Press Releases

Congressman Max Rose joined with City Councilman Justin Brannan, State Senator Andrew Gounardes, and State Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus in calling on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to split the R-Train between Brooklyn and Manhattan, as was done following Hurricane Sandy from 2013 – 2014.

The previous bifurcation of the R-Train resulted in more reliable and dependable commute times as commuters in South Brooklyn were no longer being impacted by delays in Queens. The MTA currently is not planning on any upgrades to the R-Train for more than a decade.

“In 2013, the Montague Street Tunnel was closed for Hurricane Sandy repairs and the R-Train line was split between Brooklyn and Manhattan between from August 2013 to September 2014,” wrote the elected officials to MTA New York City Transit President Andy Byford. “Many commuters braced themselves for what they thought would be a truly miserable commute. However, the split at Court Street insulated the Southern Brooklyn line from traffic delays occurring earlier along the line, improving reliability and commute times for constituents in our district. By bifurcating the R-Train, Bay Ridge commuters were no longer being delayed due to a sick passenger up in Queens.”

The letter continues, “As per the MTA’s Fast Forward Plan, South Brooklyn is not scheduled to receive signal upgrades for over a decade. Putting South Brooklynites through another ten years of a commuting nightmare is simply not an option. It’s time for us to think outside the box. We are asking you to study the possible bifurcation of the R-line at Court St as it had been from August 2013 to September 2014. Considering that this was put in place before—and it was an unexpected success—we expect the MTA to move quickly to reimplement.”

Full text of letter HERE

###