NYCT news release 12/8/17:
Overnight Work to Advance MTA Subway Action Plan to Affect NQRW in Manhattan
FASTRACK Maintenance and Repair Work Helps to Target Main Drivers of Delays
While Minimizing Impact on Customers
Beginning Monday, Dec. 11, an extensive amount of maintenance, cleaning and repair work to advance the MTA Subway Action Plan will be performed as New York City Transit’s FASTRACK program returns to stations along the N Q R W lines in Manhattan. The work will be performed for four consecutive weeknights, from 9:30 p.m. to 5:00 a.m., on Monday, Dec. 11 to early Friday morning, in order to minimize impact on customers and allow maximum efficiency with workers receiving unfettered access to tracks.
The MTA Subway Action Plan is a comprehensive plan to stabilize and modernize the subway system by attacking the key drivers of 79 percent of delay-causing major incidents, strategically targeting additional personnel and equipment to focus on critical parts of the system. Track and signal components are maintained and repaired, and massive amounts of debris are removed to reduce delay-causing track fires. The Subway Action Plan also focuses on improving communications to help customers plan their trips.
During each seven-hour period, an army of maintenance workers will take advantage of train-free access to the tracks to perform dozens of tasks that are vital to providing safe and reliable train service. These tasks include the repair and replacement of track, third rail, electrical and signal components, debris removal from tracks and under or around the third rail, and the repair of tunnel infrastructure. Improvements to stations include painting, platform work, and repairs to signage, lighting fixtures and ADA components.
"The unfettered track access of FASTRACK enables us to advance Subway Action Plan goals and minimize customer impact by allowing workers to do more in less time,” MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said. “We are on an urgent path to stabilizing and modernizing the subway system and intensive overnight work will help us get there.”
During the most recent FASTRACK work on the 1 2 3 lines between Manhattan and Brooklyn, NYC Transit track workers replaced various track components that were past their useful life, corrected various defects, and scraped and cleaned the roadbed including areas under and around the third rail, removing accumulated debris. Infrastructure crews completed maintenance and repair tasks, including leak repair and track cleaning to remove accumulated silt and other debris from drains and pump plants. At stations, workers performed station cleaning and repair tasks such as the removal of litter and scrap debris, repairs to station safety features and lighting, concrete and platform repairs, and painting. Workers also performed maintenance of electronic equipment, including CCTV cameras and monitors. Signal crews tested and serviced signal and switch equipment.
FASTRACK schedules have been designed around the careful determination that there is adequate alternate means of transportation, including enhanced services along some bus lines, during work periods. Alternative transportation options will be detailed in announcements and posters on trains, in stations and on buses.
During this FASTRACK operation, N trains will run in Queens and Brooklyn only, between Astoria-Ditmars Blvd and Queensboro Plaza, and between Coney Island-Stillwell Av and the Court St R station. Q trains will run between 96 St and Coney Island-Stillwell, and are rerouted via the D line between DeKalb Av and 47-50 Sts, then via the F line between 47-50 Sts and Lexington Av/63 St.
For alternate service in Manhattan, use nearby stations on the 7 Av 1 2, 6 Av D F, and Lexington Av 4 6. Use the 7 for service between Queens and Manhattan, and use the 4 D Q for service between Manhattan and Brooklyn. N trains make local R line stops between Court St and 59 St in Brooklyn. In Queens, take the E M instead of the R. Key transfer points are Queensboro Plaza 7 N, 42 St-Bryant Park 7 D F Q , 42 St-Grand Central 4 7, and Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr D N Q.
