Southbound Brooklyn N trains lose service for year and a half

July 31, 2017 By Paul Frangipane Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Southbound N trains like this one at New Utrecht Avenue will be closed for a year and a half. Eagle file photo by Paul Frangipane.

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Seven southbound Brooklyn N trains lost service Monday and won’t be back for a year and a half in phase two of the MTA’s nearly $400 million renovation plan for the Sea Beach Line.

The repairs came roughly two months after nine northbound Brooklyn N trains lost service for over a year in an effort by the MTA to modernize the decaying stations.

Service will run express from 8th Avenue to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue, making stops at 8th Avenue, Bay Parkway and Coney Island.

The closed stations include: Fort Hamilton Parkway, New Utrecht Avenue, 18th Avenue, 20th Avenue, Kings Highway, Avenue U and 86th Street.

To get down to those stations, passengers can use northbound trains at 8th Avenue, Bay Parkway and Coney Island, which will have southbound service from temporary middle-track platforms, according to an MTA statement.

“The Sea Beach corridor opened over 100 years ago and needs to be brought into a state of good repair while adding new amenities and technology to improve our customers’ experience,” MTA Interim Executive Director Ronnie Hakim said in the statement.

The stations that serve nearly 53,000 weekday passengers, opened in 1915.

The renovations will bring improved platforms and overpasses, new stairways and handrails, repairs to corroding columns, new paint jobs, upgraded communication systems and disability accessibility.

Four elevators will be added to the New Utrecht station and two ramps to the 8th Avenue station.

Of the 472 New York City subway stations, about 90 have disability accessibility, according to the MTA website.

The northbound half of the project began in January 2016 and finished on May 22, leaving passengers rushing out of southbound trains to catch the northbound Bay Parkway trains all last year.

The renovations were funded by the 2010-2014 MTA Capital Program.