Crosstown redo Upgrades due for MTA’s 42nd St. shuttle
Trains on the 42nd Street shuttle will be longer and easier to access by wheelchair under retrofits planned by the MTA.
The job, to begin Aug. 16, is expected to last through 2022 and will involve “only minor service reductions,” Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said Friday.
The crosstown 42nd St. train, which now runs with four cars, will expand to six.
The MTA also plans to update the shuttle’s signal system — which dates to the 1930s — upgrade electrical infrastructure and reconfigure the shuttle’s Times Square stop from three tracks that lie on a curve to two straight tracks.
Straightening the tracks will make trains easier to access for riders in wheelchairs because it will eliminate gaps between the platforms and trains, the MTA says.
“The project will allow the MTA to move more people, run longer trains and simplify transfers for customers between the city’s busiest transit hubs,” MTA Managing Director Veronique Hakim said.
The project also includes doubling the size of the Times Square platform, installing a new elevator, and reducing the number of support columns on the platform.
The shuttle is part of the original 1904 subway system, which ran between City Hall and Harlem. In its original configuration, the subway ran from City Hall to Grand Central, turned west beneath 42nd St., and then turned then north at Times Square toward Harlem.
As the system expanded, the original line beneath 42nd St. was converted to a shuttle, which today serves 100,000 riders each day.
Though the MTA plans to continue service on the shuttle during the work, riders will suffer.
In statements on its website, the MTA advises commuters to expect a “few extra minutes of travel time” during rush hours and suggests using the 7 train or M42 bus as alternatives.