Necessary track work on the F line will make it impossible to create express service for at least another five years — and will shut the Smith-Ninth Street station for all of 2010.
Transit officials said repairs to the crumbling elevated tracks between Carroll Gardens and Park Slope will begin as scheduled next year, postponing the addition of an express subway until at least 2012.
The announcement ends doubt — some of it fueled by MTA officials last month — that work on the Culver Viaduct would be delayed to create a temporary F express.
Subway advocates found a silver lining in the news.
“An F express wasn’t even on the table five months ago,” said Gary Reilly, who started an online crusade this year for F express.
