on the

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Last night was the beginning of the Eighth Avenue line's third round of FASTRACK, MTA New York City Transit's ambitious maintenance program. FASTRACK involves the partial closure of a subway line to train service on four consecutive nights for seven continuous hours (10 p.m. to 5 a.m.). With no trains running along the lines from 59 St-Columbus Circle to Jay St-MetroTech, Manhattan-to-Brooklyn line segment, maintenance workers worked on and near the tracks without the need to stop work every few minutes while a train moves through the area. This is a safer work environment for employees, and a more efficient way to maintain and clean New York City's enormous subway system that runs around the clock.

More than 800 Transit employees were able to perform inspections and maintenance work in stations, on tracks, signals, switches and associated components. Work crews were able to replace rails and cross ties, and scrape track floors, resulting in the removal of dirt and debris. In subway stations, paintable areas not reachable during normal train operation were scraped, primed and painted. Workers were also able to clean lighting fixtures, change bulbs and repair platform edges while performing high-intensity station cleaning. These maintenance activities improve train performance and efficiency while also promoting a positive and pleasant station environment experience.

Major accomplishments from last night's maintenance effort include servicing 14 signals, gathering 1,973 bags of debris of which 1,701 bags (13,750 pounds) were removed. In addition, three running rails, 177 tie plates and six tie blocks were installed and 1,145 linear feet of track was scraped. Track maintenance workers also scraped and cleaned 1,170 linear feet of track under and around the third rail and corrected 370 third rail defects. Workers also cleaned 1,100 linear feet of “no clearance signs” and installed 40 feet of the same, sealed 43 leaks and installed 325 linear feet of handrail. Maintenance was also performed at two pump rooms and on 18 fire lines.

In the subway stations environment, 2,300 square feet of paintable surface was scraped, and 3,500 square feet was primed and painted. Nearly 200 station light bulbs, 12 platform edge signs and 12 square feet of tactile warning (ADA) tiles were replaced and 350 square feet of graffiti on walls adjacent to track was removed. With customer safety in mind, the picture was optimized on 16 Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) monitors from ten cameras and one camera lens was replaced. Work crews also repaired inoperative "out of service," "platform level indicator" and "in-car emergency lights" on several elevators. Preventative maintenance was also performed on this equipment.

How this impacts service?

Reliable service - service you can depend on to get you to where you need to go when you need to get there - requires regularly scheduled maintenance to critical components you never see. Pumps, signals, track, and power are just some of the vital system equipment we are focusing on so that we can continue providing our riders with train service that is safe and reliable.