To fix damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, the MTA will shut down the L train completely for 18 months between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
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The MTA said in a statement on its website that this was preferable to a three-year partial closure for one track, after considering its impact on the community and on “consequences of unplanned outages that would occur if one track was closed for three years”. Due to an “incident” at the First Avenue L Station, Manhattan-bound service on the L was suspended during the Monday morning rush. “This is the, “Get in, get done, get out” option”. The tunnel system that hosts the L train is just one of nine underwater tunnels that requires significant fix because of Hurricane Sandy. It also said that bench walls throughout a seven-mile long flooded section of both tubes were also damaged.
Well we have what appears to be the official decision on the impending L train shut down.
Service between Bedford Ave. and Canarsie-Rockaway Pkwy. will be relatively unaffected. MTA officials said that in visits with local Community Boards along the line, residents preferred complete, shorter-duration closing.
According to the MTA, extra cars will be added to G trains during the shutdown.
The MTA says its working on a plan to provide alternatives to the subway, such as running shuttle buses over the Williamsburg Bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
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There will be no L service in Manhattan, where it normally runs under 14th Street. L trains will continue to run in Brooklyn between Williamsburg and Canarsie. That means the 300,000 people riding the train every single day will be losing a primary mode of transportation.
