More LIRR, NJT Trains As Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel Opens To Buses
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Mass transit is continuing to return to normal across the Tri-State area two weeks after Superstorm Sandy flooded subways and tunnels and damaged tracks, signals and overhead wires.
The Hugh L. Carey-Brooklyn Battery Tunnel is now open to limited rush-hour bus service only.
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Express MTA buses from Brooklyn and Staten Island can use one lane of one tube to enter Manhattan from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and to leave Manhattan from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
1010 WINS' John Montone reports
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The tunnel will stay closed at other times to allow repair crews to repair damage from Sandy. About 43 million gallons of salt water flooded the tunnel during the superstorm, according to officials.
The MTA restored A train subway service between the 207 Street Station and the Howard Beach-JFK Airport Station on Sunday. It also added a bus shuttle between the station and Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway.
"This segment of the A was especially hard hit, as was the Rockaway Peninsula and to be able to get service back to these neighborhoods is a priority for us," said MTA Chairman & CEO Joseph J. Lhota in a statement.
The Long Island Rail Road is operating on a near-normal weekday schedule Monday on all branches except the Long Beach Branch.
Two Amtrak tunnels that were flooded during Sandy have been reopened, but service in those tunnels still remains limited.
In New Jersey, NJ TRANSIT's Morris & Essex lines, including Midtown Direct, Bergen and Port Jervis are operating.
However, service remains suspended along the Gladstone Branch and Montclair-Boonton Lines. Limited service also continues on the Northeast Corridor.
Trains into New York City remain extremely limited.
NJ TRANSIT is encouraging rail passengers to continue to use buses and ferries.
PATH train service between Manhattan and the Newark Penn and Harrison stations in New Jersey resumed Monday morning.
Officials said trains starting rolling out at 5 a.m. and will run in both directions until 10 p.m. But they also warn commuters that they may face extended waits for trains.
Besides Newark Penn and Harrison, the line also will include stops at Journal Square, Grove Street, and Newport stations in New Jersey and at the 14th, 23rd and 33rd Street stations in Manhattan.
Trains will bypass Christopher and 9th streets in New York. And disabled passengers will have access to the platforms only at Newark, Journal Square and 33rd Street.
PATH service remains suspended at the Hoboken, Exchange Place and the World Trade Center stations.
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