Track Work To Disrupt West Side Weekend Subway Service, MTA Says

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Subway service on the West Side of Manhattan and in the Bronx will be severely affected for the next six weeks as the MTA works to replace tracks and switches at a neighborhood station, the transit agency announced this week.

Work to replace the interlocking switch systems at the West 96th Street and Broadway station will begin on Friday, July 19 and is expected to conclude on Sunday, Aug. 26, the MTA announced. The work will be done in three different phases, each with different planned service changes.

"The current switches were installed in 1990 and are nearing the end of their useful life. Workers will use the service outages to complete additional work as well in August up throughout numerous stations up and down the 1/2/3 line, including installing new track, repairing existing track and track beds, cleaning drains, and fixing signals," an MTA press release reads.

Here's how service will be affected on the 1, 2 and 3 lines during each phase of the track work:

Phase 1: Weekends of July 19 and 26

• 1 trains will run in two sections from South Ferry to 148th Stree on the 3; and from 242 Street to 137th Street;
• 2 trains will not be affected;
• 3 trains will not run.

Phase 2: Weekends of Aug. 2 and 9

• 1 trains will not be affected;
• 2 trains will run between Flatbush Avenue and 96th Street;
• 3 trains will not run.

Phase 3: Weekends of Aug. 16 and 23

• 1, 2 and 3 trains will be suspended between Harlem and Downtown Brooklyn.

The MTA is planning to run a "robust alternate service plan" to ensure that people who rely on the 1, 2 and 3 trains during the weekend will have plenty of alternative options, the agency said. Extra trains will run on the 4 and M lines when 1, 2 and 3 trains do not run and free shuttle buses will be stopping at stations affected by service changes.