From the NY Times:The V train, a weekday-only service that relieved crowding on the E and F lines and was one of the youngest trains in the New York City subway system, was sentenced to death on Friday. It was 8 years old and divided its time between Queens and Manhattan.
Its demise was announced by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is reconfiguring subway service to help close a $400 million budget gap.
Under that plan, expected to be approved next week, the M train, which has proudly brandished a brown logo since the advent of the current color-coded system in 1979, would be rebranded orange and take the place of the V.
The M would continue to make its usual run from western Queens through Williamsburg, Brooklyn, into Lower Manhattan. But at its first Manhattan stop, at Essex Street, the train would take over the V’s route and travel north to the Forest Hills-71st Avenue stop in Queens.
M train service in Lower Manhattan and southern Brooklyn would be eliminated.
The changes, which would go into effect in June, were announced earlier this year. But the new route was expected to be called the V, with the M train disappearing. An outcry at public hearings led transit planners to rethink the nomenclature.
“People were more comfortable with the M designation, being an older and more historic train designation than the V,” said Charles Seaton, a spokesman for New York City Transit. (The V was born in 2001; the M dates back decades.)
23 comments:
Thank you MTA for listening. We love our M Train.
Twice the VVs at half the service.
now you can take the m from forest hills to middle village- a trip you could walk in 20 minutes
only on the train it will take an hour and change and go through manhattan and brooklyn
Yay, now i dont have to transfer at Canal street from the M-to-N/Q to get to midtown. Now i get a direct shot.
Really getting tired of dealing with all the old asian ladies on that platform and in the stairwells.
The new M-line... will it be the only line in the system that almost comes to a loop?
Fuck the cemetery on the other side of metropolitan, they should dig up those rotting bodies and build out the M to the north to connect it to the Queens Blvd lines.
If the MTA is so cash strapped, then why did they change the route color from brown to orange? Of course this means changing all the signs..or does it?
Usually they just paste decals on the signs.
That's what's going to happen, Crapper.
There goes an additional 10 minutes added onto my commute every morning now that I will have to transfer to the J to get to Fulton.
There is already a tunnel 100 feet East of the M platform.
It goes under that cemetery exits Juniper Blvd S you can walk the ROW all the way to Queens Blvd and 74th st then on to the Hells gate switches in Astoria
Don't know if Conrail uses it.
The Queens Duckys used a bunker in this tunnel as a clubhouse in the 70's.
Oh yeah, they use it. And there will be hundreds more cars of garbage being hauled through there soon.
Speaking of the Middle Village trash train, I recently saw it under 69th st near the cemetery. Why do they keep the train stopped right in the middle of the neighborhood?
Answer: because they can. They don't give a shit about the neighborhood and the minute you ask them to work with you they tell you that federal laws are on their side and that they don't have to change a thing.
Anonymous: Thank you MTA for listening. We love our M Train.
I brought this up when I spoke at the open hearing in Flushing a few weeks back. I was the only person to mention it there - that no one was nostalgic for the V but a lot of people really like the M. I don't know if it was brought up at any of the other hearings.
Anyway, you're welcome.
Anonynous: now you can take the m from forest hills to middle village- a trip you could walk in 20 minutes
Well, it's slightly more than a 20 minute walk. But I doubt there will be many people taking the train from one end to another. But how many trains does anyone go from one end to another? Pretty few, I suspect. It's all about what's in the middle.
panzer65 If the MTA is so cash strapped, then why did they change the route color from brown to orange? Of course this means changing all the signs..or does it?
Colors are assigned based on the major avenue or street a services travels under in Manhattan (except for the G, of course). The JMZ pass under Nassau Street and have been assigned brown. When the M moves to 6th Ave it'll change to that line's orange color scheme. They would have had to change signs whatever change they made. But as Crapper pointed out, they'll use decals. Not expensive.
Anonymous: Fuck the cemetery on the other side of metropolitan, they should dig up those rotting bodies and build out the M to the north to connect it to the Queens Blvd lines.
I don't know about digging up corpses but there's a lot to be said for connecting the two lines and forming a giant loop. It would certainly go a long way towards tying Queens together, and towards tying Queens and Brooklyn together. In my foaming metrophile world I'd like to see the M extended as a subway under Metropolitan Ave. Have a stop at 80th Street, a few blocks north of Atlas Park, or whatever replaces it. Another at Trotting Course Ln, mostly so there would be a subway stop called "Trotting Course Ln". Another between about 72nd and 74th Aves - there's a nice little business strip there that only has craptastic bus service. Another at around Audley St, where the line would turn northeast, off of Metro and continue on to Austin St, where there should be a stop at the Kew Gardens LIRR station. Then northwest under Austin to the 71st Ave-Forest Hills station, thus closing the loop. About 4.2 miles. Don't know if it's remotely practical and, like I said, it's just a fantasy. But if I were Emperor I'd do it next Thursday.
That's a complete pipe dream, Ridgewoodian. It could NEVER happen.
Anonymous: That's a complete pipe dream, Ridgewoodian. It could NEVER happen.
Well, like I said, the idea is a fantasy. I don't expect to see it happen in my lifetime. (Of course, before three months ago so was the idea of opening up the Christie Street Connector, and that looks to be happening this summer.) But a number of people have noted that the new M train will ALMOST form a loop and that it might be advantageous to close the loop. Again, I don't know if it's a practical but Queens needs better subway service and the particular neighborhoods I mentioned REALLY need better subway service and great things often have small beginnings.
No need to dig up corpses at all. There's an active freight ROW that runs north out of Midville all the way to the Hell Gate Bridge and beyond. The New York Connecting Railroad runs right by the M's Fresh Pond Railyard behind Rentar Plaza.
The expansion plan already exists, devised by the Regional Planning Authority and called the Circumferential Subway Line. It's been disceussed on this blog before:
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/10/31_10_mta_gets_on_right_side.html
Doubt we'll see an expansion anytrhing like this in our lifetime, though.
the v train will be missed and it was a wrong desicion to get rid of the v the v had made a better serivice run bettwen 71 st forest hills to 2 ave but now the m is replaing it
RIP V TRAIN (2001-2010)
RIP V train ..
:(
WHEN CAN WE HAVE THE FUNERAL FOR THE "V" TRAIN? THE INTERMENT CAN BE AT JAMAICA YARD ;)
Ridgewoodian's idea of making the M train into a loop is terrific. It would make Queens more of a "city" like Manhattan where people take the train to go shopping, visit friends etc. I also like Ridgewoodian's proposed stops although the "M train loop plan" should include a stop right at Atlas park and then a stop at 80th and Metropolitan Avenue etc. This might make Atlas more of a destination for eveyone throughout Queens similar to the Queens center mall. But don't get me started on what Atlas Park can be versus what it is now!
This new change totally sucks for those who live on Flushing Ave, Lorimer, and Hewes.
Now we have to get off at Delancy and transfer to the J train just for 1-5 stops (depending on where you are going to). Making a 20 minute right into 30-45 depending on how long the J takes. So pointless!
They should at least make the J train local for stops between Marcy and Myrtle.
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