L Train Won't Run At Night For Two Weeks In Brooklyn: MTA

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — It's about to get even harder to catch an L train when traveling late at night, the MTA announced this weekend.

The transit officials plan to shut down overnight L train service for a large swath of Brooklyn stations for the two weeks, and during every weekend in January, according to the recent L train repairs newsletter.

That means the L won't run between Lorimer Street station and Broadway Junction station between 11:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. starting this Monday, Sept. 23 until Monday, Oct. 6. The changes will also stop L service between the stations each weekend in January starting at 11:30 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday.

The shutdowns are part of service changes planned throughout the next few months as the MTA moves from rehabbing the Canarsie tunnel to renovating several stations along the subway line.

"As you know, we designed the L Project to do more than just rehab the tunnel, and this station upgrades project is an example of that," the transit officials said.

Upgrades are specifically coming to four stations between Lorimer and Broadway Junction, including Morgan Avenue, Dekalb Avenue, Halsey Street and the Bushwick Avenue-Aberdeen Street stations.

The MTA said they plan to fully replace all of the platform edges on both sides of the track, install accessible boarding areas, repair steel beams and columns and paint the platform areas.

Similar station repairs along the L shut down the subway line from Eighth Avenue in Manhattan to Broadway Junction for an entire weekend earlier this month and will mean three to five weeks of no L train service during weeknights and weekends at the Eighth Avenue and Sixth Avenue stations in Manhattan — though dates have yet to be announced.

Transit officials suggested using other subway lines, like the M train, during the suspended service.

Here's a look at exactly when the L won't run at the Brooklyn stops:

Weeknights

• Mon., September 23 to Fri., September 27
• Mon., September 30 to Fri., October 4

Weekends

• Fri., September 27 to Sun., September 29
• Fri., October 4 to Sun., October 6
• Fri., January 3 to Sun., January 5
• Fri., January 10 to Sun., January 12
• Fri., January 17 to Sun., January 19
• Fri., January 24 to Sun., January 26

The new service changes announced Wednesday are in addition to the ongoing L train "slowdown," where service is reduced on weeknights and weekends. In Brooklyn, other planned changes between Lorimer Street and Broadway Junction remain the same.

The L train repairs were previously expected to shutter the line between Manhattan and Brooklyn completely for 15 months until a team of experts commissioned by Gov. Andrew Cuomo came up with a different way of doing the repairs. The MTA says L train service has been "maintained as normal" on weekdays for 88 percent of weekday straphangers under the new plan.