Brooklyn Boro

G train to get more cars, increased service during L train shutdown

May 9, 2016 By Scott Enman Brooklyn Daily Eagle
During the L train closure, service on the G train will increase and cars will be added to the trains. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
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Brooklynites who are all too familiar with the notorious G train’s spotty service, outdated models and undersized cars are in for some good news.

With L train service shutting down as early as 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is planning on improving the G train by doubling its length of cars, increasing service and using more modern cars, according to MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.

Ortiz told the Brooklyn Eagle that G trains will run more frequently during the L train closure and that the trains will double in length from four cars (300 feet) to eight cars (600 feet).

At the first public meeting about the L train shutdown last Thursday in Williamsburg, NYC Transit President Veronique Hakim said that the MTA will run three additional G trains per hour and that the G train will get a 160 percent bump in capacity.

With the introduction of longer G trains, commuters will no longer have to worry about waiting at the wrong section of the platform outside of the shorter G trains’ stopping position. Station wait times will also decrease, as conductors will not have to wait for customers running to catch the train from the other end of the platform.

In addition, the unused L train cars, which are part of the subway system’s most modern fleet of cars, will be added to the G line, according to Ortiz. The modern line of cars provides passengers with a sleek interior and a user-friendly electronic board alerting straphangers of upcoming stops.

According to an MTA review of the G line published in 2013, riders have been asking for full-length, 600-foot G trains for years. The report, however, says that longer G trains weren’t feasible at that time, as they would have be more costly, trains would have run less frequently and the line would have run under capacity at all times of the day.  

According to data from the MTA, there has been an average of 8.2 percent more riders in 2015 than in 2014 at G train stations in North Brooklyn.

Ortiz told the Eagle that the MTA has not finalized whether or not the G train will be reverted back to its original service once the L train construction is completed.

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