NEW YORK — New York City Transit has resumed A Train subway service to the Rockaway Peninsula, suspended since Jan. 17 to allow for critical infrastructure work.
The 17-week shutdown allowed rebuilding of the Hammels Wye viaduct and repairs to the South Channel Bridge across Jamaica Bay, damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Emergency repairs had allowed operation to continue, but components over 65 years required extensive overhauls, addressed with two 10-hour shifts by 200 workers for seven days a week since the closure began. While the subway line — which the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says serves about 12,500 riders daily — has been reopened, work continues. The MTA says that work is on time and under budget.
“The Rockaway project reflects what the new MTA is doing — delivering capital work on-time and on-budget with minimal impacts to customers and maximum benefit,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber said at a press conference today (May 19, 2025). “The line is now fully rebuilt and better prepared to withstand the extreme conditions we are facing in the age of climate change.” Added Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction & Development, “After 17 weeks of 20-hour shifts through the heart of a New York City winter, we’re proud to deliver generations of great public transit to the Rockaways — on time and on budget.”
Additional work including new interlocking infrastructure and a new signal tower will take place during future weekend outages. The entire project is expected to be completed by late 2026.
At Hammels Wye, where trains are routed to Rockaway Park or Far Rockaway, a complete reconstruction involved 250 tons of steel, 1,600 feet of reconstructed structure rale, 37 steel girders, 700 concrete ties, and 856 tons of ballast, along with signal and power systems now prepared for the addition of Communications-Based Train Control. Work on the South Channel Bridge, which swings open to accommodate marine traffic on Jamaica Bay, included a complete overhaul of electrical and mechanical components.
During the A Trains shutdown, the MTA added additional bus service to the Rockaways; ran shuttle service between Rockaway Park and Far Rockway, and offered discount Long Island Rail Road fares to the Far Rockaway station on the Far Rockaway branch [see “MTA adds more bus service …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 12, 2024].
An expanded story of this plus the pedigree of the line would make for interesting reading in the pages of Trains.