MTA New York City Transit is continuing its accelerated schedule of proactive weekend track maintenance and repairs, as well as station improvements, on the 
lines this winter to ensure safe and reliable service when the 
train tunnel reconstruction begins in April 2019 and the line operates as a Brooklyn-only service.
“We’re working hard to be ready for when the line runs as a Brooklyn-only service while we reconstruct its under-river tunnel next year,” said MTA NYC Transit President Andy Byford. “To make sure our alternate service will be as reliable possible before the project starts, we’re doing accelerated work now on those subway lines and stations that will absorb customers going to and from Manhattan.”
The lines will be heavily used as alternate subway service during the tunnel reconstruction, and NYC Transit is extremely focused on conducting as much repair and maintenance work as possible on those lines to limit any unplanned service outages when the becomes a Brooklyn-only line. Additionally, NYC Transit is making capacity improvements at stations along the lines, such as projects to widen stairs, turnstile areas or points of entrance/exit and transfer. A project to double capacity recently completed at Hewes St with a reopened staircase and more turnstiles. To accelerate construction for station improvements at Marcy Av and track work, crews will require total track or station access on select weekends in November and December.
Service changes on the following weekends begin at approximately 9:45 p.m. on Fridays to 5 a.m. on Mondays:
November 23–26
- trains operate between Hewes St and Jamaica Center.
- service is suspended.
- Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Essex St and Metropolitan Av in two routes:
- between Essex St and Hewes St
- between Essex St and Metropolitan Av
November 30–December 3
- trains operate between Hewes St and Jamaica Center.
- trains operate between Metropolitan Av and Myrtle Av.
- Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Essex St and Hewes St
December 7–10
- trains operate between Hewes St and Jamaica Center.
- service is suspended.
- Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Essex St and Metropolitan Av in two routes:
- between Essex St and Hewes St
- between Essex St and Metropolitan Av
December 14–17, 21–24, 28–31, and January 4–7, 2019
- service is suspended.
- Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Essex St and Metropolitan Av.
January 11–14, 18–21, 25–28
- trains operate between Myrtle Av and Jamaica Center.
- service is suspended.
- Free shuttle buses provide alternate service between Essex St and Metropolitan Av in two routes:
- between Essex St and Myrtle Av
- between Essex St and Metropolitan Av
Signage will be posted and announcements will be made at affected stations to provide exact start and end times of service, as well as details of the alternate service.
ABOUT THE TUNNEL RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT
The tunnel – also known as the Canarsie Tunnel – was one of nine underwater tunnels that flooded during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, all of which required extensive rehabilitation and repair. The tunnel, which houses the under-river subway tracks for the line between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was flooded with enough water to fill 11 Olympic-sized swimming pools and suffered extensive damage to tracks, signals, switches, power cables, signal cables, communication cables, lighting, cable ducts and bench walls throughout a 7,100-foot-long flooded section of both tubes. Bench walls throughout those sections must be rehabilitated to protect the structural integrity of the tubes. While short-term repairs enabled NYC Transit to safely restore service after Sandy, long-term repairs are needed to run service without major failures.
NYC Transit began public outreach on the tunnel reconstruction project in 2016, with more than 100 public workshops, neighborhood town halls and meetings with community boards, elected officials, the New York City Department of Transportation and the New York City Economic Development Corporation to plan the project and proposed service mitigation, and to solicit public feedback on how best to accommodate approximately 225,000 riders who currently take the train between Manhattan and Brooklyn and the 50,000 riders who take the in Manhattan.
Information on the train tunnel repairs, the alternate service changes during the project and the improvement projects planned for stations along the and other lines are available at http://mta.info/LTunnelReconstruction.
