G train back to full service after summer repairs and modernization
GREENPOINT, Brooklyn (WABC) -- One of the least reliable train lines in the city fully reopened to riders Tuesday after being partially shut down this summer for needed repairs.
The G-train that connects Brooklyn to Queens is back after nine weeks.
A 100-year-old tunnel now has new tracks, new switches, and new signals after the G train line went through a massive modernization project.
Eleven miles of the subway line were rebuilt and upgrades now allow the system to change the signals from green to red and for trains to be controlled via GPS.
It required 160,000 daily riders to be patient as the work was being done and find alternate modes of transportation.
There will be occasional shutdowns on nights and weekends. Most of the subway still runs on a system designed in the 1920s, but the G line is on track to catch up to the 21st century with Wi-Fi access while riding inside the tunnels.
"We have a plan over 10 years with them, to light up our whole system, every tunnel, with cell service and Wi-Fi at our above ground stations," said Jamie Torres-Springer, MTA Construction and Development, President. "And the next step is for the carriers, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon to come in and get their work done. So, we'll get and exact date very soon. But, very soon there will be Wi-Fi and cell service throughout the whole G train."
The entire project will take another three years to be completed, costing $622 million.
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