on the

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Last night, MTA New York City Transit's continued its fourth round of the FASTRACK maintenance program on the Eighth Avenue subway line between 59 St-Columbus Circle and Jay St-MetroTech, Brooklyn. This round of FASTRACK on the lines runs nightly through 5 a.m. Friday, October 26. As FASTRACK requires 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.), workers can work on and near the tracks without having to stop work every few minutes while a train moves through the area. This is a safer and more efficient way to maintain and clean the vast New York City subway — a system that never stops running.

With no trains running along Eighth Avenue last night, more than 800 subway maintenance employees were able to inspect and perform maintenance work on signals, switches and associated components. Work crews were able to continue their efforts replacing rails and cross ties and scraping track floors, thereby removing muck and debris. They were also able to work in subway stations scraping, priming and painting surfaces that are not reachable during normal train operation. Maintenance workers took the opportunity to enhance customer safety by cleaning lighting fixtures and changing bulbs, resulting in a brighter station environment. Edges of platforms were repaired and ceilings, platforms and walls of some stations received high-intensity cleaning. While improving train performance and operating efficiency, these maintenance activities also provide a more comfortable station environment.

Significant accomplishments from last night's maintenance effort include servicing two switches, 20 signals and two sets of train holding lights at West 4 St, and installing nine sections of track, seven track tie blocks and 376 track tie plates. Maintenance workers also corrected 210 third rail defects and scraped and cleaned 560 feet of track under and around the third rail. Making repairs to the subway's physical infrastructure and clearing the track of debris was also a key goal as crews installed 335 linear feet of handrail, sealed 26 leaks and cleaned 900 linear feet of track drain and 50 linear feet of track trough, the space between the rails. In addition, repairs were made to 32 linear feet of benchwall (an extension of the station platform that is located in tunnels and used by maintenance workers for emergency egress), 100 linear feet of "no clearance signs" was installed and 1000 linear feet of the Cranberry Street Tunnel surfaces was power washed.

With a focus on customer and employee safety and convenience, work crews were able to replace 15 platform edge signs, 100 tunnel lights, and 90 station lights, repair 150 square feet of rubbing board (fiberglass or wooden edge of station platform that is adjacent to the side of the train) and numerous tunnel lights. Closed Circuit Television systems on station platforms also received attention. At the 7 Av station and the 50 St station, the picture was optimized on two monitors from two cameras and one scratched monitor housing glass was replaced. Elevator preventative maintenance was also included in this repair blitz.

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.

Accomplishments:

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Wednesday, October 24, 2012