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Posted by
Gold_12th
on Tue Sep 2 12:15:57 2014
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The G train is back.
Subway riders between Brooklyn and Queens are set to regain uninterrupted G train service as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reopens a tunnel heavily damaged by superstorm Sandy.
The Greenpoint subway tube, which runs beneath Newtown Creek, took on 15 feet of saltwater when the storm hammered New York City in the fall of 2012. It was scheduled to reopen at 5 a.m. Tuesday after a five-week closure.
It was one of nine of the subway system's 14 underwater tunnels that together sustained extensive damage to tracks, signals, water pumps and other sensitive equipment. Repairing the storm's damage to the subway tubes could cost as much as $1.1 billion, according to the MTA's initial estimates. And as the authority moves on to other tunnels in need of fixes, riders could encounter rerouted trains and other disruptions in years to come.
The Greenpoint Tunnel's closure sent riders onto shuttle buses between G stops in Queens and Brooklyn.
"Among the two most scary words in the transit lexicon are 'shuttle bus,' " said Gene Russianoff, senior attorney at the Straphangers Campaign, a rider-advocacy group. Mr. Russianoff said the MTA's tunnel repairs, despite hassles for riders, seemed necessary. Sandy wreaked havoc on his own R train commute from Brooklyn to downtown Manhattan.
Corroded signals and other infrastructure in the Montague Street Tunnel, which carries the R under the East River, led to delays. "The service was terrible," Mr. Russianoff said, comparing it to the system's dysfunction of the 1980s.
The Montague tunnel, which has been closed for about a year, is expected to reopen on schedule in October, according to the MTA. The authority said it would likely still need to close the Montague and Greenpoint tunnels on some weekends to finish work.
The Steinway tube carrying the 7 train between Manhattan and Queens has also been undergoing work. Weekend closures for Sandy-related repairs are slated to continue through March of next year, though riders of the 7 train will still face outages while the MTA installs advanced signaling technology, the authority said.
Next up for major repairs is the Cranberry Street Tunnel, which carries the A and C trains between Manhattan and Brooklyn. But the authority hasn't said when work might commence on that or other tubes in need of fixes.
The MTA said its work will help tunnels withstand future storms.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/g-train-returns-to-service-as-post-storm-repairs-stay-on-track-1409621452
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