Crews digging a tunnel through Manhattan bedrock for the Long Island Railroad have reached Grand Central Terminal — a milestone in the MTA's East Side Access mega-project.

The tunnel boring machine had spent eight months digging from 63rd Street and Second Avenue. A second boring machine is expected to reach Grand Central by the end of the summer.

Workers will next use dynamite to create a chamber deep beneath Grand Central that will become a new station and concourse at Park Avenue and 42nd Street for LIRR trains arriving on the East Side.

Called Summer Streets it will north-south for 6.9 miles from the Brooklyn Bridge to 72nd Street. The route will follow Lafayette Street and Park Avenue and turn on 72nd to connect to Central Park. Cars will be banned from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on three consecutive Saturdays in August, the 9th, 16th and 23rd. Similar programs exist in Paris and Bogota, Columbia.

Instead of Italian sausage stands there will be yoga lessons.

Download the Summer Streets map below:
Download file

On Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm the NYC Transit Museum is running Nostalgia Trains from West 57 Street and Seventh Avenue subway station.

Service on the A train was shut down in the Rockaways from 1:19 to 2:25 p.m. Wednesday because of problems with the Long Island Power Authority in the area.

There was no service in both directions between the Howard Beach-JFK Airport Station and the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue/Rockaway Park-Beach 116th Street Stations, according to NYC Transit.

The A train is the only subway link between the Rockaways and the rest of the city.

"Due to an ongoing Con Edison power problem affecting subway signals in Brooklyn, customers should expect limited service along the F Line during this evening’s rush period, while G service remains suspended between Bedford-Nostrand Avenue Station and Smith-Ninth Streets Station.

Until further notice, F trains are operating only every ten minutes between Jamaica-179th Street and Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island. As a result, there is very limited F train service to Brooklyn. Customers should avoid taking the F and should instead take the B or D train to a nearby station in Brooklyn.

There is no G train service in either direction between the Bedford-Nostrand Avenue Station and the Smith-9th Street Station. As an alternate, there is a shuttle train running along the G Line between the Bedford-Nostrand Avenues Station and the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets Station.

In order to maintain this limited service through the affected area, MTA New York City Transit power distribution employees have set up several portable generators. These generators will remain in place until Con Ed repair operations are completed."

This time the entire Brooklyn length of the F, from Coney Island to West Fourth Street in Manhattan was out of service. Passengers were advised to take the D train. At 9:30 a.m. service was restored with delays. The G came back into partial service a little earlier around 9 a.m.

A Con Ed manhole fire, at Dean and Smith streets in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn on Sunday evening, knocked out power to the signals on the lines, forcing Transit to use generators to power them.

A NYC Transit spokesman said more generators were being brought to the Bergen Street to power F and G lines signals.

A smoking manhole at Smith and Dean streets cut electricity for 50 "customers" — a "customer" is a meter leaving it unclear how many apartments or buildings were without power.

At Bergen Street and Fourth Avenue, it was not immediately known what cut power to "300" customers and disabled signals on sections of the 2, 3, and 4 lines.

NYC Transit is now operating service on all affected lines, but in a limited fashion on some.

On the F for example, we are running an absolute block, where only 1 train at a time can travel through the affected area. So service there has delays, on the G we're operating a shuttle between Hoyt and Bedford.

See www.mta.info for updated service information - please refresh your screens to ensure you have the latest diversions/updates as the situation has and will change going forward.

Portable generators are on site, and we hope to have them hooked up to provide power to the signal system (which runs on A/C or Alternating Current) which will enable us to run service normally through the affected area.

The sections of the lines were shut down when the subway lost power to its signals, not the third rail, NYC Transit said.

"All trains have lights, A/C and propulsion power," said NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges in a statement. Trains in the tunnels when the signals went out were able to move slowly to nearby stations with the assistance of manual signals, Fleuranges said.

Work crews were bringing portable generators to operate the signals, he said.

A Con Ed spokeswoman said that the power company was investigating a smoking manhole at Smith and Bergen streets. She did not have an immediate count for how many customers were without power.

“The cause is still under review," said Con Ed spokeswoman, Elizabeth Clark. "Our concern right now is getting everybody back up.”

It was not immediately clear if passengers were stranded on trains or for how long.

According to NYC Transit the 2, 3, 4, F, and G lines are affected:

1) There is no F train service in both directions between the Jay Street-Borough Hall Station and the Church Avenue Station. Selected F trains will run on the D line between the West 4th Street-Washington Square Station and the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station.

As an alternate customers are advised to take the nearby N and Q trains to and from Manhattan.

2) There is no G train service in both directions.

As an alternate customers are advised to take the B75 bus.

3) There is no 2 train service in both directions between the Chambers Street Station and the Brooklyn College-Flatbush Avenue Station.

As an alternate customers are advised to take the nearby A, C and Q trains to and from Manhattan.

4) There is no 3 train service in both directions between the Chambers Street Station and the New Lots Avenue Station.

As an alternate customers are advised to take the nearby A, C and L trains to and from Manhattan.

5) There is no 4 train service in both directions between the Bowling Green Station and the Crown Heights-Utica Avenue Station.

As an alternate customers are advised to take the nearby A and C train to and from Manhattan.

Please expect delays in service on the 2, 3, 4, F, and G trains at this time.