on the

Click on thumbnails below to see larger images

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Photo Courtesy: NYC Transit/ Lenny Wiggins

MTA New York City Transit's ambitious maintenance program, FASTRACK, began its fourth and final round for 2012 on the Seventh 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 between 34 St-Penn Station and South Ferry and Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr, Brooklyn, subway 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 servicing six switches and 12 signals, replacing three sections of track and 95 track tie plates, and installing 35 track tie blocks. In addition, maintenance crews corrected 352 third rail defects, scraped and cleaned 225 feet of track under and around the third rail, and removed 9,900 pounds of scrap and debris. Work crews installed 100 linear feet of handrail, repaired 13 areas where water was leaking into the subway and 25 linear feet of benchwall (an extension of the station platform that is located in tunnels and used by maintenance personnel and for emergency egress). Approximately 550 linear feet of track drain was cleaned and 150 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 replaced 60 tunnel lights, 190 station light bulbs, and made repairs to 300 linear feet of rubbing board, the vertical edge of the platform that is parallel to the side of the train. Closed Circuit Television systems also received attention as maintenance was performed on nine cameras and 12 cameras.

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.