W Train Could Rise From the Dead in Fall 2016

Photo by Heath Brandon/Flickr

QUEENS, NY — Good news, this rather chilly Friday, for W Train nostalgists and all those MetroCard holders who can’t help but hate the Q.

MTA officials announced today that they plan to bring back the years-defunct W Train in Fall 2016, a few months before the grand December opening of the Second Avenue Subway, as a way to ensure a “seamless transition“ between said subway and the N/Q/R lines.

Under the plan, the W would run locally from the Whitehall Street station at the bottom of Manhattan to the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard station at the top of Queens — entirely replacing Q service in Queens.

Meanwhile, the Q wouldn’t run any further north than the 57th Street-7th Avenue stop at the bottom of Manhattan’s Central Park.

The N, for its part, would run express from Canal Street in 34th Street-Herald Square under the new plan.

Then, once construction on the Second Avenue Subway is finally complete in December — fingers crossed — the Q will be able to run all the way up Manhattan to the 96th Street station, instead of crossing over to Queens.

Some good news, too, for F Train riders: Once the Second Avenue Subway is a thing, the MTA plans to build a platform linking the new line to the F Train at the Lexington Avenue-63rd Street station.

According to the MTA, the $13.7 million needed to make all these changes was already incorporated into its approved budget.

So all that stands now between the W and its holy resurrection, an MTA spokesman told Patch, is a public hearing planned for sometime this Spring. (That’s where y’all come in.)

Here are the exact details of the plan, courtesy of the MTA.

• N Line: Service in Queens and Brooklyn remains the same, but trains operate express in Manhattan on weekdays during peak hours, midday and evenings.

• Q Line: Northern terminus temporarily changed to 57 St/7 Ave until the Second Avenue Subway opens. At that point, trains will operate from 96 St in Manhattan to Coney Island-Stillwell Av in Brooklyn, stopping at: 86 St, 72 St, Lexington Av/63 St, 57 St/7 Av and all express stops on the Broadway Line in Manhattan. During late nights, the Q will run local between Brooklyn and Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge. Service in Brooklyn remains the same.
  

• R Line: No service changes.

• W Line: Restoration of weekday service, making all local stops from Astoria-Ditmars Blvd to Whitehall St via the Broadway Line. No service on weekends or late night.