L train service to Manhattan suspended for two October weekends

Riders who use the L to get between Brooklyn and Manhattan will need another way to travel on two weekends in October. Trains will be suspended on the stretch from Lorimer Street to Eighth Avenue, with no service in either direction.

The first outage begins at 11:15 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, and lasts until 5 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 5. The second covers the same hours, starting Friday, Oct. 9, and ending Monday, Oct. 12.

Why the MTA is shutting the L train on weekends

Crews are putting in new communications equipment, according to an MTA spokesperson, who said the agency is also using the outage to get routine track maintenance done. The MTA gave no cost for the work, no estimate of how many riders will be affected and no answer on whether more weekend shutdowns are coming.

What the L train closure means for riders

April Diaz, 34, rides from Bushwick to Eighth Avenue for her job at a discount store, and now she has to work out a new route. She said she had not noticed the notices posted in stations. She also worries that a bus could get stuck in traffic and make her late. “I have two daughters to take care of,” she said.

John Smith, 65, is a postal worker who usually boards at Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenue. He expects the closure to turn his ride to Eighth Avenue into a trip on three different trains, so he will have to get up earlier. He said he has come to expect service disruptions and complained that he pays a lot for poor service.

Carlos Marte visits patients’ homes across the city for a health care job. He said weekend service changes happen so often that he now works only half days on Saturdays. “It’s every weekend!” he said.