Damaged Cables Snarl Afternoon L Trains, MTA Says

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — The L train is off to a rough start this week.

After a chaotic Monday morning of delays, transit officials announced that the subway line will only run every 20 minutes starting at 1:30 p.m. so workers can fix damaged cables between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The service alert is the third delay for the L train in just four hours.

Trouble first started during the morning rush when around 9:30 a.m. trains were briefly held in their stations so that the FDNY could investigate smoke between the Bedford Avenue and First Avenue stops.

A representative with the MTA said that this investigation had to do with manholes between the stations. It was wrapped up within 10 minutes, but trains were running with delays even after they started up again. The representative said these delays are not related to the damaged cables that will be fixed this afternoon.

The damaged cables were responsible, though, for another series of delays and service changes on the subway line this morning.

Just a few hours after the smoke investigation, the MTA briefly had the Canarsie-bound L trains running on the Eighth Avenue bound tracks between Third and First Avenue. Some trains were ending at Bedford Avenue or Myrtle-Wyckoffs Avenue stations instead of going all the way to Eighth Avenue.

The MTA spokesman said that these delays were because of the same damaged cables that will force the train to run every 20 minutes during the afternoon. The cables will likely take a few hours to replace.

Some of the Eighth Avenue-bound trains will also stop at Bedford Avenue and some Canarsie-bound trains will stop between First Avenue and Bedford Avenue, the MTA said.

The transit agency suggested taking A, C, J or M trains to get between the boroughs.