Hi. We made it through the week together—THANK YOU! Nobody likes change, but New Yorkers are resilient and yes, patient, flexible and polite. L trains were very crowded on nights and weekends as expected, and will continue to be. But many more of you heeded our advice and tried out new routes using our more frequent alternate service.
So this week's newsletter is dedicated to all the "customers formerly known as L train riders on weeknights and weekends." We want to hear about your experience. Did you take the M train for the first time and discover the view from the Williamsburg Bridge? Take the J and realize you have connectivity a lot longer than the L? Use our question form to tell us how it was and what we can do to improve. And read about a few things we're already working on below.
Also, as promised, we posted the results from our dust monitoring following the first weekend of work (summary: they're well below the limits we've set), and will continue to publish these on Fridays. You can see all of our reports here.
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The M train is really nice if you hate transferring
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"Where does the M train go?"
Other than "can I transfer for free between the subway and bus?" (A: yes), this was the question we heard the most while we were out chatting with you this week.
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Turns out New Yorkers and visitors alike aren't used to this magical train, given that it used to hibernate after dark and on weekends. But now that the M train is running every 8 minutes on nights and weekends, and with an extended route, it has a ton of benefits—a view from the Williamsburg Bridge, connections to 14 other subway lines in Manhattan alone...
...and a bunch of "one-seat trips" (as we call it in the biz).
So this one's for you, customer-who-doesn't-like-to-make-subway-transfers:
Places you can get to with a one-seat trip on the M train
1. SoHo and NoHo (Broadway-Lafayette): Spend the day shopping if that's your thing, or check out the International Center of Photography (more our thing).
2. West Village/Greenwich Village (W 4 St Station): Springtime at Washington Square Park is the best. In the other direction, NYU students, here's your Williamsburg alternative.
3. Koreatown/Herald Square (34 St-Herald Sq): For the visitors: Macy's. For the visitors or the locals: karaoke.
4. Midtown (42 St-Bryant Park, 47-50 Sts Rockefeller Ctr): It's in the name. Bryant Park. Rockefeller Center. Also: don't miss the New York Public Library's Reading Room in the main branch.
5. More midtown (57 St): Two blocks away from Central Park. One avenue away from 5th Avenue.
6. Upper East Side (Lexington Av / 63 on up the Q line): The art work in our stations. Sometimes called "an underground art museum," check out the permanent art installations starting at the Lexington Av / 63 Station.
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Behind the scenes: Countdown clocks, work trains, and other first week fixes
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No matter how much you prepare, you can't plan for everything. During our first week of the single-track operation, we tried a lot of things for the first time in MTA New York City Transit history. Many things worked. A few didn't.
From the beginning, we promised we'd be able to make changes quickly, which we've been doing. Here are a few things we're working on or have already improved:
1. Work trains
We have to use work trains to get materials and crews in the jobsite. As we planned out the schedule for work trains, our mindset was always "how do we maximize the number of regular trains" within that work train schedule. So our initial plan was to mix work trains and regular trains, including the extra "overlay" trains in Brooklyn.
But even though we had more trains, they weren't running reliably. The extra regular train service wasn't worth it if the work trains were slowing it down as much as it was. So we're trying a new way to make service as consistent as possible: we are adjusting the schedule to start the Brooklyn overlay service a bit later—10:45 p.m. (instead of 10:25 p.m.) at Lorimer St on most weeknights, and a bit later on Friday nights.
This schedule adjustment will allow us to move work trains directly into the work zone. For you, this means L train service between Manhattan and Brooklyn will be more reliable during the ramp down period (between 8 and 10 p.m.).
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2. Countdown clocks and apps
When we were starting to plan for the single-track operation, we immediately brought in our IT team. They're the ones who know how the data feeds from the modern CBTC signaling system drive the information you see—the countdown clocks and navigation apps.
