Update, 9:42: Not five minutes after we published this report, as though to spite our hard-hitting G-train coverage, the MTA began running G-train service at 8:55 a.m. this morning, according to a press announcement sent out half an hour later. There will be much champagne popping in North Brooklyn tonight. And by champagne we mean Miller High Life.
Service has been restored along the entire line, from Court Square in Queens to Church Avenue in Brooklyn. The trains will be running slower (yes, slower than normal), once every 12 minutes, rather than ever 8 minutes, as repairs continue to the line.
MTA chairman and CEO Joe Lhota cautioned riders against being too reliant on the system. “We are working day and night to restore service as quickly as possible to give customers more travel options after the storm each day,” Mr. Lhota said. “We will continue to add service incrementally, only when it is absolutely safe to do so and doesn’t overcharge the system. Given the strain on the system, we still encourage our customers to allow extra time for their commutes.”
Original post: Ever since the MTA began rolling subway cars through the system last Thursday, after shutting down for three days following Hurricane Sandy, there has been some new piece of the 468-station network back in service. That streak ends today, in large part because so much of the system is back—by The Observer‘s count, 60 stations remain closed, meaning 88 percent of the subway system is back up and running again.
Yesterday brought us A-train service to Inwood, but the much ballyhooed shutdown of the G- and L-lines persist. It is possible the G-train could be up and running today, as The Observer witnessed empty trains running through Greenpoint last night, but there has been no official yet. An MTA official basically said to keep those fingers crossed. Still no sign of the L-train, but as previously reported, it had the most flooding of any line, thanks to a major vent shaft just feet from the East River on the Williamsburg waterfront, which was inundated during the storm.
Other downed lines are those that were in the most direct direct path of the storm, in the Rockaways, Coney Island and downtown. The A-train to the Rockaways will be gone for some time, but the MTA does have a daring plan to truck subway cars out to the barrier island. Intra-Rockaway service would then be set up, running between Mott Avenue in the east to Beach 116th Street in the west. As for Coney Island, there is still no service to Stillwell Avenue, with the Q terminating at Brighton Beach, the F at Avenue X, the D at Bay Parkway, and the N all the way back at 59th Street in Sunset Park.
Downtown, cresting at the Batter has kept the R-train from running downtown, leaving City Hall, Cortlandt Stree, Rector Street and Whitehall Street without service. And the hope of sending the 1-train at least to Rector Street, if not South Ferry, has yet to materialize, leaving the 1-train at Chambers street. The South Ferry 1-line terminus is still listed as “closed until further notice” on yesterday’s updated subway map.
