Number 7 Train Extension Opening Delayed Again

Photographs of a long-awaited new subway station on Manhattan’s far West Side reveal an airy, modern terminal surrounded by greenery, with a beautiful blue mosaic on the ceiling. But commuters probably won’t see it in person until July at the earliest — and possibly even later than that.

The extension of the No. 7 train to a new station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue, which will serve a new cluster of skyscrapers rising along the Hudson River, was originally supposed to open in December 2013. MTA officials said recently that the station would open sometime between April and June. And now the opening of the $2.4 billion has been pushed back yet again.

Workers are still testing fire alarms, third-rail power, escalators and other station components, a time-consuming process that means the station probably won’t open until sometime in July, MTA official Anthony D’Amico told a transit committee last week.

All major construction work is complete at the terminal, which boasts four high-rise escalators with a vertical 84-foot drop, the steepest in the subway system, and two uniquely inclined elevators, D’Amico said.

This article appeared in print on page 34 of the April 1st, 2015 edition of Hamodia.