Lance

They aren't really doing anything with the wall tiles, which is why the fridge tiles remained at the 4th Avenue stations and why the original IND tiles are still in place at the Central Park West stations. When 57 Street reopens, we'll likely see the '60s wall tiles remain in place. Unfortunately, the MTA cannot solve the homelessness problem and must therefore do as much as they can to prevent people from turning the stations into personal shelters, hence the standee benches. Also if I recall correctly, these kneeling benches are to be added on top of replacing the old wooden benches with metal ones. December.

I think you put too much stock in people's annoyances in service changes becoming more than inconveniences. If there are service diversions on the Veteran's Day weekend, it will likely be due to the MTA's hard deadline of April 2019. When the western end of the Canarsie line closes, there really cannot be any major service changes that impact any of the primary or secondary bridging lines. That means they cannot have 53rd Street, Flushing or the Williamsburg Bridge out of service for long periods of time for maintenance or upgrades, hence the blitz of weekend work on almost every line as of late.

Same thing that happened to FASTRACK apparently. Remember when that was supposed to cut down weekend and late night reroutes on the affected lines?

Ugh. I'm all for getting these projects done on time and I applaud their efforts to keep to the posted schedules they gave, but I'd much rather a little bit of schedule slippage to actually finish the project than have partial closures for weeks after in order to reach 100% completion.

Reminds you of the MTA Corporate design of the early '70s, doesn't it? When it was first unveiled, all cars of a particular consist had the same scheme, but as time went on and cars were taken apart to be serviced, they'd eventually run with a variety of designs from the sky-blue/white World's Fair colors to whatever design was in vogue at the time. Combine this with a limited amount of cars in the Cuomo-scheme and this will be the end result. I believe it has been expanded to most fleets with the 32s and 42s being exempted for the time being. Several of the IRT NTTs are also receiving these upgrades as well.

Those tail tracks east of 2 Avenue were intended for the IND second system routes, where the 6th Avenue express would run to Brooklyn via the Utica Ave line. On a mod note, I'm going to have to ask you all to continue the conversation in the proposals thread. While tangentially connected to the upcoming closure, the possibility of any of these proposed lines and routes coming to fruition following the shutdown are extremely remote at best.

Yeah, the only representation is a concept drawing in the 2nd Guadagni rollsign book. Other than that, you would likely never have known that such a curtain actually existed. Its rarity is probably due to the fact that the curtain was rendered obsolete only three years after its creation. It also doesn't help that it was only an interim Vignelli/Noorda-styled version of the late '60s route signs and not the major change the '79 Jubilee design was. Oddly enough, the 207th Street A-cars version is correct. At least according to the Guadagni book. However, the book has the Concourse route options as follows: D - 205 Street - Coney Island D - 205 Street - Brighton Beach D - 205 Street - Kings Highway D - Bedford Park Blvd - Brighton Beach CC - Bedford Park Blvd - Hudson Terminal That's unusual as the order of the end signs usually matched the order of the side ones. Of course, we'll never know unless a curtain pops up on eBay or something. Shifting gears... Full Resolution PDF Date: 1985 Printed By: Bergen St Sign Shop Used on: R10s In the early to mid 1980s, the R10s, the oldest cars still in active service at the time, received an overhaul of sorts. While it was nowhere near as extensive as some of the other car classes, mostly because the cars were on their way out anyhow and Transit just needed to keep them around until the 68s arrived, the overhaul nonetheless improved the appearance of the remaining cars in service. Part of that overhaul was the replacement of the sign curtains, most if not all of them dating back to the pre-Chrystie days. As the cars were relegated to only a few of the lower-use lines, primarily the C, these new curtains, both these destination rolls along with the accompanying route ones, only included a few options. For those interested, here are a couple of images showing these signs in use: Next time, we're sticking with the R10s with a twofer as they are both small curtains and are from the same car class. Enjoy.

I know a few 46s also got the upgrades recently. I don't remember what the numbers were, but it was on the at the time. Also, it's been posted here that a few of the 142s (Bombardier cars) also got upgraded lights recently.

Now that's just sad. Not even a month and the place is falling apart. Thing is, these rehabs are not that cheap. Beyond all of the LCD monitors and fancy entrances, there was supposed to be some structural work done to secure the stations as well. The only major change from the standard station rehabs is the shorter time span from conception to completion (looking at you Jamaica elevated stations). I'm just wondering if this can be considered a breach of contract against the contractors.

From the north, the 2nd Avenue local tracks would branch off eastward to a separate level below the 6th Avenue tracks. While there would track connections to the "Houston - Grand" East River crossing, the 2nd Avenue - East River crossing would be separate and go on to form the South 4th Street express tracks. Andrew Lynch has a more illustrative map of the planned Second System East River layout here. For those interested, it comes from this post on the oft-proposed, but never-built Utica Ave line.

They're probably cut and pasted from previous press releases when the rehabs were still part of the ESI program.

It wouldn't surprise me if those are standard for the new cars. Paper ads are becoming dinosaurs in the advertising industry. Plus, the fact they are LED displays connected to the internet via WiFi means the MTA can use them to convey important information, such as service changes and the like as needed.

They're not wrong though.

