Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Rejoined R Train Returns After Suffering Serious Sandy Damage
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 21, 2012
Modified Dec 21, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Gothamist
View all 9
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 21, 2012
Modified Dec 21, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
"Back to work at the crack of 9:07, business as usual" one gleeful Bay Ridge resident and Midtown worker e-mailed us this morning after riding the finally rejoined R train. Because yup, just in time for the holidays, and after weeks of work, the MTA went and put the R train back together today.
"For the past several weeks the Lexington Avenue Line has been overburdened. Staten Islanders have been forced to find alternate routes to midtown and subway customers from Bay Ridge have endured longer trips and transfers," Governor Cuomo said last night announcing the resumption of service. "The return of the full length R route is an enormous achievement that will take some of the pressure off of the 65,000 commuters who use this line every day."
And with the return of the R train the only major pieces of the MTA puzzle that are still broken are the A to the Rockaways (hello H train!) and the No.1 Line south of the Rector Street Station in Lower Manhattan (gonna be a while!).
So what took so long getting the R back together? The problem was that when Sandy's surges flooded the Montague Tube connecting Brooklyn Heights with Lower Manhattan the "massive inflow of corrosive salt water" left tracks, signals and electrical components submerged for days:
Flooding extended for a span of more than 4,000 feet, requiring the pumping of 27 million gallons of water and the removal of tons of debris that had washed into the tunnels. Significant damage was sustained to the power feeds and controls to one pump room, and two fan plants were lost when components and controls for these pumps and fans were extensively damaged.
As such the MTA says the "electrical and signal system had to be rebuilt virtually from scratch, including wiring, relays, track circuits, lighting stop motors and other equipment associated with the safe movement of subway trains."
As you can see in the above photos enough work has now been done to get basic service back but the MTA warns that "temporary service suspensions will be necessary in the future to allow workers to go in and make permanent repairs. Some of this work can be done under FASTRACK but the majority of the effort will require limited suspensions of service in the weeks and months to come."
Still, nothing like a resumption of service to make you forget about an impending fare hike, right? Right?
Tagged
andrew cuomo
bay ridge
frankenstorm
governor cuomo
hurricane sandy
montague tube
MTA
r train
service
subway
Garth Johnston
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
NYC tow companies busted for ripping off drivers must give $67K in refunds, city says
Mayor Mamdani has expanded enforcement on towing scams, but the unlicensed towing industry remains largely unregulated.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Oct 2, 2026 at 4:47 p.m. ET
Off-duty NYPD officer stabbed in the Bronx, police say
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Commissioner Jessica Tisch visited the officer in the hospital.
By
Ryan Kost
News
Off-duty NYPD officer stabbed in the Bronx, police say
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Commissioner Jessica Tisch visited the officer in the hospital.
By
Ryan Kost
DOC negligence factored in death at Rikers' Bellevue hospital outpost, jail officials say
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Conductor on NYC subway that dragged man to death may have skipped safety check, source says
By
Stephen Nessen
NYPD still searching for man who threw burning substance on victim in East Harlem
By
Ryan Kost
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .