MTA scheduling major closures for G line for summer as Greenpoint braces for impacts

There will be real pain for these gains. Brooklyn politicians are pushing back against MTA plans for around the clock shutdowns of northern portions of the G line over six weeks during the summer. The MTA plans to tear out and replace the century old, breakdown prone train control systems that now power the G, part of a multi billion dollar effort to computerize the signal system on the letter lines.

Officials say the work is a crucial part of the effort to make service on those lines as fast and as frequent as it is on the numbered train lines that were partially computerized in the 1990s. Agency officials told local Councilman Lincoln Restler (D Brooklyn) and other elected leaders from the area late Friday that they tentatively expect there to be three sets of 24/7 closures: The MTA will run shuttle buses between along the G line’s route during the shutdowns.

“While I value the MTA’s essential investments in signal improvements — I am deeply concerned about the impact of a six week shutdown on the Greenpoint community,” Restler said. “It will be challenging for folks to get to work, it will be tough for small businesses to stay afloat.” Overhauling and computerizing the Crosstown Line’s signals — plus upgrades to three major train crossings and switches along the line — is expected to be completed by 2027 with a total price tag of $621 million.

The disruptions this coming summer are expected to be the most severe required by the project, which is responsible for the current overnight shutdowns on the line. The briefing was first reported by the northern Brooklyn publication, Greenpointers. Computerizing signals has been a major boon to the two lines that currently have it: The L line and the No.

7 line have the highest on time ratings in the entire system. The G line is one of three major signal replacement and modernization projects currently underway. The A/C/E lines are getting them on the Eighth Avenue subway between High Street and 59th Street in Manhattan; and the F line, which shares track with the G, is getting them from Brooklyn’s West Eighth Street to Church Avenue.

It has not all gone smoothly. The MTA has yet to wrap up installation of the system on the Queens Boulevard, where its contractors are still mashing bugs out of the computer system. Next up for the upgrades, according to agency plans are: the Fulton Street subway, which carries the A/C from Euclid to High Street; and the Sixtth Avenue subway, from Jay Street MetroTech to 21st Street Queensbridge.

The MTA was not immediately able to comment..