PARK SLOPE - Police removed a dead body from the tracks from the Culver Line, causing delays for straphangers during the tail end of this morning’s rush hour.

Within the last hour, the NYPD responded to the 9th Street/7th Avenue station for a report of a person trapped under a train.  The victim was pronounced dead on scene by FDNY EMS personnel.

While the MTA web site does not indicate any delays on the (F) and (G) trains as of the time of this posting, the victim was removed from the station shortly before 9:00 a.m.

No further information is available as of this posting.

CROWN HEIGHTS - Manhattan-bound riders on the (C) Fulton Avenue Line local are experiencing delays due to signal problems at Utica Avenue.  (A) express service through Brooklyn is not reporting delays through the same corridor, nor is Brooklyn-bound (C) service to Euclid Avenue.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is planning service adjustments on several lines, including a shuttle bus though Brooklyn, due to scheduled construction work this weekend.  All service adjustments are effective from 12:01 a.m. Saturday until 5:00 a.m. Monday unless otherwise noted:

• Service on the (D) train will operate in local service between 36th Street/4th Avenue, Sunset Park, and DeKalb Street station, Fort Greene.
• Northbound (D) trains will operate over the (N) line (Sea Beach Branch) between Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station and 36th Street/4th Avenue; southbound (D) service between 36th Street and Coney Island is unaffected.  The re-routing is due to track panel installation north of 62nd Street.  The re-routing takes effect at 5:00 a.m. Saturday until 10:00 p.m. Sunday.
• Service on the (F) train will operate into two segments: Between Jamaica-179th Street, Queens, to Jay Street, Brooklyn Heights and between Church Avenue, Kensington to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue.  The re-routing is effective between 11:30 p.m. Friday through 5:00 a.m. Monday.
• (G) train service will operate in two segments: Between Court Square, Long Island City, Queens and Bedford Avenue-Nostrand Avenue, Bedford-Stuyvesant and between Bedford-Nostrand and Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, Brooklyn Heights.
• (N) train service will operate local between 59th Street/4th Avenue, Sunset Park and DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene, then operate via the Manhattan Bridge instead of the Montague Tunnel.
• (R) train service will operate in two segments: Between 34th Street-Herald Square, Manhattan, and Forest Hills-71st Avenue, Queens and between 36th Street/4th Avenue, Sunset Park and 95th Street-Bay Ridge; no subway service will operate between Canal Street, Lower Manhattan and DeKalb Street, Fort Greene.

A shuttle bus will be implemented between Jay Street and Church Avenue stations, serving Jay Street, Bergen Street, Carroll Street, Smith St/9th Street, 4th Avenue/9th Street, 7th Avenue/9th Street, 15th Street/Prospect Park, Fort Hamilton Parkway, and Church Avenue.

The service changes will be in effect from Friday evening through Monday morning.  The changes are in effect due to ongoing construction on the Culver Viaduct and for maintenance in the Montague Tunnel.  The (N) and (R) train adjustments are due to track work at Cortlandt Street, Manhattan.

For additional information and updates on this service adjustments, please call MTA New York City Transit at (718) 330-1234 or visit the official MTA web site: www.mta.info.

One of the longest subway lines in the New York City Subway system – which passes through Brooklyn en route to Manhattan and Queens – is being targeted for a major management and service reliability overhaul, according to a report issued by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The (F) train – the second longest line in the system at 27 miles from Coney Island to Jamaica, Queens via 6th Avenue in Manhattan – has seen signficant issues with on-time performance; the report noted that schedules have not been updated to reflect increased ridership and new operating patterns with the opening of the 63rd Street connector in Queens.

On-time performance on the (F) – 50.8 percent in July 2009 – is well below the average of New York City Transit Authority system-wide average of 74.4 percent.  The report noted that the length of the line and the complexity of the routing as the primary reasons for it’s poor performance.

The report also noted that in a 17 week period between March and June 2009, an average of 14.6 “slow orders” or other planned service diversions per week – a total of 248 orders.  The orders covered routine maintenance and upgrades of the aging infrastructure which the (F) operates over.

Service in Brooklyn operates over the Culver Line between Coney Island and York Street station in Downtown Brooklyn.  The report noted that elected officials, straphangers, and community activists are advocating express service on the (F) via the Culver Line,  TA officials note that the Culver Viaduct rehabilitation project takes out at least two of the four available tracks and is schedules to continue though 2013.  (F) express service through the borough last operated in 1987.

Another issue with the (F) line is the equipment used on the line.  There are five classes of subway cars used on the line, with the oldest class dating back to the 1960′s.  On average, (F) trains averaged 146,115 miles between failures, worse than the system-wide average of 185,485 miles between failures.  However, most of the older rail cars have been replaced by the newer “R-160″ class of subway cars, which lead to an improvement in “mean distance between failure”.

As part of it’s strategy, the TA is implementing the following strategies:

• The appointment of a general manager for the (F) line, a concept that was introduced on the TA’s numbered lines and was expanded to the lettered lines in July.
• Redesign of the (F) schedules, including a survey of running times along the line, analyzing the 63rd Street Corridor service plan through Queens, an evaluation of (F) express service in Brooklyn, and an assessment of how overnight service is impacted by maintenance and capital work.
• Management of car-loads along the line.
• Improvement of the car fleet performance, which is being addressed with the retirement of the older subway cars introduction of the R-160 cars.
• Delay management strategies would be implented; at present, some Coney Island-bound trains skip stations during the evenings as a response to delays.
• Addressing the aging infrastructure and delays due to work along the tracks.

The entire report is available at the MTA web site.