QUEENS — The W train will start running again next week after a six year hiatus — but its return will mean nearly two dozen fewer trains heading to and from Astoria each day, according to MTA schedules for the line.
Neighborhood service on the N/W lines will be slightly less frequent during certain hours after the W's return on Nov. 7 than it the N/Q service currently does, with approximately 20 fewer trains per day to and from Astoria, MTA timetables show.
This is because the W train won't service Brooklyn as the Q train currently does, instead running between Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and Whitehall Street-South Ferry in lower Manhattan on weekdays. Its timetable is based just on Astoria ridership needs, according to the MTA.
Frequency of service during rush hours will remain the same, with N/W trains from Astoria into Manhattan running every 4.3 minutes — about 14 trains an hour, the maximum the line can handle — between 8 and 10 a.m., the same as current N/Q service.
In the evenings, N/W trains from Manhattan into Astoria will run about every 4.3 minutes between 5 and 6 p.m. and every 4.5 minutes between 6 and 7 p.m., the same as N/Q trains run now, according to the MTA.
Trains will run less frequently from Astoria into Manhattan from 5 to 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight, and from Manhattan into Astoria from 6 to 8 a.m. and between 11 p.m. to midnight, the timetables show.
The MTA says it will track ridership numbers on the N/Q/W lines in the coming months and make schedule changes if needed.
The agency first announced its plan to revive the W train in February, replacing Q service in Queens so that the Q train can run along the new Second Avenue subway line when it opens, according to the plans.
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The N and W trains will run locally in Astoria during weekdays between 6:30 a.m. and 11 p.m., while the N train alone will continue to serve the neighborhood overnight and on weekends.
