Byford said in a statement. "We must ensure we have viable, reliable alternatives particularly on the subways where we can accommodate the largest number of riders."

NYC Transit expects to add 198 roundtrips each weekday and 94 weekend roundtrips on seven subway lines, "pushing fleet, signal and track capacity to existing limits where feasible," according to the MTA statement.

Here's how it breaks down on weekdays by subway line:

• G Train: 66 additional roundtrips
• M Train: 62 additional roundtrips
• E Train: 26 additional roundtrips
• J and Z Trains: 16 additional roundtrips
• 7 Train: 14 additional roundtrips
• F Train: 12 additional roundtrips
• A Train: 2 additional roundtrips
• R Train: 3 fewer roundtrips, to accommodate M train increases
• L Train: 88 fewer roundtrips

And here is the weekend breakdown:

• M Train: 26 additional Saturday roundtrips and 31 additional Sunday roundtrips
• G Train: 16 additional Saturday roundtrips and 8 additional Sunday roundtrips
• J Train: 2 additional Saturday roundtrips and 6 additional Sunday roundtrips
• F Train: 1 additional Saturday roundtrip and 2 additional Sunday roundtrips
• E Train: 1 additional Saturday roundtrip and 1 additional Sunday roundtrip
• L Train: 90 fewer Saturday roundtrips and 53 fewer Sunday roundtrips

NYC Transit will also increase service and peak hours on certain lines to expand access for commuters.

Here's the breakdown by train line:

• G Train:
  • Some weekday peak trips will extend to the 18th Avenue station in Brooklyn
  • Some weekday peak trips run between Court Square-23rd Street in Queens and Bedford-Nostrand Avenues in Brooklyn
• M Train:
  • Increased weekday peak-hour service
  • Overnight and weekend service extends to 96th Street-Second Avenue in Manhattan
• J and Z Trains:
  • Trains make all stops between Broadway Junction and Marcy Avenue
  • Peak-hour skip-stop service on weekdays between Jamaica Center and Broadway Junction

Photo by Kathleen Culliton