A, C, E Trains Won't Run For An Entire Weekend At These Stations

WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — Straphangers won't be able to catch an A, C or E train at some of Manhattan's busiest stations next weekend as the MTA fixes signals on the subway line, transit officials announced.

The A, C, E trains will stop running between 59th Street-Columbus Circle and West Fourth Street-Washington Square Park station for the entire March 13 to 16 weekend, officials said in their weekly newsletter about the L train project.

The service cut means that the trains won't be available at 50th Street, 42nd Street Port Authority Bus Terminal, 34th Street Penn Station, 23rd Street and 14th Street-Eighth Avenue stations for the whole weekend.

Transit officials said the shut down will allow them to make much-needed signal fixes on the subway lines, which have been causing problems recently.

"...It’s gotten to the point where service is not reliable and so we’re being proactive by putting a more permanent fix in place before things get worse," officials said in the newsletter.

The MTA included the A, C, E service changes in the L train newsletter since the subway lines are regularly used by L train riders and have been among the service alternatives officials recommend during the L train repairs, which slow the Brooklyn-Manhattan line to running only every 20 minutes on the weekends.

The fix comes as the MTA plans a $245.8-million signal upgrade on the A, C and E line.

MTA officials said the March 13 to 16 work includes both fixes on existing signals and work to prepare for the larger upgrade.

The $245.8-million upgrade will install a modern computer-based signaling system and other upgrades to the A, C and E line as part of a $7 billion push to bring the new technology to half a dozen stretches of subway tracks over the next five years. It has already been installed on the L line and Queens' 7 trains.

Officials have said the new systems will make it so more trains can run and improve signal problems on the city's subways, which a new study found delayed four out of five commutes last year.