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Last night, MTA New York City Transit's continued its third round of FASTRACK maintenance program on the Sixth Avenue subway line between 14 St and 57 St. This round of FASTRACK on the lines runs nightly through 5 a.m. Friday, July 27. 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 Sixth 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 six switches, eight signals, continuing the inspection of an interlocking (an arrangement of signals and track switches that govern train movement on and between adjoining tracks), removing 1,075 bags of debris (22,000 pounds) and scraping 390 feet of track. For safer train movement and a smoother and quieter ride for customers and train crews, track maintenance personnel replaced six running rails (sections of track), 174 track tie plates, two tie blocks, and 263 friction pads. Workers also corrected 361 third rail defects and scraped and cleaned 710 linear feet of track under and around the third rail. In addition, a 27 square feet area was sealed to prevent water from entering the subway.

For a pleasing and customer-friendly station environment, seven platform edge signs and 107 station light bulbs were replaced, and workers painted two stairway K-A rails (street level railings, usually green, at station entrances/exits) and two stairway copings (the concrete base, usually black, of K-A rails). With a focus on customer safety, 75 feet of rubbing board (edge of station platform parallel to the side of the train) was repaired. Five escalators and one elevator received scheduled maintenance.

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, July 24, 2012