The G train could shut down this summer. Residents are already worried.

January 18, 2024 Raanan Geberer

In this July 29, 2013, photo, the G train enters the elevated Smith-Ninth Streets station in Brooklyn. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

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The G train travels through almost a dozen Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods, from Park Slope to Long Island City, but nowhere is it as vital to residents as in Brooklyn’s northernmost area — Greenpoint.

Now, the MTA is planning to implement communications-based train control, a system that would computerize the signal system on the often-neglected train line. While a final schedule has yet to be announced, this would require shutting parts of the line down for an indeterminate period of time.

For many residents of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, the idea brings back unpleasant memories of 2019, when the MTA planned to completely shut down the L train, which served as their lifeline to Manhattan, for 15 months to repair Hurricane Sandy damage to the L’s East River tunnels.

Eventually, then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo chose a different method of tunnel repair and the 15-month shutdown plan was canceled. However, the line still had to be shut down on weekends and nights, leading to frustration for riders.

As far as the G train is concerned, according to the New York Post, MTA officials told Councilmember Lincoln Restler, who represents the area, and other officials that there are tentative plans to shut down service from July 28 to July 5 between Court Square (the line’s northern terminal) and Greenpoint Avenue; from July 5 to August 12 between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand avenues; and from August 12 to September 2 between Bedford-Nostrand and Hoyt-Schermerhorn streets.

Although these plans are tentative and haven’t been finalized, some residents and onlookers have misinterpreted the situation, fearing that the entire line could be shut down at once.

MTA spokesperson Eugene Resnick told the Eagle in a statement, “The MTA is full speed ahead in the rollout of Communications-Based Train Control that will expand modern signaling and decrease headways throughout the transit system. We look forward to continuing engagement with communities across the G line to ensure CBTC installation is delivered efficiently with as little disruption to service as possible.”

Still, officials and organized groups want reassurance. Councilmember Restler, in an email to the Eagle, said, “The G train is the lifeline for the Greenpoint community — with thousands of people depending on it every day to get to work and to keep local businesses thriving.

“While the planned signal improvements are a vital infrastructure investment, a full shutdown of the G train in Greenpoint for six weeks would cause harm and disruption to our community. I’m urging the MTA to act nimbly and find alternative construction approaches,” Restler added.
And Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director for the Riders Alliance, told the Eagle in a statement that “Brooklyn and Queens riders need a robust public transit alternative when G train service is suspended for signal upgrades. Like for the planned L train shutdown, which created the 14th Street busway, City Hall must work with the MTA to make bus service in the affected neighborhoods as fast, frequent, and reliable as possible.”

Communication-Based Train Control (not to be confused with One-Person Train Operation, or OPTO) facilitates two-way communication for trains, and also ensures that trains are spaced safely apart. It is also being installed on the Eighth Avenue (A, C, E), Culver (F train in Brooklyn) and Queens Boulevard (E, F, M, R) lines.

The two lines in the subway system where CBTC has been initiated successfully are the aforementioned L train and the 7 (42nd Street-Flushing) line. Both lines do not intersect with others, making controls easier. The G train goes south from Court Square along its own tracks until it reaches Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street, after which it shares its route with the F line.

Finally, as most Brooklynites know, the G is the only subway line, other than the Franklin Avenue and Rockaway shuttles, that doesn’t go to Manhattan.