DEADLY SINS
Seething commuters rally for better service
NO. 7 TRAIN riders are losing faith in the MTA’s efforts to fix the troubled line, as commutes continue to be ruined and a disruptive project has fallen further behind schedule.
The riders rallied with City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and other elected officials on Thursday to gripe about crummy commutes.
Signal problems on the No. 7 line express tracks slowed Monday’s morning rush. On Tuesday, Manhattan-bound trains were unable to head into the borough because of a stalled train.
Judith Zangwill, director of Sunnyside Community Services, said that transit troubles make it difficult to help those served by her group — whether it’s late workers, or seniors visiting the office.
“If the 7 line is not running smoothly, that really affects the organization significantly,” she said.
Even if the No. 7 line is running without problems, there are still disruptive closures for the installation of a new signal system called Communications-based Train Control.
This computerized signal system, currently installed only on the L line, will let the MTA run at least two more trains an hour on the No. 7 line. Transit officials are looking to avoid the time-consuming, disruptive installation process with a wireless signal technology called ultra-wideband radio.
The No. 7 line upgrade has become an example of the pitfalls the MTA wants to avoid in updating its signal project.
It started in 2010 and has been stymied by numerous delays in the schedule, including last week, when officials announced another blown deadline.
The contractor, Thales, said last week it would be unable to get the system fully operational in June, instead hoping for November at the earliest — a timeline NYC Transit boss Andy Byford rejected.
“You’ve had long enough for this,” Byford said at an MTA board meeting last week. “It slipped and slipped and slipped.”
Byford wants the signal project done by the summer.
The chief of Thales’ transportation company in the U.S., Mario Péloquin, said in a statement that the firm is working with transit officials on a timeline for finishing the work.
Thales also has a contract to install Communications-based Train Control on the Queens Blvd. line, the second-busiest in the transit system.
Van Bramer said that there should be a study to see whether an extra few trains an hour was worth the disruptions and years of delays. He pointed to the L line, which is still overcrowded and suffers from delays, even though it’s the only line with modern signal technology.
“We appreciate our customers’ patience while these projects are underway; when they’re complete, the 7 line will have some of the newest infrastructure in the entire subway system,” MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein said.
Still, Van Bramer had a warning to his fellow lawmakers near the Queens Blvd. lines.
“I say to those elected officials: Buyer beware. Look at our experience here on the 7 train,” he said.
“It’s a nightmare to go through, a nightmare that seemingly never ends, and then at the end of the day, what did you get for it?” MAYOR DE BLASIO shot down pleas for a 24-hour plan to avert pandemonium when the L train shuts down. During the 15-month shutdown of the popular train between Brooklyn and Manhattan set to begin next April, the city plans to ban private cars and allow buses only on much of 14th St. — but only during rush hours. They also plan to require cars on the Williamsburg Bridge to carry at least three people during rush hour. Transit advocates say for those restrictions to work — allowing buses to move quickly enough to be a viable alternative for jilted L riders — they need to be in place all day. But the mayor rejected that view Thursday. “We think there’s obviously a difference between rush hour and the other times of the day,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn.