on the

Thursday, June 14, 2012

MTA New York City Transit's ambitious maintenance program — FASTRACK — took place late last night along the Lexington Avenue Line from Grand Central-42 St to Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr in Downtown Brooklyn. FASTRACK entails the partial closure of a subway line to train service on four consecutive nights and for seven continuous hours (10 p.m. to 5 a.m.). This round of FASTRACK on the lines runs through 5:00 a.m. Friday, June 15. Because no trains are running along a designated area of a subway line, maintenance crews can work on and near the tracks without having to stop work every few minutes while a train moves through the area. This is safer environment for employees and a more efficient way to maintain and clean New York City's vast underground transportation system that runs around the clock.

With no trains running along Lexington Avenue Wednesday night into Thursday morning, more than 800 Transit employees were able to inspect and perform maintenance work on signals, switches and associated components. Workers were able to replace rails and cross ties and scrape track floors, thereby removing muck and debris. In subway stations, paintable areas not reachable during normal train operation were scraped, primed and painted. Crews also took the opportunity 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 providing a pleasant station environment.

Major accomplishments from last night's maintenance effort include servicing seven switches, ten signals, 13 signal timers, removing 2,555 bags of debris (23,150 pounds) and scrapping 5,400 feet of track. Workers also installed 74 running rails (sections of track), 824 tie plates, 37 tie blocks, and 95 friction pads. In addition, 501 track defects were corrected, 1,385 linear feet of track under and around the third rail was scraped and cleaned. The work crews sealed 38 leaks, cleaned 700 linear feet of "no clearance" signs, the "Vacuum Train" successfully cleaned 1,400 feet of track and 116 tunnels light bulbs were replaced.

For a more inviting and customer-friendly station environment, 5,700 square feet of paintable surface areas was scraped and 3,800 square feet was primed and 8,600 square feet was painted. Station maintainers also replaced eight platform edge signs. People moving equipment was also part of this repair blitz as preventative maintenance was done on an elevator at Canal Street station and five escalators at Bowling Green station.

Crews responsible for the maintenance of Closed Circuit Television system components were able to optimize for clarity five cameras and five monitors at Bowling Green station and six cameras and four monitors at 33 St station.

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, June 12, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012