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MTA Considers Full L Train Shutdown For Repairs


Bedford avenue L trainStraphangers who use the L train could soon be in for a rough ride.

Service between Manhattan and Brooklyn could be shut down for more than a year for Hurricane Sandy repairs.

The MTA says it needs to fix the damage caused when the storm flooded the 1.4 mile Canarsie Tube with seven million gallons of water.

A shutdown of the tunnel means Manhattan-bound service would terminate at Bedford Avenue, which is the busiest stop on the line.

The MTA could stop service around the clock, which would make the work go faster.

It could also shut down L service just on the weekends, but that would stretch out the repairs.

“Ideally, it would be great to get it done faster, sooner rather than later,” said Richard Barone, director of Transportation Programs for the Regional Plan Association. “But again, we have to see whether it’s possible to do that and actually still serve people that need to get to work every day.”

A shift trainer at Dos Torros restaurant on Bedford Avenue worries the MTA’s need to make the repairs will hurt business.

“Manhattan tourists they’re always here during the weekend. Sometimes during the week as well. It’s gonna be a big headache, she noted.

Nearby Awoke Vintage also estimates business would be down 20 percent if L train service is halted.

“We get a lot of people from Lower Manhattan as well as tourists staying in the Lower East Side, East Village things like that who might have trouble getting over here,” said a store worker.

Damage from Sandy also forced the R train’s East River tunnel to be closed for 13 months.

And the G train tube linking Brooklyn and Queens was closed for five weeks.

(Source: NY1)



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