BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
They did an L of a job!
Workers kicked off the second
half of the L train tunnel
rehabilitation project on Monday
under budget and three
months ahead of schedule,
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced
Sunday.
The governor praised new
construction techniques originally
employed to avert the
so-called “L-pocalypse” — a
total shutdown of the stormwrecked
Canarsie Tube that
carries straphangers between
Manhattan and Brooklyn
aboard the L train — for the
rapid pace of construction.
“Today we saw up close
what happens when you abandon
the old ways of doing
things and think outside the
box — you get the work done
better, faster and cheaper,”
Cuomo said on Sept. 29 during
a tour of the newly-reconstructed
Manhattan-bound
tube. “This project will ultimately
COURIER L 20 IFE, OCT. 4-10, 2019
be a case study for
how the MTA needs to operate
going forward, especially
as they implement the upcoming
historic capital plan that
will completely modernize the
entire system and deliver the
21st century transportation
service worthy of New York.”
As part of the fi rst phase
of the rehabilitation project,
workers installed tens of thousands
of feet of new power,
communications and signal
cables; a new wall structure
with a specially reinforced
polymer to handle heavy
loads; more than a mile of new,
continuously welded track;
3,415 feet of discharge pipes
and a new fi ber optic monitoring
system.
Repairs to the Brooklynbound
tube, which began on
Sept. 30, are expected to wrap
up next April — bringing the
entire project to a fi nish a full
three months ahead of the projected
15- to 18-month timeframe,
the governor said.
The Transit Authority
originally planned a complete
shutdown of the Canarsie
Tube to repair damage infl
icted by Superstorm Sandy
in 2012, arguing that the time
and cost savings justifi ed the
roughly yearlong interruption
to cross-borough service.
However, Cuomo made a
surprise announcement in
January that the tube would
remain open throughout the
project, after meeting with academic
leaders to review the
project and determining that
the use of new construction
methods and technologies pioneered
by overseas transit networks
could result in effi cient,
quick infrastructure repairs.
Numerous service changes
that the MTA made to keep
riders moving during the L
train project remain in place,
the governor noted, including
the following:
• Service on the 7, G and M
lines was enhanced on weeknights
and weekends, including
an extended M train along
the Second Avenue Subway
line to 96th Street.
• Enhanced bus service
along 14th Street in Manhattan,
including additional
weeknight and weekend service
on the M14 Select Bus
Service.
• Free transfers in
Brooklyn between the Livonia
Street L train station
and the Junius Street 3
train stop; and between the
Broadway G train station
to the Hewes Street or Lorimer
Street stations on the
J/M/Z lines.
As the Canarsie Tube project
continues, the MTA is also
continuing efforts to build
new elevators at the Bedford
Avenue and First Avenue stations
on the L line, and installing
a new escalator at the 14th
Street-Union Square station.
FAST AS
Governor Andrew Cuomo toured the newly-reconstructed Manhattanbound
tunnel in the Canarsie Tube on the L line on Sept. 29.
Governor Andrew Cuomo
L
L train repairs ahead of schedule and under budget
Sunday evening Sept. 29 6:30 pm
Monday Sept. 30 9:30 am
Monday eve 6:30 pm
Tues Oct 1 930 am and 630 pm
Tues Eve Oct. 8 6 pm
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