L-evate your game

Ayear ago, Jan. 3, 2019, Gov. Cuomo launched what we call the L train revolution, throwing out the MTA’s years-in-the-making plans for a 15month total shutdown of the Canarsie line subway tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan, which would have deep-sixed 300,000 weekday trips.

Cassandras scorned him for meddling, but time has proved the governor more than right to bring in independent academic engineers from Columbia and Cornell to rethink the renovations. The outside experts blessed the idea to repair the East River tunnel’s Superstorm Sandydamaged concrete bench walls by sealing them up and moving cables within to racks instead.

In fact, we wish Cuomo had meddled more and earlier, to prevent the public agency from throwing good money after bad. And good riddance once and for all to the idea that the governor doesn’t control the MTA. Obviously he does.

The work started as planned in April and is going faster than scheduled. It could wrap up within the next four months. More important, the trains never stopped running. Rush hour was unchanged. Even nights and weekends, there has been limited service throughout.

Those 300,000 lost weekday trips over 15 months would have worked out to 100 million trips shifted to costlier modes on roads and bridges.

The lasting lesson here is never to put too reflexive trust in self-serving insiders who have a vested interest in protecting blueprints on which they’ve spent time, effort and money. Amtrak could use the same lesson as it continues pursuing a bloated Gateway tunnel-and-bridges project between New York and New Jersey.

Innovation now. Innovation forever.