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3rd Queens Tunnel Done For East Side Access

Posted by
on May 30th, 2012 at 2:27 pm

In Long Island Rail Road East Side Access Project news, the MTA just announced it has completed the 3rd Queens tunnel ahead of schedule. More via press release:

Last night, crews working on the MTA’s East Side Access project brought a 642-ton tunnel boring machine to a halt underneath Sunnyside Yard in Queens seven weeks ahead of schedule, completing the third of four tunnels the MTA is building in Queens. The machine, named T.E.S.S. in March 2011 by sixth graders from I.S. 204 in Long Island City, will be temporarily entombed underground until the tunnel can be connected to the busy LIRR Main Line tracks above it.

Trains using this tunnel will be traveling eastbound from Grand Central Terminal toward Long Island. They will use it to merge onto the LIRR Main Line eastbound tracks that lead to Jamaica and Port Washington. The machine began building the tunnel on March 26, 2012.

“We are delighted to complete this important milestone,” said MTA Chairman Joseph J. Lhota. “Each piece of the project that we bring in ahead of schedule means we can dedicate resources to those parts of the project that most need attention.”

“The completion of this tunnel is another reminder that we continue to make tangible and significant progress on this project every day,” said Dr. Michael Horodniceanu, President of MTA Capital Construction. “We should never lose sight of the first class work that our employees and our contractors are undertaking on this extraordinarily complex project.”

The machine that built this tunnel had earlier completed its westbound twin last December. Another tunnel boring machine, named Molina by the I.S. 204 students, completed a tunnel in February that will lead from Grand Central directly into Sunnyside Yard. Earlier this month, Molina began excavating a reversible tunnel connecting Grand Central to eastbound and westbound Main Line tracks. That tunnel is to be completed in August. The production rates of these tunnel boring machines have generally been higher than expected.

Digging in soft earth in Queens is unlike tunneling in Manhattan bedrock. The machines in Queens build the concrete tunnel walls as they progress, giving the tunnels shape and strength at the same time that they excavate the ground from beneath busy railroad tracks. In digging this eastbound tunnel, the machine named T.E.S.S. (for Tunnel Excavation Sunny Side) installed 441 precast, segmented concrete rings. It excavated 875,169 cubic feet of soil over nine weeks as it built the 2,200-foot-long, 22.5-foot diameter tunnel.

The tunnel boring machines used to build the East Side Access project’s Manhattan tunnels and caverns began in September 2007 and completed their work in June 2011.

The MTA has recently used seven separate tunnel boring machines to excavate tunnels for the East Side Access project, the Second Avenue Subway, and the extension of the 7 subway line. When Molina concludes its work on the reversible tunnel this summer, it will wrap up the last activity undertaken by all of these machines.

On one hand, I am happy to see that this portion was completed ahead of time. On the other hand though, I am still not sold on the timing of this project. Money should have been spent to work on a third track for the main line as LIRR riders know of the bottlenecks when the lines merge & head towards Jamaica. An improvement in that area would reap benefits for many more riders versus East Side Access.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Service Diversions 05-29-12

Posted by
on May 29th, 2012 at 9:42 am

I have just updated the Service Diversions by removing all of the work that wrapped up earlier this morning. The latest work for the week is front & center. As always if I see anything interesting or noteworthy, I will tweet about it so follow @TransitBlogger which you can easily do by clicking the button in the sidebar.

P.S. If you or anyone you know is interested in indie music, check out SurgeFM which plays the best in indie music from favorites like Arcade Fire, Camera Obscura, Mates Of State, Nada Surf to up & coming artists that will make noise in the near future!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Service Diversions 05-27-12

Posted by
on May 27th, 2012 at 10:38 am

I sincerely apologize for not having these up sooner! The Service Diversions have been updated with the light scheduled of holiday weekend work. Since it is a 4 day weekend, some work is extended until Tuesday at 5AM. So with that in mind, the next update will be at 5:01 Tuesday morning.

As always if I see anything interesting or noteworthy, I will tweet about it so follow @TransitBlogger which you can easily do by clicking the button in the sidebar.

Have a safe & wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

P.S. If you or anyone you know is interested in indie music, check out SurgeFM which plays the best in indie music from favorites like Arcade Fire, Camera Obscura, Mates Of State, Nada Surf to up & coming artists that will make noise in the near future!

xoxo Transit Blogger

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0

Subway Elevator & Escalator Reliability Improves

Posted by
on May 21st, 2012 at 1:00 pm

In what can be seen as positive news, MTA NYC Transit has announced that NYC Subway elevator & escalator reliability has improved. Here is the lowdown:

Aggressive efforts over the past year are starting to pay off as MTA New York City Transit elevators and escalators have become increasingly more reliable. Elevator reliability is at 98.1 percent during the first quarter in 2012, up from 96.7 percent in 2010. Escalator reliability is at 96.2 percent, up from 91.6 percent in 2010.

