No. 7 line back for Lunar New Year

In a timely letter to City Councilmember John Liu, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has pledged to restore full weekend service on the No. 7 line for the first two weekends in February, after almost derailing Flushing’s celebration of “Chinese New Year.”
The MTA announced a “major capital project” involving new signal and track switches on the Flushing line on Wednesday, January 9.
Under the plan, there was to be no express service at all on the line until the end of February, and weekend service was to be suspended between the Main Street terminus and the 61st Street station in Woodside for up to five weekends, starting January 12, until February 9.
The work is part of the second phase of a $76 million project to upgrade the line between Queensborough Plaza and 82nd Street in Jackson Heights.
Flushing merchants said their weekend business plummeted when the construction closure took effect, saying shuttle buses and alternative Long Island Rail Road service did not take up the slack.
Liu, Assemblymember Ellen Young and State Senator Toby Stavisky, along with business organizations and individuals flooded the MTA with protests at the timing of the closure, leaving many to wonder why the MTA never considered the holiday and Flushing’s widely publicized annual parade and celebration in their plans.
By the following Thursday, January 17, the MTA said that above-freezing temperatures and little precipitation each day had fueled a burst of productivity which allowed the two weekend suspensions to be avoided.