In regards to Fulton St, the only way there would ever be a direct transfer passageway that doesn't use the platform would require the rebuilding of the Jamaica line tracks in the area. The Broad St-bound platform and track are at the same depth as the Lexington Ave platforms. And the passageway can't be continuous on a lower level because it would run into the Jamaica-bound platform and track. Tis the problems with three disjointed subway systems connected ad-hoc into one system on the fly. While the argument can be made that the money allocated into the Fulton St project should've been used for better connectivity rather than another shopping center, there were already better transfer points for the intersecting lines at other nearby stops. Brooklyn Bridge - Chambers St is a much better transfer between Lexington Ave and Jamaica than Fulton St and will be better once the latter half of the station receives ADA accessibility in the next few years. Same with 7th Avenue / Lexington Ave at Borough Hall and 7th Avenue / 8th Avenue at Park Place - Chambers St. As for the retail aspect, the idea was to collect some revenue to offset the expense of the structure in the first place. If I recall correctly, one plan floated about was to sell the air rights to a private developer and get a tower built on top of the station. Naturally, since the area is oversaturated with office towers, that idea quickly died out, thus leading to what we got, which actually may have worked if it was in another area, similar to Columbus Circle's Turnstyle. Of course, when it has to compete with the nearby shops at Brookfield Place and Westfield World Trade, those potential revenue streams tend to dry up real quick.

You hear that screaming there? That's the many riders in Carroll Gardens, Gowanus and Park Slope screaming bloody murder for taking away their direct Manhattan - Brooklyn service. You cannot rob people of their much-used services, even if it is to provide another service. The name of the game is to provide the best possible service throughout, not to give Canarsie all of the service while shafting everyone else. I believe I mentioned this a few times now. Major construction projects like this have to serve a purpose beyond a one-use instance. Before the old Snediker alignment was torn down in 2001, it stood practically abandoned for a quarter of a century after the 6th Avenue K was eliminated back in '76. Even before then, the Broadway - Canarsie connection was only used during rush periods for the #14 / JJ Broadway-Brooklyn short line. The last time that connection was used heavily was before the old Fulton St elevated was demolished back in '56. There are much more useful projects that could use our very limited resources than to resurrect a service that really hasn't served a purpose in over 50 years.

Probably. We won't know until the gets sent to South Ferry again, but I have no doubt they'll re-record the station announcement for Cortlandt St. They've updated the announcement programs for many of the lines that presently do not use NTTs, like the and . On the subject of the reopening, I'm surprised there hasn't been a press release on this, especially considering the upcoming anniversary. They've never been one to shy away from tooting their own horns, especially on something this important. Also, I wasn't aware they went back to using "Going Your Way" for the tagline. I thought they discontinued that back in 2010 in favor of "Improving Non-Stop".

At least they're acknowledging the fact that this is ridiculous.

Not for nothing, but I find this all quite hilarious. It was not too long ago where everyone here was saying we need to shut down some lines completely for a time to get work done, even if that means impacting rush hour service. While not a complete shutdown, this compromised plan of action does impact rush hour service and yet, everyone's up in arms. You really can't have it both ways. There's no magic bullet that will solve this problem that's been growing for nearly a decade.

You'd think they'd hit up Bergen St and have them whip up a couple of boards for Pelham Pkwy, more so since the station's a transfer point to the Bx12 Select. I mean, this isn't a curved station where CCTV monitors are needed to see the full length and this is hardly a new issue. Back when 63rd Street was originally conceived, it was to be a direct transfer to the lines at Lexington Av-59 St, at least according to the early '70s planning maps.

Nobody says it like that. Ever. Even the most out of town tourist types call it the World Trade Center. And if the issue is potential passenger confusion, I have to ask, who's getting confused? Sometimes, I feel that they're going too far in the other direction in their efforts for clarity. It opens to the World Trade Center. It's under the World Trade Center. It's been the default station of the World Trade Center complex for over 40 years. Let it be called "World Trade Center". Damn try-hards at the MTA.

Also, "loaner" sets from 240th Street notwithstanding, the circle/diamond LEDs are a good indicator of Parkchester local/Pelham Bay Park express service, which is good because it's extremely rare that those signs are moved from one to the other. In regards to the sign issue for the , it's not a problem for the 68s since Bedford Park Blvd and 145 Street are right next to each other on the sign curtains. On the 32s however, they're on opposite sides of the roll since the destinations were arranged alphanumerically. Some curtains were modified to have 145 Street be the first exposure, covering over Astoria Blvd, to make it easier to cycle between the two northern terminals of the line.

I could've swore I read something about this a while back where there's a plan to upgrade the components of the 142s to R188 standards. Help me out here @Union Tpke. As for FINDs and the like, I don't see how those would be useful on trains that rarely leave their home lines. The and are the exception to the rule and not the standard, unlike most of the B-Division, where cars are shared among several lines.

Also, aren't those new displays sharper than the ones on the 160s as well?

It's also incredibly confusing for no reason. Unless there is some work happening at 145 Street that's knocking out the local track on the upper level, they should just leave the as the late night local and keep the express. After all, that is the normal service pattern.

It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't such a jarring difference. It's like the brand new 188 insert car smack dab in the middle of the beat up converted sets.