New York City Transit (NYCT) will conduct critical repairs and preparatory work on the  Line’s Canarsie Tunnel starting in May in order to ensure the tunnel can remain open until the planned April 2019 closure of the tunnel for full rehabilitation from the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy.

In addition to assuring safe, reliable service through the Canarsie tunnel, work performed during the two scheduled weekend service outages between the 8 Av station in Manhattan and the Broadway Junction station in Brooklyn will allow crews to also begin prep work for the full-scale $477 million in planned repairs in 2019.

In order to minimize the impact of the outages, the work is being done on weekends because the ridership is lower and on a holiday weekend when an extra day can be utilized, which will result in one less weekend outage needed.

During these weekend outages, crews will replace ties from 8 Av to Broadway Junction and install continuously welded rail, which will result in smoother rides for customers and require less upkeep. Crews will inspect the communications systems along the line and perform maintenance on other track and tunnel infrastructure. The preparatory work includes surveys of the tubes, tracks and other areas within the track tunnel, which cannot be performed while trains are in service and the third rail is energized.

SERVICE CHANGES:

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 6, to 5 a.m. Monday, May 8, and on Memorial Day weekend from 12:01 a.m. Saturday, May 27, to 5 a.m. Tuesday, May 30,  trains will not operate in both directions between 8 Av and Broadway Junction.  trains will continue to operate between Broadway Junction and Canarsie-Rockaway Pkwy.

To accommodate customers during the weekend outages, MTA New York City Transit will provide a variety of service alternatives and free shuttle buses for subway customers, including:

For service between Manhattan and Brooklyn: During both weekends, on each Saturday from 6 a.m. to midnight and from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. each Sunday,  trains will operate from Middle Village-Metropolitan Av to Manhattan via the Sixth Avenue  line, stopping at Lexington Av/63 St , then onto the Second Avenue  line to 96 St. Late nights on Saturday into Sunday,  service will operate its regular scheduled service between Middle Village-Metropolitan Av to Myrtle Av.

In Manhattan: The M14A and M14D serve  line stops along 14th Street.

For service within Brooklyn: Free shuttle buses will operate along the  route in Brooklyn, following three routes:

• Between the Marcy Av  and Lorimer St  stations, stopping at Bedford Av  and Hewes St
• Between the Lorimer St  and Myrtle-Wyckoff Avs  stations, making  station stops at Graham Av, Grand St, Montrose Av, Morgan Av, Jefferson St, and DeKalb Av
• Between Myrtle-Wyckoff Avs  and Broadway Junction , making  station stops at Halsey St, Wilson Av and Bushwick Av-Aberdeen St

Overnight work is also scheduled on the  Line between Lorimer St and Broadway Junction from Tuesday, May 23 to Friday, May 26 and from Wednesday, May 31 to Friday, June 2 from 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m.  Free shuttle buses will operate along the  route in Brooklyn making stops at the impacted stations.

CANARSIE TUNNEL CLOSURE

The MTA has planned a full closure of the Canarsie Tunnel in spring 2019 to perform major rehabilitation and repair of the tunnel’s two tubes, which were flooded during Superstorm Sandy. Overhauls of two other flooded under-river tunnels, Montague  and Greenpoint , were successfully completed with similar service outages.

The Canarsie Tunnel suffered extensive damage to tracks, signals, switches, power cables, signal cables, communication cables, lighting, cable ducts and bench walls.

To expedite construction and minimize service disruptions for hundreds of thousands of  Line customers, the MTA chose to completely close the Canarsie Tunnel in both directions during the repairs to decrease the work timeline, which was initially expected to take 18 months. In March, the MTA Board approved a $477 million contract that calls for completing the work in 15 months. During the tunnel repairs,  service will continue to operate within Brooklyn.