With the massive M train shutdown in Brooklyn and parts of Queens looming next year, the MTA is already preparing to help commuters figure out a way around while the line is closed.
In preparation for the 2017 closure of the M train, which will eliminate service between Middle Village and Bushwick, the MTA has announced that it will add weekday and weekend service on the L line during the summer of 2017 to continue to move people between Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
According to the MTA, the L line will see 11 round trips added during weekdays, 12 round trips during Saturday mornings and afternoons, and a total of 27 more round trips on Sundays from morning to evening as part of a package of service changes planned for June 2017.
When the partial closure of the M train goes into effect, the MTA expects more riders to use the L train, so additional weekday service will be added.
“Our subway system turned 112 this year, and it never gets a break. In order to keep up with demand, we must work now to shore up our infrastructure so trains can keep running for another hundred years,” said Ronnie Hakim, NYC Transit President.
The MTA plans to demolish and replace the bridge over the freight rail tracks between the M train’s Fresh Pond Road and Metropolitan Avenue stations. Once that project is complete, the MTA will demolish and rebuild the 103-year-old Myrtle Viaduct.
The rehabilitation of both of these structures is paramount to the scheduled 2019 repairs to the L train’s Canarsie tube, which took on 7 million gallons of salt water during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. During the closure, which will last for a year and a half, riders are expected to use not only the M, but the J and Z lines, more and more.
In order to accommodate the closure of the M line, temporary long-term service changes on the J/Z/M lines will be implemented in July 2017:
- On weekdays, M trains will operate between the Forest Hills-71st Avenue E/F/M/R station and the Broadway Junction A/C/J/Z/L station, while some trains will operate between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and the 2nd Avenue F/M station during afternoon peak hours.
- Alternate bus service will also be provided to M stations that are closed during the reconstruction projects.
- J/Z trains will make all stops between Broadway Junction and Marcy Avenue.
