The MTA is continuing efforts to help New Yorkers’ commutes run more smoothly by increasing speeds on more train lines, and now it’s the A line’s turn.
The transit authority shared this week that commuters should be noticing a quicker ride between certain stations due to higher speed limits:
- At 4 St., the speed has increased from 20 mph to 25 mph
- 135th Street from 30 to 40 mph
- 145th Street from 10 to 15 mph over four switches
- At 175th St., it’s moved from 20 mph up to 30 mph
- And at Liberty Ave, from 25 mph all the way to 35-39 mph
We've been working hard to bring you up to speed (safely!) at key places in the system.
You'll notice a faster ride on the A line:
Near W 4 St: 25 mph 💨 up from 20 mph
Near 175 St: 30 mph 💨 up from 20 mph
Near Liberty Av: 35-39 mph 💨 up from 25 mph
…and more! pic.twitter.com/evEJpXBn6u— NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) September 20, 2022
Earlier this summer, the MTA announced it would be speeding up service on the 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines. A rep shared that the change would improve rides for about 900,000 commuters.
“We’re able to reduce the trips on those lines by about 10 minutes or so,” NYC Transit President Rich Davey told the news outlet. “Doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you accumulate it over a day, it’s quite a lot of time.”
Those changes as well as the current ones on the A line are due to the transit authority’s “Speed Team”, which is dedicated to researching where on tracks speeds can be increased, and also to retraining subway operators to be sure they know about speed limit increases in order to make service more efficient.
“If we improve the speed limit, for example, and you’re an operator who’s been traveling that same route for 20 years, you might forget that 10 mph is not longer, maybe it’s 20 mph,” Davey explained in the interview.
This recent improvement is also possible because ridership has not returned to pre-pandemic levels yet, so with less people on trains, it’s easier to get in and out of stations faster.
Next up? Davey said they are analyzing how to speed up the L train in December, as well as the D and F trains since they were among the lowest rated lines in their recent Customer Satisfaction Survey (along with the A).