Schumer calls on FTA to provide federal funds to improve L train
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer on Tuesday called on the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to ensure federal funds are budgeted for improvements along the overcrowded L train. The MTA’s proposed $300 million project would increase capacity and reduce overcrowding on the L, which runs through Brooklyn neighborhoods that have seen some of the largest increases in population in New York City.
More than 300,000 customers use the L Train on an average weekday, an increase of 98 percent since 1998. Specifically, weekday entries at the L train’s busiest station, Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, have increased by 250 percent. Schumer explained that the L line needs more trains in order to accommodate the increase in passengers.
The MTA’s proposed project would add three power substations to allow for two additional trains per hour, a 10 percent increase in service that could carry an additional 2,200 passengers per hour. Schumer is calling on the FTA to include the MTA’s project in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget recommendation to Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.