BK Southie » N-train

Seen In Bensonhurst: What’s old will be new again

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am Bensonhurst, Seen In Photos

Nov 142011

This photo was not taken this past weekend, but could have been. MTA construction crews were working in roughly the same spot along the N-line in Bensonhurst.

This track renewal is pretty lightweight work compared to what the MTA has planned for this section of the line starting in 2012 and beyond. The entire Sea Beach Line – from 8th Avenue to 86th Street – is due for a complete overhaul that will see extensive construction work on the retaining wall and all nine stations. It is certainly important to maintain the subway system’s aging infrastructure – and this line’s stations are well past overdue for an overhaul – but I have to admit, I’m dreading being subjected to the kind of transit misery that B-/Q-train riders suffered through for years.

Weekend Subway Alert: Diversion on the N-line

Posted by Brian Hedden at 9:59 am MTA

Nov 272010

Sorry for the late posting – I blame Turkey Coma. Although I’m starting to wonder, is the coma really caused by the turkey? Or the Lions game? Anyway, I apologize for the late posting, and also that I’m not coming up with any motivational slogans for James The Splendid Red Engine this week.

It’s a light construction week in South Brooklyn. Here are your subway advisories for the weekend of November 27th and 28th: Continue reading »

UPDATED: Weekend subway alert: all is fine on the F-line (as long as you weren’t planning to go very far)

Posted by Brian Hedden at 10:43 pm MTA

Nov 172010

UPDATED (Nov 17): The changes this week are exactly the same as last week, so I’m just bumping last week’s post back up to the top.

The biggest problem this weekend will be for F-train riders who intend to go to Manhattan or North Brooklyn this weekend - the F-trains are being replaced with shuttle buses from Church Avenue to Jay Street. Also, once again, both D- and N-train riders are half-screwed, depending on whether they’re coming or going.

Here are your subway advisories for the weekend of November 13th and 14th: Continue reading »

When Nature Attacks, 18th Avenue N-Train Station Edition

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am Bensonhurst, MTA

Jul 072010

The perfect shave – passing N-trains keep the branches trimmed in the exact shape of the top of a subway car. Photos and video: Brian Hedden

A battle is being fought between nature and the trains of NYC Transit’s N-line. Branches from some sort of vegetation – I hesitate to give it a name – have been hanging off the wall over the Coney Island-bound platform of the 18th Avenue Station, to the point where they are making physical contact with every train that goes past. For the most part, this isn’t really posing any problem – the passing trains keep the branches trimmed at the point of contact.

This bad boy, however, has made it through the blockade. It snakes it way around the passing trains, and directly over the platform. And…

…I kinda wonder how many more whacks it can take before it breaks off and smacks somebody across the face.

MTA Disco Inferno

Posted by Brian Hedden at 9:00 am MTA

Apr 092010

This rusty heating unit can be found in the waiting area of the 18th Avenue N-train station. On particularly cold days, some morning commuters will wait here instead of on the platform for a few extra seconds of warmth.

This heating unit was turned on this past Wednesday. You know – the record-breaking, 90-degree Wednesday? Our fastest trip from March to 90-degrees in the history of recorded weather, that Wednesday?

A plain picture of a rusty heating unit isn’t doing the scene justice at all. This is what the area looked like when I switched my camera over to infrared mode.

Injury Lawsuit: Who Wants Some?

Posted by Brian Hedden at 8:10 pm Kvetch, MTA

Feb 252010

(All photos: Brian Hedden)

It’s probably about two hours after the snow turned to rain in this scene. I am standing on a patch of packed snow/ice/wintery mix, and I see that the property to my right has cleared off their sidewalk quite well. These people are my dry cleaners, and I’m sure they have shoveled the sidewalk because they are all-around nice guys. And maybe a little because $1.50 for a shirt isn’t going to pay for anyone’s accident claim or ambulance chaser trial lawyer fees.

Ditto to the Orthodox establishment to my left. Like I said, it’s only two hours after the snow stopped. Property owners have six hours, I believe, to get their sidewalks cleared. But these good folks are already on it. They met their “perception due-date,” so to speak (a corporate buzzword I could really have done without this week).

So who is this douchenozzle that wants the Bensonhurst and Borough Park masses to slip and fall on their tuchuses?

Yeah, I know. The “MTA” tag kinda gave it away. But you weren’t really surprised by this anyway, were you?

Oh, and watch that first step. It’s a doozy.

When It’s Raining Harder On The Inside Of The Subway Station

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am Bensonhurst, MTA

Feb 242010

This N-train station at 18th Avenue is going to need a little more than a fresh coat of paint to cure what ails it.

Life Saved In Sunset Park, Life Lost In Borough Park

Posted by Brian Hedden at 7:00 am Borough Park, Sunset Park

Feb 192010

A number of media outlets have reported on the daring subway rescue a week ago at the 8th Avenue station of the N-line. 18-year-old Parsons student Rosie Rittenberry passed out and tumbled out onto the tracks. Fellow Sunset Parker Lance McGraw “threw off his headphones and backpack, and jumped down to the roadbed — as the N train bore down on them.” The NY Post has the full story and an adorably adorable picture of the Sunset Park Lois & Clark, and Fox 5 has an interview on video.

I find this story really interesting, not just because of the heroics and the fact that they look super-cute together, but also because on any normal day, I would have been on the train that “bore down” on them. Alas, last Thursday I was running late to the office, much to the chagrin of my 9:30 conference call.

No such feel-good ending in Borough Park this week, when a 4-year-old boy was struck and killed by the rear tires of a yeshiva school bus after slipping on ice (NY Times).

I noticed the commenters at Gothamist immediately jumped on the case of Hasidic bus drivers. OK, I will admit that the guys that drive the yeshiva school buses in Williamsburg are The. Worst. Drivers. I have ever seen this side of Boston, but that hasn’t been my experience at all with the Borough Park buses. Unless there are charges or accusatory eyewitness accounts, can everyone please step off? Thank you.

MTA Doomsday II: South Brooklyn Service Cuts

Posted by Brian Hedden at 6:30 am MTA

Jan 222010

(Starting in July, the B4 disappears on weekends. Photo credit: Brian Hedden)

[UPDATE Jan-23-2010] The MTA released a much more detailed – and slightly revised – service reduction plan a few hours after I posted this. The story has been updated to reflect this revised plan. New cuts are in italics, saved routes are struck out.

Nobody likes the MTA’s proposed service cuts – not even an MTA apologist like me. But Dyker Heights residents probably have more reason to be upset than most. The service cuts that are currently on the table would eliminate weekend service on two of the bus routes that serve the transit-poor neighborhood (the B4 and X28), and cut weekday hours on a third (B16). So unsurprisingly, members of the Dyker Heights Civic Association signed not one, but two petitions aimed at staving off service cuts. (YourNabe.com)

I went through the MTA’s comprehensive list of proposed cuts and listed the ones that affect South Brooklyn below. These changes are scheduled to go into effect in July.

Continue reading »