W Service Coming 'Soon,' MTA Says; Queens Commuters Still Fed Up
ASTORIA, QUEENS — After suspending trains amid COVID-linked staff shortages, the MTA is getting subway service back on track — but not the W train.
In December, as omicron pummeled NYC, at least 14 percent of the city's train operators and conductors were sick with COVID, prompting the MTA to suspend (or partially suspend) service on the W, B, Z, J, 6, 7 and Rockaway Park A lines, Acting MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said in a news release.
Only seven percent of those workers are out with COVID, Lieber said on Tuesday, prompting most of those trains to come back online Wednesday — except for the W train, which remains out of service.
New York City Transit Senior Vice President for Subways, Demetrius Crichlow, said on Tuesday that the MTA hopes to restore service to the W line "soon" and congratulated the city's subway team for keeping all of the city's 472 stations running (with alternate service) amid the suspensions.
As such, W train stations will continue to be serviced by the N train in Queens and the N, Q, and R trains in Manhattan.
Some W train riders, however, were displeased to learn that the train remains out of service.
"28th Street is my stop...." wrote one disgruntled rider on an Astoria thread, who now has to transfer from the N train to the R train in Manhattan instead of taking the W train directly between Queens and their home.
Other riders, however, said that the biggest inconvenience of not having the W train has actually been waiting for the R train — which is the line replacing local service in Manhattan, since the N and Q trains routinely run express.
"Can't tell you how many times I get to 23rd Street and see that the closest R train is 11 or 17 minutes away," wrote one traveller, who said that they think the R train has been "running less frequently, especially in the evenings." (As of Wednesday afternoon there are no active alerts on the R train.)
Other yellow-line riders expressed cautious optimism that the city's omicron wave has already peaked (a point that officials said, too) and that train service — including the W — will return soon.
"I wouldn’t expect the W to be out for too much longer given how fast the omicron wave is crashing in the city right now," wrote one. "Crossing my fingers for Monday the 24th at the latest."
This article originally appeared on the Astoria-Long Island City Patch
