FASTRACK Returns To The E

Riders of the E Train in Queens should take note that beginning tonight & for 4 consecutive nights, FASTRACK will be returning. Here are more details via the official press release I received:

MTA New York City Transit’s FASTRACK program returns to the E line along a portion of Queens Boulevard. For four consecutive weeknights, beginning Monday, November 2, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., to early Friday morning, November 6, E service will be suspended in both directions between Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer and Briarwood. E trains will operate on its normal route between World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and Briarwood, at that point, trains will be rerouted via the F line to/from Jamaica-179 St.
As a travel alternative, customers are advised to use free shuttle buses operating between Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer and Kew Gardens-Union Tpke, making station stops at Sutphin Blvd-Archer Av, Jamaica-Van Wyck, and Briarwood. Transfer between E trains and free shuttle buses at Kew Gardens-Union Tpke or Briarwood. For additional connections between Manhattan and Jamaica Center, consider using the A and J via free transfer at Broadway Junction. The A also connects with the JFK AirTrain at Howard Beach.

Joseph Leader, Senior Vice President for the Department of Subways, said, “All subway stakeholders win with FASTRACK. Workers have a better and safer work environment, customers benefit from better train service, improved aesthetics and increased reliability, and more work is performed in a shorter amount of time.”

During our previous FASTRACK in September 2015, train service was suspended for four consecutive nights between Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer and Briarwood, as NYC Transit workers took full advantage of the seven hours of train-free access each night to perform a range of cleaning and maintenance tasks of station and tunnel infrastructure, signal equipment, and track and third rail components. Track workers scraped and cleaned 7,765 feet of track, cleaned 815 feet of track under and around the third rail, installed 306 track plates, and 15 rails. Infrastructure workers repaired 42 leaks, while signal crews performed maintenance work on signal equipment. At stations, workers replaced 612 light bulbs, washed 315 fixtures and replaced 19 platform signs. This represents only a portion of the work completed during this FASTRACK diversion.

FASTRACK has 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 selected buses; brochures will be available in both English and Spanish. Information on this FASTRACK is available on the web at http://web.mta.info/nyct/service/fastrack_E.htm#serviceChanges

FASTRACK was introduced in January 2012, devoting four straight weeknights to perform maintenance work in tunnels, stations and on tracks, completely suspending service within a given line segment for a seven-hour period between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., allowing an army of maintenance workers to perform dozens of tasks.

Our next FASTRACK overnight closure is scheduled to begin Monday night November 9, and ending early Friday morning, November 13, on the A line between 59 St and 168 St, and on the D line between 59 St and 161 St-Yankee Stadium.

The changes have been noted on the service diversions page which can be viewed by clicking here.

xoxo Transit Blogger

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.

Comments

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

(required)

(required)