Hello. Last week, we mentioned that one of the biggest uses of power is air-conditioning in train cars. We got a lot of questions from you about how this all works, including maintaining them and how you can report a "hot car." We talked with one of our general superintendents to get the cool lowdown; read our interview below.
Also: one of you asked "what's happening behind the barricade on the Bedford Av platform?" so we answered; A photo of the new rails—can you feel the difference?; Don't forget about the service changes in Brooklyn all weekend. Have a sunny summer weekend.
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Cool customer: An (air-conditioned) L train pulls in to Bedford Av Station.
Photo: Trent Reeves / MTA Capital Construction / Saturday, July 13, 2019
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L train chill out: How our crews keep your AC humming
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Last week, the mercury hit 93 F. So we don't think you'll disagree that we’re putting our power to good use with that temperature-modifying invention—air-conditioning!
We didn't always have it though. The IRT tested the first AC units in 1955, and The New York Times called it “the dream of every heat maddened subway sardine.” Still, it wasn’t until July 1967 that our first fully air-conditioned fleet rolled out. Since then, AC has been standard order on all new cars.
But keeping it working on the L means rigorous maintenance on the air-conditioning units at the East New York Yard, where we park the L, J, M, and Z trains. So how do we keep those cars cool? And what should you do if you board one that isn’t? We talked to Patrick Nee, a general superintendent and a 39-year NYCT veteran who’s fixed a lot of AC units in his day.
L Project Weekly: Patrick, we have about 5,400 cars in daily service. How do we check the air-conditioning on all of them?
Patrick Nee: It’s part of our routine inspections. Every car gets a top-to-bottom inspection every 10,000 to 12,000 miles, or 68 to 78 days, whichever comes first. We check the motors, doors, brakes, lights, everything. That includes the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning, the HVAC unit. We also do daily inspections when trains lay up in the yard. If the AC or anything else isn’t working, we switch those cars out for ones that are working to keep service moving, and then fix the broken one.
LPW: Is there anything we do differently in summer?
PN: We do change the AC filters, like you would at home. I like to change them one or two times between the regular inspections.
LPW: We have a lot of different trains or “rolling stock,” as we call it, under different contracts. So the HVAC units are all different, right?
PN: They all have the same basic parts, but there’s one big difference. The rolling stock built before 1999 have the HVAC units underneath the car. They pick up more dust, and they’re harder to work on because they’re built into the car.
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And the maintenance process is more manual. I used to work on them in the summers, down in the service pit under the car. It was sweaty, dirty work. But hey, I was in my 20s, I had to put my time in.
LPW: So if those are manual, what’s more automated about the newer cars, AKA our "millennium" fleet?
PN: For the newer ones, we can plug in a computer diagnostics system and check the whole car. Everything is right on screen. It’s much faster. I love working on the new ones. And the HVAC units themselves are modular and sit on top of the car. We find something wrong, we just pop out the whole unit with an overhead crane and pop in a new one. We send the defective one up to the 207th Street shop and they fix it and store it there.
LPW: What kind of cars run on the L, old or new?
PN: Those are all newer ones, mostly the Kawasaki R143 cars. It’s a good car, the first 60 ft car built for our B Division, the lettered lines. You can tell them by the lighted “strip maps” over the windows. Their HVACs are good.
LPW: We all know that you’ll sometimes get into a car with no AC. If that happens, we tell customers to note the car number, located at either end of the train, and send it to us using this handy form. What happens then?
PN: Someone confirms it, then flags to us, and we’ll get them out as soon as we can and fix them. The R143s come in four-car sets, so if a train comes in with one AC out, we have to take out those four cars and switch in new ones. Sometimes we’ll have a spare train at the yard, a “gap train” as we call it, and we can just send that out right away.
LPW: Thanks, Patrick. Thanks to you and all our shop crews for keeping things cool.
Want to help us keep the cars cool? Do keep the windows closed when the AC is on, please. And if you encounter a hot car, first, sorry! Then tell us about it using this form for the quickest fix. (Reporting it at a Help Point in a station works, too.)
Still craving more cool? Check out these photos from a recent visit we made to the Corona Maintenance Yard (not where L trains go, but still interesting!).
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Reminder: Use alternate service options or free shuttle buses during late nights on weekdays + all-day weekends at select Brooklyn L stations
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Your weekly friendly service reminder: We're continuing work at stations between Lorimer St and Broadway Junction, meaning no L service all day at those stations this weekend, and between midnight and 5 a.m. on weekdays. Click the button below to get the full schedule and our alternate service options.
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 Customer question of the week
Q: There's construction plywood up on the Bedford Av platform, but I can't see anything happening. I know there was a new staircase installed over there already, so what is this all about?
-Anonymous
A. You might not see us, but we're working behind that big blue barricade all while L train service continues at Bedford Av Station (see photo below). This is where we're demolishing the old staircase and building a brand new one.
 And yes, we've already installed one new staircase. This is kind of part 2 of the bigger project here (the Driggs Ave side of the platform, to be specific). Here's the rundown:
- The overall project will both make that end of the platform easier to get around AND increase stair capacity by 50% on that end.
- To achieve this, we removed one stairway that was too wide for wheelchair access, and are replacing it with two stairways that are slightly narrower. This will add more room on the platform.
- By having two staircases that are narrower (instead of just one, wider one), it's a net 50% increase in how many people can use these stairs at one time to get from platform to mezzanine.
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Glamour shot of the week: Renewed rails means smooth sailing
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A crew member walks the tube currently being worked on. In this section, all of the rail and track ties have been fully replaced. If you're traveling Manhattan-bound on weekdays, see if you notice just how smooth the ride is.
Photo: Trent Reeves / MTA Capital Construction / Saturday, July 13, 2019
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Construction look-ahead: Week of 7/27/19
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We're continuing our progress on conduits, cable and track work. Here's what's on tap this week:
- Install the structural FRP between the North 7th fan plant and the circuit breaker house
- Continue installing negative transponder jumper
- Install more conduits, including heat trace conduits and cable
- Install brackets at Avenue D
- Continue installing cable and tunnel lighting brackets and boxes
- Install discharge line near signal cases between Avenue D and the pump room
- Continue working on the new equipment, conduits and wiring in the tunnel lighting room at Bedford Avenue
- Install conduits for fare machines and lighting at the 1 Av Station mezzanine
- Swap more plates and ties and remove and install new contact rail parts between Avenue D and 1st Avenue, and continue welding rail joints
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