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A train service to Rockaways expected to be restored by May 19, MTA says

Restoration of A train service to Rockaways expected within days
Restoration of A train service to Rockaways expected within days 02:09

Subway service to the Rockaways on the A line will be restored before the end of the month, the MTA says.

The agency announced Friday that full service is expected to be restored by May 19, a sign of normalcy for the more than 9,000 daily riders who use the train.

The critical subway connection linking the Rockaway Peninsula and New York City has been shut down since January.  

Rockaway line resiliency project almost complete

Desperately needed repairs on the A near Jamaica Bay are wrapping up. The MTA has rebuilt the entire 1,500-foot stretch of what's called the Hammels Wye and fixed much of the South Channel Bridge, all damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

"This is a swing bridge," MTA President of Construction and Development Jamie Torres-Springer said. "The mechanical equipment and the electrical equipment on the bridge was out of date. It had been repaired over the years, but it was in bad shape."

Track beds were essentially uprooted and other infrastructure collapsed into the water.

MTA officials said the total shutdown was unfortunately necessary.

"The structure that you see here replaced the 65-year-old structure," Torres-Springer said. "The steel was in disrepair, the concrete was cracking and spalling, and there was no way to deal with this, because of the way this structure was built with concrete connected to steel."

Part of the reconstruction of the Hammels Wye included putting down new tracks and new signals, ones that, we're being told, are ready for communications-based train control, an updated signal system.

Barrier walls were also put up to block storm surge from accessing the ground-leveled tracks.  

Train riders relieved after months-long shutdown

The resiliency project is almost complete.

It's felt like a long time coming for daily A train riders like Tabtha Vazquez.

"Once we get here, because of the shuttle, the train takes about another 20 minutes before it even takes off," she said.

She and others who spoke to CBS News New York were relieved when they heard the line will be reopening in less than two weeks.

"This is the only main line that we got to into Far Rockaway," rider David Hernandez said.

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