Over the past several months, NYC Transit has expanded its focus to address the shortcomings that existed in elevator and escalator performance by doing scheduled maintenance on equipment 24hrs a day / 7 days a week to minimize the total duration of equipment outages and maximize availability. The Elevator and Escalator Division also improved remote access to system databases in order to respond to outages faster. The E & E Division has also been taking advantage of Fastrack and other station closures to address maintenance needs without affecting customer service.

“We know how a broken elevator or escalator, no matter how long, can impact a customer’s trip, especially for our disabled riders,” said NYC Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast. “Through new leadership and an increased focus on preventative maintenance and faster response times to outages, we have been able to improve our equipment’s reliability in order to provide a safer, more seamless trip to our riding public.

There are 235 elevators of which 196 provide service for our customers, 178 escalators and two power walks that the E & E Division is responsible for maintaining. Additionally, NYCT continues to work with private entities to ensure the more than 30 pieces of out-of-system equipment is maintained as well.

To help better train E & E personnel, NYC Transit operates a specialized training annex aimed at teaching the maintenance and repair of elevators, escalators and moving walkways. The facility offers extensive hands-on training so employees will be as prepared as possible as they work to keep the subway system’s elevators and escalators in a state of good repair. The annex is a vital tool in maintaining the reliability of the system’s elevator and escalator equipment.

NYC Transit’s $1.3 million electronic monitoring system continues to alert maintainers when an elevator or escalator stops working. Every piece of equipment is online and connected to a central display ensuring a rapid response by repair forces.

Acknowledging that elevators may fail at times, we post equipment outage information on the MTA website at www.mta.info. The information is updated three times over the course of the day and gives riders an early warning of what equipment is being worked on. The MTA is now offering customers the opportunity to receive up-to-the-minute updates on the status of elevators and escalators through a new email alert notification system.

Customers can subscribe to as many locations as they need. They can subscribe by borough and station. When they pick the station, they will be able to pick a particular elevator or escalator. After subscribing, customers will receive an alert when an outage occurs. A second email alert will be issued once that piece of equipment is back in operation. Riders can sign up now at http://advisory.mtanyct.info/EEoutage/Signup.aspx

I am glad to see that the steps taken by the MTA have been working. It has been no secret that the agency has been plagued with reliability issues for years. How many times have you wanted or even seen an elevator or escalator out? If I had a dollar for every time I encountered it, I would be loaded!

Although the numbers have improved, let’s hope that the MTA does not start to ease up & abandon the proactive measures that clearly have been working of late as it would be a shame to see all of this go to waste.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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Select Bus Service Is Coming To Staten Island

Posted by
on May 21st, 2012 at 12:59 pm

Staten Island bus riders, I have some great news for you. MTA NYC Transit has just announced that the highly successful Select Bus Service will be coming to Staten Island. The service will be making its debut in September on the S79. Here is the lowdown:

In a continuation of the ongoing effort to improve and upgrade bus travel throughout the City, MTA New York City Transit will roll out Select Bus Service (SBS) along the S79 this September. The route, which travels along Hylan Boulevard — the busiest bus corridor on Staten Island — carries 8,900 customers on an average weekday and serves as a major link between the Staten Island Mall and the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn.

SBS is a high-performance bus system incorporating the efficiency features of light-rail transit without the limitations and capital expense of a fixed-rail system. A resounding success along the three corridors where SBS is currently in operation, the introduction of SBS to Staten Island is expected to reduce travel times by 20 percent between the Staten Island Mall and Bay Ridge.

Designated bus lanes, traffic signal priority, fewer stops and easily identifiable low-floor buses will combine to create a substantial improvement in bus travel times. Like the other areas where SBS has been introduced, customers will benefit from improved service reliability and the improvements will also be shared by the users of other routes traveling along the corridor.

“The introduction of SBS to the Island will improve service not only for S79 riders, but also for customers using local and express buses routed along Hylan Boulevard,” said NYC Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast. “We realize that Staten Island is extremely bus dependent and we are working to improve services as much as possible for the Islanders who use our buses daily. SBS will go a long way toward achieving that goal.”

Unlike SBS in the Bronx and Manhattan, however, the S79 will not have off-board fare collection. A study of the route shows that boarding times are relatively short because boarding patterns are highly dispersed.

Along the route, S79 riders can connect with R train at 86th Street, in Brooklyn, the Staten Island Railway at the Eltingville Station and express and local buses at the Eltingville Transit Center.

While the S79 SBS will replace S79 local service, local service will continue to be provided on Richmond Avenue by the S59 and along Hylan Boulevard by the S78.

This is fantastic news for Staten Island especially on its busiest bus corridor. I imagine this will be a welcome addition to riders once they get used to it like they have in other boroughs. Hopefully a successful run will lead to an expansion in the borough.

xoxo Transit Blogger

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