on the

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

MTA New York City Transit's ambitious maintenance program, FASTRACK, began its fourth round on the Sixth Avenue line last evening. FASTRACK entails 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 57 St to 14 St, maintenance crews were able to work on or near the tracks without the need to stop work every few minutes to allow a train to move through the area. This is a safer work environment for employees and a more efficient way of maintaining and cleaning New York City's enormous subway system that runs around the clock.

More than 800 Transit employees were able to inspect and perform 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 surfaces 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 safety, performance and efficiency while also providing a better station environment.

Major successes from last night's maintenance effort include maintenance work on five signals and four switches, replacing six sections of track and 123 track tie plates, installing 26 track tie blocks and removing 12 scrap rails. In addition, maintenance crews corrected 122 third rail defects and scraped and cleaned 635 feet of track under and around the third rail. Work crews installed 140 linear feet of handrail, sealed 21 square feet of leaks, and repaired 21 linear feet of benchwall (an extension of the station platform that is located in tunnels and used by maintenance personnel and for emergency egress). Furthermore, 1,000 linear feet of track drain was cleaned and 400 linear feet of track trough, the space between the rails, was also cleaned.

In the subway stations environment, with an eye toward appearance, customer safety and convenience, workers painted 90 columns at 34 Street-Herald Square and replaced 65 tunnel lights. Closed Circuit Television systems also received attention as one camera was replaced and the picture was optimized on six cameras and four monitors. One escalator and four elevators also 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 customers 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.