They made a ton of changes behind the scenes in advance, including programming that special "overlay" train in Brooklyn so that you know it's "last stop, Lorimer St." But the single-tracking proved to be more challenging. So everyone from IT, the Rail Control Center and Service Delivery got in a room to figure out why the data kept jumping around. We could talk about this for a whole newsletter, so we'll leave it at this: we have a few solutions we're testing out, and if you see a blank screen, it's because we're trying something but don't think it's ready for prime time.
3. Line map inside M, J, L and (any new cars on the) G
You know the graphics inside of some train cars that show the next stop information? Our newer cars have it, including many of the ones used along the M, J and L trains.
When possible, we integrate the bus lines that connect at key stations, so that you can see it on the map and hear it via announcements. Because of the special way these maps are produced, it's going to take some time before you see them in train cars. But when we do, you'll be notified of those critical connections. For example at Marcy Av: "Connection is available to the Williamsburg Link B91 and B92."
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Weekender: Plan ahead for Five Boro Bike Tour, McCarren 5K & 10K
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We're always on the look out for big events around the city that could impact our service. Here are two this week that we're watching, and our advice if you're taking part in the fun:
1. Five Boro Bike Tour (Sunday): The ride starts in Lower Manhattan, so take the J to get there. Please be courteous to your fellow riders and don't take bikes on the L train during the busy times. Most L stops are super close to other lines that run more frequently and will have more space.
2. McCarren 5K & 10K (Saturday): The race already happened, but shout-out to the team at St. Nicks Alliance for being great partners as we planned ahead to shift our Williamsburg Link routes (B91 and B92) and some stops during the race hours (8-11 a.m.).
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Along our train lines, we have industrial structures that we operate for ventilation purposes. Meet the very literally-named: "fan plant."
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For the L line, we built two fan plants in 1916 before the tunnel opened for service—one near the river on Avenue D in Manhattan and one on N 7th St in Williamsburg (way before the 2005 rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint when the area was industrial!).
We use them any time we do work on the L, like in recent weeks with the nights and weekends with no L service. We need to continue using these fan plants regularly during the project for safety. But we know the noise is disruptive, so we are taking steps to minimize it as much as possible. We've already 1) made a plan with our contractors and 2) used that plan to first activate the Avenue D fan plant before the one in Williamsburg as it's now by the new residences built after the rezoning. The Avenue D fan plant is close to the river in a fully industrial area.
Here are some quick facts about fan plants and how we're operating them during the L tunnel work:
- They are needed to meet the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 130 requirements for Emergency Tunnel Smoke Evacuation and OSHA requirements for workers.
- We will need to use both fan plants, but will start by running the Avenue D fan plant first, evaluate conditions, then use the Brooklyn one as needed. We'll continue that process as conditions require.
- The fan plants will be used when L service is reduced to the every-20-minute-situation around 10 p.m., and again in the morning when service is resumed to the normal schedule.
- Both fan plants will also be used while we're working in the tunnel as needed.
- We are currently working with our environmental engineering team to look for even more ways to reduce noise from the fan plant, in addition to minimizing its use.
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Construction update: This weekend
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Here are the highlights from our work this weekend:
- Install fiber cable for CBTC, which will allow us to move more trains closer together
- Install discharge pipe to the Avenue D fan plan to enhance the tunnel's resiliency
- Swap out old track plates and ties for a more comfortable ride
- Progress the station expansion of Bedford Av
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Glamour shot of the week:
Look for the pink
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Maps, travel options, trip tips: To get to where you need to go, look for the pink signs around stations.
Photo: Marc Hermann / MTA New York City Transit / Fri., April 26, 2019
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Get in touch
- Sign up for our text alerts
- Call 511 and say "subways" then "L train"
- Tweet @NYCTSubway with #LProject
- Ask a team member: We're still going to have lots of staff out from 8 Av to Lorimer St over the weekend. Look for someone with a pink button that says "Ask me about the L Project"
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Learn more and stay connected
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