Three-Year Upgrade Started On Brooklyn's 4 Trains, MTA Says

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A nearly three-year-long project has started on Brooklyn's 4 line, bringing service changes to three subway lines throughout the rest of the year, the MTA announced.

The transit authority said Wednesday that repairs to the 4 line between Borough Hall station and Franklin Avenue — now Franklin Avenue-Medgar Evers College station — will mean 33 months of work along the subway line.

Preliminary work began in August during already-scheduled upgrades to the 4, 5 and 6 lines.

But as construction ramps up, the 4 line project will get its own designated weekends with service changes along the 4, 3 and 2 trains, the MTA said.

“Our crews are taking advantage of lower ridership to complete work that will improve the reliability, performance and safety in Brooklyn and throughout our system,” said NYC Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg. “As riders continue to return to the system, we want to make sure there are as few disruptions as possible.”

The project will mean service changes for five weekends in 2020 to start.

It will include installing drip pans and guardrails along the subway line to help with concrete conditions, structural columns, roof beam repairs and water intrusion, according to the agency.

The work is part of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s announcement that the MTA would be accelerating construction on $2 billion in capital projects during this period of reduced ridership caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are the weekends and service changes:

Weekends of Oct. 16-19, Oct. 23-26 and Nov. 6-9 from 9:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday:

• 4 train service will run between Woodlawn and Bowling Green only and will not run to/from Brooklyn
• 3 train service will run between 148 St and New Lots Av all weekend, operating local in Brooklyn
• There are no planned changes to 2 and 5 service as a result of this work on these weekends.

Weekends of Nov. 13-16 and Nov. 20-23 from 9:30 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday:

• Weekend local-to-express reroute:
• Work performed on one local track at a time between Atlantic Av and Franklin Av
• 2 and 3 train service operates express in one direction between Atlantic Av and Franklin Av
• 4 train service operates between Brooklyn and Manhattan and normally along Eastern Parkway

• Weekend express-to-local reroute:
• Work performed on both express tracks between Atlantic Av and Franklin Av
• 4 service operates local in both directions between Atlantic Av and Franklin Av

More information can be found on the on the project’s webpage.