Expect Changes, Delays On Trains, Buses During Storm: MTA Chair

NEW YORK, NY — Straphangers should be ready for service changes and delays on New York City's transit systems during Wednesday's snowstorm, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman said Tuesday.

The nor'easter expected to drop nine inches of snow on Central Park throughout Wednesday will likely have a "significant impact" on the city's subway system, Chairman Joe Lhota told reporters.

The MTA may end express subway service early on Wednesday afternoon or evening, and buses will likely face weather-related delays as they traverse snow-covered streets, Lhota said.

"The MTA is staking this storm very, very seriously," Lhota said on a conference call Tuesday afternoon. "We’re ramping up all of our operations and we will be prepared."

Subscribe to news alerts from your local Patch for updated local storm coverage.

City officials expect six to 10 inches of snow to blanket the five boroughs, with the Bronx and northern Queens likely to get the most, Emergency Management Commissioner Joe Esposito told reporters Tuesday.

"Tomorrow we could see snow at the rate of one to two inches an hour; that’s significant," Esposito said.

The heaviest snowfall is expected from late Wednesday morning through the early evening, Esposito said. Officials encouraged New Yorkers to take public transit, as the snow will likely make travel difficult.

Extra MTA workers will be placed across the city to help shovel snow from steps and platforms at subway stations, Lhota said. The agency will also deploy de-icing trains and diesel trains to help clear subway tracks, he said.

The MTA will take extra-long "articulated" buses off most routes that carry them and outfit local buses with tire chains, Lhota said.

City and state officials said they will have emergency operations centers active starting Wednesday morning. Some 693 salt-spreaders will be ready to hit the road once the snowfall starts, and up to 1,600 plows will roll out as needed to clear the streets, Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia said.

"We are ready if we do end up with a significant storm," Garcia said Tuesday.

The Metro-North Railroad is expected to bear the brunt of the storm, Lhota said, as snowfall is expected to be heaviest in the Hudson Valley Region. The National Weather Service predicts 14 inches of snow will hit the Putnam County town of Carmel.

Amtrak has canceled some Wednesday trains on its Northeast Regional, Acela Express, Empire and Keystone routes in preparation for the storm, the company announced on Twitter.

State officials expressed worries about the storm hindering recovery from last Friday's nor'easter, which battered the region with wind and rain. Nearly 79,000 people statewide — most of them in Putnam, Sullivan, Dutchess and Westchester counties — are still without power because of that storm, said John Rhodes, the chairman of the state's Public Service Commission.

"We’re concerned about a compounding effect where tomorrow’s snowstorm, which is supposed to be significant, may delay the repairs that we’re in the midst of," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

(Lead image: Commuters traverse a snow-covered subway platform in January 2018. Photo by Daniel Pierce Wright/Getty Images)