The MTA's “Fastrack” program begins Monday evening, January 9

Essential work on the 4/5 subway line calls for overnight service outages on the nights of January 9th through 13th, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. During those four weeknights, the 4/5 (Lexington Avenue) trains will not stop at stations between Grand Central-42nd Street and Atlantic Avenue in both directions. The outages are part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s “Fastrack” program, which lets crews perform critical maintenance and upgrades on the thousands of switches, signals, and tracks more safely and efficiently.

The 4/5/6 is the first of four subway lines that will undergo weeknight service outages this year. The next will be on the Seventh Avenue 1/2/3 line between 34th Street and Atlantic Avenue, from February 13th though 17th, also from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Similar work is planned for the Sixth Avenue F/B/D subway from 59th Street-Columbus Circle to West 4th Street; and the Eighth Avenue A/C/E from 59th Street-Columbus Circle to Jay Street-MetroTech.

By providing a more productive work window, New York City Transit crews will be safer by not working on “live” track and will avoid the interruptions of repeatedly having to “clear up for passing trains. Workers will inspect track, repair or replace rails, and perform power and signal maintenance. Additional repairs to platform edges, wall tiles and lighting will be made, as well as power washing at some of the closed stations.

The MTA asserts that when a line segment is closed at night, customers can expect to add 20 minutes to their usual travel time, with additional subways running on nearby lines to help accommodate customers. Alternative transportation options will be detailed in announcements and posters on trains, in stations and on selected buses; brochures will be available in both English and Spanish.  Information will also be available on the web at www.mta.info and through social media, email and text alerts.

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