MTA Targets Brooklyn Subway Bottlenecks That Delay Millions Of Riders

BROOKLYN, NY— The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to tackle two of its most persistent choke points while laying out a broader strategy to address dozens of other trouble spots that affect millions of daily riders, according to a report the agency plans to release Wednesday, first reported by the Gothamist.

At the top of the list is Brooklyn's Nostrand Junction, east of Franklin Avenue, where the 3, 4 and 5 trains converge in a configuration that forces trains to wait for one another before proceeding.

The MTA plans to build new switches and a new section of track so trains no longer cross one another at grade.

Under the proposal, 3 trains would operate along the Nostrand Avenue line with the 2 train, while 5 trains would continue beneath Eastern Parkway alongside the 4 train.

State Sen. Zellnor Myrie previously dubbed the junction the "Crown Heights Cluster."

Why Do These Trains Cause So Many Delays?

Every time trains intersect at the junction, they can be forced to wait for another train to pass before moving through.

Removing those conflicting movements would allow trains to move more efficiently, reducing congestion that can spread well beyond Brooklyn.

The MTA also plans improvements at DeKalb Interlocking near the Brooklyn entrance to the Manhattan Bridge, where the B, D, N, Q and R trains intersect.

The complex network of switches remains one of the busiest in the subway system.

Crews still rely on technology dating to the 1930s and, in some situations, paper maps when responding to operational problems.

The agency already has projects underway to modernize signal systems on the B and D lines.

Officials are also working with contractors on designs that would ease sharp curves through the interlocking, allowing trains to travel through the junction more quickly, according to the new report.

How Many Other Bottlenecks Did The MTA Identify?

The report identifies 70 locations across the subway system where infrastructure creates recurring congestion.

Officials singled out 25 of those locations as the most promising candidates for future upgrades.

"Physical infrastructure ... gets in the way of us providing great service," Alyssa Cobb Konon, the MTA's deputy chief development officer for planning, who helped author the report, told the Gothamist.

Among the other locations highlighted are the tracks near 149th Street-Grand Concourse in the Bronx, where the 2, 4 and 5 trains intersect, and aging signals at 59th Street-Columbus Circle that affect service on the A, B, C and D lines.

"We have intersections in the subway system, we tend to call them interlockings, but it's what allows us to move trains around the system in such a fluid way where they separate and combine again," MTA Construction and Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said. "We need to figure out how to unsnarl it, and that's what we're doing across the system to help move people faster."

Why Are These Problems So Difficult To Fix?

Many of the system's biggest bottlenecks date back more than a century.

Much of the subway infrastructure was built when three separate companies operated different parts of the system before they were later combined, according to the report.

Some subway lines also narrow from four tracks to two as they cross the East River, a design the report describes as "remnants of planning that underestimated the level of immediate demand for travel between Manhattan and the outer boroughs."

Transit officials describe the document as the agency's first systemwide plan focused specifically on reducing subway bottlenecks. The report calls for additional analysis of the cost and feasibility of projects at each location.

Some improvements could be considered for funding as part of the MTA's next five-year capital plan, which begins in 2030.