ALBANY — State Sen. Daniel Squadron pressed the MTA for details on an L train shut down between Manhattan and Brooklyn during a Thursday budget hearing.
See for yourself what MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast had to say about the shutdown:
Prendergast described the two options the MTA is currently considering — a total shutdown that would take around 18 months or shutting down one tube at a time, severely reducing service, which would take double that amount.
"What were going to do is try to compress as much as possible, the construction time to do the work that’s necessary," Prendergast said. "There are a number of options that are being looked at."
Beyond the Canarsie Tube, the MTA has no plans for long term shutdowns planned for any of the other tunnels including the Cranberry (A + C trains), Rutgers (F train) and Clark (2 + 3 trains) Tubes. All repair work needed will happen after hours and all repairs will be completed before they start work on the Canarsie Tube, he said.
The MTA already said the agency would partake in community planning discussions leading up to a Canarsie Tube shutdown, but on Thursday Prendergast committed to participating in a town hall meeting before the end of this quarter that finishes at the end of March, even if the MTA hasn't finalized all it's plans yet, he said.
On Wednesday evening, at a meeting of the the L Train Coalition a group of community activists, commuters, local nonprofits, business owners and residents had floated the idea of digging a third tunnel so L train service wouldn't have to be interrupted at all.
That option was swiftly shot down by the MTA who said it would cost more and take far longer than any of the other options that all involve fixing the existing tunnel, according to MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg.
