By Bill Parry
Angry No. 7 train riders in Sunnyside rallied beneath the 40th Street station during Tuesday’s morning rush to demand better service on the beleaguered subway line. City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) called on the MTA to perform Full-Line Reviews on the No. 7 line, a top-to-bottom study that resulted in improvements on the A, C, F, G and L trains.
“My social media blows up every single morning with people’s accounts of service disruptions,” Van Bramer said. “What we have witnessed nearly every single day are significant delays, significant problems with trains bypassing stations, crowded platforms.”
Van Bramer has led rallies demanding better service on the No. 7 line in each of his six years in office.
“Everyone here pays taxes, pays for MetroCards and each deserves better,” he said.
Straphanger Ty Sullivan, who helped launch the Facebook group 7 Train Blues, believes the crowded platforms during each rush hour have become a safety issue.
“It’s gotten to the point where it’s almost dangerous to get up on the train platforms,” Sullivan said. ““We need a better quality of life out here. People are getting written up at work for lateness. Their jobs are in jeopardy because of the constant delays.”
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said the agency has been making capital improvements on the 7 line over the past several years to increase rider capacity and service reliability.
“We are fully committed to conducting line reviews of all the systems lines,” Ortiz said. “In addition, over the past several months, we have enhanced inspections and added additional personnel to improve response times to right of way incidents on the 7 line that is beginning to stabilize service along the line. However, there have been a couple of major incidents on the line over the past several weeks, a broken rail for example, that have negatively impacted service.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparr
