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Read the press release here.

L Train Shutdown Won't Begin Until 2019, MTA Says

By Gwynne Hogan | April 18, 2016 11:38am
 If you spend any time at the Bedford Avenue L train stop, you're doomed.
If you spend any time at the Bedford Avenue L train stop, you're doomed.
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BROOKLYN — An L train shutdown between Manhattan and Brooklyn won't begin until 2019, according to documents released by the MTA.

The MTA needs to repair 56 miles of power, communication and signal cables, replace 2.7 miles of tracks, two circuit breakers, according to the transit board.

Construction on the Canarsie Tunnel, which connects Manhattan and Brooklyn along the L line, will make the corridor more resistant to future flooding, a report from the Capital Program Oversight Committee.

The repairs the tunnel needs result from damage done to it during Hurricane Sandy when it flooded with thousands of gallons of brackish water, according to the MTA.

The repairs will take around 18 months, if all traffic between Manhattan and Brooklyn along the L is shut down, and three years, if the MTA closes one tunnel at a time.

Politicians who represent North Brooklyn were told in mid February that construction could begin as early as 2018.

The Daily News first reported the new timeline for the project.