By Gus Saltonstall
Multiple downtown train stations on the Upper West Side will be skipped through Friday due to ongoing “track maintenance” work.
Downtown 1 trains will skip 86th Street, 79th Street, 66th Street, 59th Street, and 50th Street from 9:45 p.m. to 5 a.m.
This schedule, which began on Monday, will last through Friday.
For service to these stations, the MTA suggests taking the 1 to 72nd Street or Times Square 42nd Street, and then transferring to an uptown 1 train.
We reached out to the MTA for more information on what specifically the “track maintenance” is related to.
Here’s what they said.
“The track maintenance underway is rail grinding,” an MTA spokesperson told the Rag. “It also overlaps with other station and accessibility work across some of the stations skipped, including reconstruction of existing platforms edges, new ADA boarding areas, concrete spall repairs, architectural repairs, steel repairs, column repairs, tile replacement, and installation of new lighting.
Rail grinding is part of a maintenance process that uses a specialized machine to restore train rails back to more pristine conditions.
You can keep track of the MTA updates — HERE.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Good reminder especially for the kids and young people: 9:45 is not so late! Did not realize it was so many stops. Thanks.
Hopefully trains will run faster after this maintenance.
The 1-2-3 has been a mess on weekends for weeks. I just took the uptown 2 to the 1 and gave up switching at 96th and walked to 103 because the 1 was so jammed.
Last Saturday I was trying to get to Christopher Street on the 1, and heard no announcement at 14th St. that the train would bypass local stops to Fulton due to, yup. “track maintenance.” It hadn’t come up on Google Maps, either. All of us on the train sighed, got out at Fulton, trudged up and over to the uptown side and got back on.
I get it. We need track maintenance. But I’d be a whole lot less exasperated if the MTA communicated better. Signs taped up at the stairways don’t help if you’re ALREADY ON THE TRAIN!
And you’d think in 2025 the announcements on the trains would be audible. For a few years they were prerecorded. Now we’re back to mumbled, useless words from the conductors.
Absolutely. The CP is going where?
Get the MTA app, or go to MTA.info. You can always find planned service changes in both places. I don’t leave home without checking it on weekends.
The entire length of the 1 need to be renovated and updated. Too much attention to other lines.
The MTA has become a jobs and subsidy program. At the cost of service
“Track maintenance” can be a real headache for subway riders, no question. And it’s a great annoyance that parallel bus service isn’t adjusted accordingly. (I’m looking at you, M104.) But once the track work is completed, there is a discernible improvement in the quality of the ride. This is especially noticeable when traveling on an express, especially if the train is crowded and you’re standing, not sitting.
RIP ‘Subway Shuttle’ service to replace the #1 stops missed which was wonderful, as it would make the missed subway stops (only). Now the 104 comes maybe every 7-10 minutes which would almost be ok if you could actually get in. For the most part the bus can’t even stop since it’s already too crowded. Then the clock starts again for the next 7-10 minutes with zero guarantee of being able to get on. Again and again.
YES! MORE M104s – ESPECIALLY, WHEN THE SUBWAY HAS PROBLEMS. MORE M104s IN GENERAL WOULD BE APPRECIATED, SO A BUS-RIDER – ME – DOESN’T HAVE TO WAIT 15 MINUTES IF ONE MISSES A BUS. BUS SERVICE ON THE WEST SIDE IS IGNORED BY THE MTA.
Thanks Gus for the heads up. 9:30 pm is early! Those are my stops. Well, the work must be done.