Poor G train. Nobody loves it. It’s short, it’s unreliable, it has poor personal hygiene. It lives in a bad area. It doesn’t have as much money as those big fancy Manhattan trains. It rarely gets to mingle with other trains, save for a few illicit southern rendezvous with the F train.
And now it’s Read More
Update, 11/6 11:42 a.m.: The MTA just announced that the L-train tube under 14th Street has been pumped out and “damage is currently being assessed.”
Original post: Since we have become your defacto North Brooklyn subway depot—just take a look at the Popular Stories box right now—here is the latest from those skinny-pants filled lines. According to the MTA’s evening service advisory, the Newtown Creek tunnel on the G-train has been pumped out while pumping work remains for the L.
As we previously reported, no tunnel saw more flooding than the L, which is among the reasons the MTA left it until the end of its recovery operations to pump out, because the more water, the longer it takes. Among the reasons the 4/5/6 and 2/3 were up and running so quickly is they needed minimal pumping. They also carry more people, making them, arguably a greater priority. Just don’t tell that to the people living in North Brooklyn. Read More
The people of North Brooklyn can be an entitled bunch (as a local, this reporter can personally testify to this). After all, the lights, even the Internet stayed on through most of the storm, and property damage was minimal, even for those condos cum punching bags on the waterfront. Still, standing outside in the freezing cold while one packed B62 after another blows by your stop is not a very comforting feeling. Forget getting to work, what about the hypothermia concerns the mayor has been preaching?
But fear not, now that the MTA has gotten to all the other subway lines—which to be totally fair had less flooding and/or carried more riders into the city—the L and the G are now its primary recovery focus, according to MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg. Read More
Update 11/3 3:30:The MTA just provided an explanation for not even the partial restoration of G service. It essentially amounts to low ridership.
Update 11/1 8:09: We finally sort of found out how it is the G train flooded even though it does not go under the East River. Currently, the section of the train running under Newtown Creek is full of water (between the oil, the Superfund sites, and now this, that creek is just the worst).
It was not clear how the water got there, whether it came in due to flooding along the creek in Greenpoint and Long Island City or elsewhere in the system. Water flows downhill, after all, and this is the lowest point in the system, so it could have been flooding anywhere, through the air vents or entrances or other entry points, and this is simply where the water wound up.
It has yet to be decided when the tunnel will be pumped out–after all, this is one of the lowest-density lines, and thus less of a priority, especially since it does not travel into the central business districts in Manhattan. It was also not clear whether the line would begin to run in sections or see a partial restoration of service, as has happened with other subway lines thus far. Read More
Video
The G train gets a bad rap sometimes. Residents of Brooklyn and Queens often grumble about the train’s sporadic service, long waits, lack of weekend service, and its general uselessness. But there’s at least one champion of the G out there (which will be extending its service thanks to the MTA’s new budget allotment), and they want you to show your love as well.
The Williamsburg beer factory/garden Brooklyn Brewery is holding a contest for songsmiths to pen a tune about their experience riding the green rails, which, as they point out, is statistically a pretty decent train. The winning band will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Sweden, where the hops palace has teamed up with Debaser to hold the first ever Brooklyn music festival in Stockholm. (Why? Who knows.) Read More
They’ll be celebrating in Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kennsington tonight. Read More
When Peter Eide moved to Clinton Hill, he had a "fantastical" idea.
The sculptor had spent 12 years moving around the borough after arriving from Philadelphia: Greenpoint, Williamsburg, back to Clinton Hill. But Mr. Eide, now 37, never strayed far from the G train, the only subway line in the city that doesn’t travel Read More
Advocates reacted with disappointment and worry to the news that the G train will not receive the service increases that the Metropolitan Transit Authority promised riders in February.
"The M.T.A. has done a grave injustice to G train riders and commuters in Brooklyn if it fails to enact service enhancements," said State Assemblyman Hakeem Read More
Not exactly. But close. The Times‘ William Neuman reports this morning that the perennially put-upon G Train will not be part of a round of scaled-back service improvements:
One line that had been scheduled for more service in the original proposal last December but was not included in this round of improvements was the Read More
"The four-car G train is just like one step above the horse and buggy days," State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn told the crowd at Wednesday night’s Save the G rally at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene.
Almost 100 G riders kicked off a monthlong campaign to increase service on the "forgotten Read More
