On Thursday night the MTA announced that a total shutdown of the L-train will no longer be necessary.
The news comes only two days after the MTA held an emergency meeting to discuss Cuomo’s new plan where much of the board was vocally against the new plans. However, according to a report by the New York Post, “an MTA insider said the announcement had Cuomo’s fingerprints all over it.” The insider mentioned in a statement to the publication that “It’s just a demonstration of who runs the show. This is Cuomo being completely dominant over the MTA.”
Whether or not that’s the case, the only thing certain at the moment is that the L-train will continue to run after April 27. MTA’s announcement read:
The design firm managing the L-train project from the beginning has been Parsons Brinckerhoff (now called WSP). WSP has done extensive work studying the new design alternatives and has informed the MTA (and discussed at a public meeting on January 15) that the proposed construction design alternatives are indeed applicable to the L-train and can significantly reduce construction time and thus the inconvenience to our riders. Therefore, the total shutdown of both tunnels and all service scheduled for April 27 will not be necessary.
While a complete shutdown is officially off, there will still be partial shutdowns on night and weekends. During those hours, one tube will remain open while the other is being repaired so that way there a 24/7 schedule for service between Manhattan and Brooklyn—although a bit slower, naturally. With one tube closed the trains will be running about every 20 minutes.
Currently, officials expect the construction to take an estimate of 15 to 20 months to complete.