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The MTA announced today that L train service between Manhattan and Brooklyn will shut down for 18 months, beginning in January 2019. In addition to the tunnel that carries the train between the boroughs being closed for repairs, every L train stop in Manhattan will be closed.
Officials were deciding between the 18-month shutdown or a longer, three-year partial shutdown that would allowed some trains to run with potential long delays and massive overcrowding. L trains will continue to run in Brooklyn between Williamsburg and Canarsie.
During the shutdown, repair crews will install new electrical equipment and replace stairs and elevators in the First Avenue and Bedford stations. The decision will be officially announced at an authority board committee meeting later today.
Commuters got a taste of what to come this morning, as L train service between Manhattan and Brooklyn stopped mere minutes after the decision was announced. It's now running with delays.