After suffering damage from Superstorm Sandy, the “A” line has been restored to Howard Beach/JFK Airport and a bus shuttle is now operating between that stop and Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway.
Howard Beach service was restored Sunday morning, almost two weeks after Sandy hit, but it could take up to six months before the train is back to normal. The shuttle will run until that time.
“This segment of the A was especially hard hit, as was the Rockaway Peninsula and to be able to get service back to these neighborhoods is a priority for us,” said MTA chairman and CEO Joseph Lhota.
“The scope of the destruction was stunning. The North Channel Bridge, which connects Howard Beach and Broad Channel over Jamaica Bay, as well as a section of Broad Channel known as ‘The Flats’ sustained a tremendous amount of damage. Hundreds of feet of track were destroyed on the bridge and the line segment that runs through the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. There is no working signal system, the rails are twisted and in some areas, the supporting roadbed is completely washed away. The Broad Channel station was filled with debris, including a jet ski and a speedboat,” said the MTA.
Also, ferry service from the Rockaways to Manhattan began on Monday, November 12.
Other signs of improvement today included the reopening of one lane of the Hugh L. Carey (Brooklyn-Battery) Tunnel to Manhattan bound buses from 6 a.m.to 10a.m. and Brooklyn bound buses from 3 p.m.to 7 p.m.
The LIRR also returned to a near normal weekday schedule Monday on 10 of its 11 branches, after two of the tunnels flooded during Sandy reopened.
