‘Hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach’ on the revived A train

The A train is back in service to the Rockaway peninsula just in time for beach season. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach

By Ryan Schwach

It’s not hard, not far to reach, we can – once again – hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach.

Following a 17-week outage, the A train to the Rockaways is up and running again less than a week before peninsula’s beaches open for the summer.

Governor Kathy Hochul, the MTA and city and state officials on Monday announced the return of the train, which was out of commission for months as the MTA repaired damage to the line caused more than a decade ago by Hurricane Sandy.

While any train shutdown brings headaches to those who use it, the A train pause was particularly difficult for the Rockaways, which lack robust public transit options and is itself geographically dislocated from the rest of the city.

“This train is an artery for this area,” said Hochul. “I talked to young people going to school, talked to people going to their jobs and want to live out here, because it is spectacularly beautiful. But they work someplace, sometimes an hour, hour and a half away, but they can get there with reliability now because of the work being done on this train.”

The work on the bridge included a complete replacement of the Hammels Wye, an elevated structure that all trains must cross to reach the peninsula. The MTA also did work on the South Channel Bridge and made improvements to the aging electrical and mechanical components on the line which were often the source of significant delays for A train riders.

Not only were the structures over half a century old, but much of it was damaged when Sandy battered the peninsula in 2012.

“Decades of wear and tear from brutal storms and neglect from previous administrations that did not make the proper investments,” Hochul said. “The track was literally falling apart, and it became very, very dangerous…We saw a lot of disintegration there, so there was no other choice than to replace the whole section.”

The MTA did not only want to fix damage caused by the past storm, but to help prevent damage from future ones.

“It's a matter of when, not if another storm like Sandy comes our way,” said Borough President Donovan Richards.

A special 12 foot high, 900-foot-long wave wall was installed along the tracks to protect against future coastal storm surges.

Officials including Governor Kathy Hochul, Borough President Donovan Richards, MTA CEO Janno Lieber and local electeds Stacey Pheffer Amato, Khaleel Anderson and James Sanders celebrated the reopening of the A train to Rockaway on Monday. Photo by Marc A. Hermann/MTA

In all, the effort took 200 construction workers, working 20 hours a day for 17 weeks.

When the train outage was announced last year, Rockaway locals were afraid of the potential impact of their new commutes, and that the MTA’s plans for alternative travel options would not fill the gap, including shuttle buses the MTA assigned to the area.

Local Kelly Brugess called the plans a “complete nightmare,” when they were announced.

“There will for sure not be enough buses,” she said. “I understand that this work needs to be done. But adding some shuttle buses as they do for some weekend fixes isn’t going to work for this.”

Officials like Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers called on the city and MTA to increase alternative services during the outage, including express bus extensions and free LIRR trips in Far Rockaway.

The alternatives were needed “to ensure that community residents can still utilize public transit to get to and from Manhattan for the day with no direct trains and no direct train service between the peninsula and Manhattan,” Brooks-Powers said at a town hall she hosted in November.

However, the work was completed on time before Memorial Day, and officials praised the shuttle bus alternatives the MTA implemented, and even told the agency on Monday that they want them to stay in place.

“It's our hope that the MTA will continue service on the express bus, because we know that our residents need multiple options to get off the peninsula,” said Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson.

Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer-Amato stressed to MTA CEO Janno Lieber: “shuttles, shuttles, shuttles.”

“The shuttle with the replacement service, the alternative service, was actually a huge success, so much so that the politicians behind me are like bending my arm to keep it forever,” said Lieber.

But for now, the buses will disappear.

“Another conversation, another budget season,” Lieber said.

Starting on Friday, New Yorkers can take the A train to Rockaway to enjoy the official opening of the city beach season.

“Tell the people of the Rockaways, we're back,” said State Senator James Sanders. “We are back, tell the visitors who are coming out here, come out here and take the A train.”