Protesters Lash Out At MTA Over 7 Train Service

Queens residents are fed up with 7 train service of late, and they gathered on Thursday to let the MTA know it.

Gathering on the street level above the 7 train’s Vernon-Jackson stop, protesters demanded that the Metropolitan Transit Authority repair infrastructure issues, which they said were causing signal problems, delays, service disruptions and overcrowding. Things are a far cry from late last year, when the 7 was named the most reliable subway line in the city.

Sunnyside resident Miriam Torres takes her daughters — Billie Jean, 11, and Vilet, 6 — to their school, P.S. 78 in Long Island City, via the 7 train. She said that the trip takes less than 15 minutes if the train runs smoothly, but lately it's been dragging on for more than one hour to go five stops.

She described "waiting for the next train and then the next train, because the ones that come are too packed to get in." And then the trains constantly stop between stations, she added.

"It's always been bad, but it's getting worse," she said. "The past few months have been a nightmare."

Torres said that her daughters arrive late at school as often as three times a week due to train problems, not to mention the dread of the morning excursion.

"They hate taking to the train," she said.

“If this just happened once, it would be frustrating, but at this point, it’s outrageous,” added Sharmeela Mediratta, a Sunnyside resident who takes the 7 train to her Manhattan job sites on weekdays. She asserted that seven subways passed her home station, 46th Street-Bliss, the previous day, but they were too crowded for her to board.

Mediratta also lamented having to walk from the Queens Plaza station to her home about 50 blocks away various times over the past four months because the trains simply stopped running.

“There’s no communication. No bus service. No information,” she said.

Since January, there have been 106 disruption notices according to City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. 

“The MTA needs to deliver a comprehensive, thorough solution for all riders who rely on the 7 train, or else today’s problem will become tomorrow’s crisis,” the Democrat said.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, D-Manhattan and Queens, was also at the event. “When last month’s rain storm knocked out the signal system and other equipment in the Steinway Tunnel, 7 train passengers were left stranded,” she said. “Heavy rains shouldn’t paralyze an entire train line. The MTA’s engineers should come up with a plan to bring the 7 train into the 21st century, and eliminate the uncertainty from the morning commute.”

The MTA is defending the recent issues as part of an effort to improve 7 train service.

"MTA NYC Transit is working to correct a recent increase in signal-related delays along the Flushing Line, caused largely by an aging signal system and water-related issues in the vicinity of Vernon-Jackson," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said. "We performed emergency repairs last month and continue to work to reduce the number and duration of service disruptions, but this section of the line is one of the most difficult areas in the system in which to work due to a narrow tunnel width that prevents repairs and maintenance while trains are running." 

Ortiz said that it's possible things on the line could get worse before they get better.

"This critical work, and a longer-term, $400 million project to install a modern signal system will require further disruptions.  However, it is our goal to execute these projects in a well thought out and planned manner, giving our customers as much advance notice as possible."