Feb. 21, 2024 By Ben Brachfeld
The MTA on Wednesday advised customers of significant weekend service disruptions for subway riders in Queens on two consecutive weekends in March, as the agency continues installing accessibility upgrades at the Queensboro Plaza station.
Starting at midnight on Saturday, March 9 thru 4 a.m. on Monday, March 11, 7 trains will only operate between Flushing-Main Streets and 74th Street-Broadway, while N trains will entirely bypass Queens and travel on the Q line between Coney Island and 96th Street on the Upper East Side. N train shuttle service will run between Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and 39th Avenue.
Meanwhile, both E and R trains will operate at higher frequencies during the day, while overnight E trains will be rerouted along the R line.
The same situation will repeat the following weekend, March 16-18.
Free shuttle buses will run between Queens Plaza and 74th Street-Broadway, 39th Avenue and Queens Plaza, and Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue and Queens Plaza. Shuttle buses will also run overnight between Times Square and Hudson Yards.
On weekdays between Monday, March 11 and Friday, March 15, Queens-bound 7, N, and W trains will skip Queensboro Plaza.
The disruption is just the latest related to ongoing accessibility work at Queensboro Plaza, a major transfer hub in Long Island City for the N, W, and 7 lines.
The MTA is working to make Queensboro Plaza fully accessible for people with disabilities. During March, workers will install a new elevator between the platform and mezzanine levels, rehabilitate existing stairs, and install new media screens, fire alarms, CCTV cameras, and a public address system.
Read more: Broadway Transformation: Pedestrian-Friendly Plans