A powerful-but-obscure transit panel is poised to rescue the G train — derailing a plan that would kill a much-needed line extension linking North and Brownstone Brooklyns.
The G train’s five-stop extension has gained strong support from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, a committee tasked with deciding if the service should stay alive, members say.
The beloved but at-risk extension — which includes stations in Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, and Kensington — will likely become permanent after the committee votes next week, said board member Allen Cappelli.
“We’ve been hammering at [the cause] for months — and it looks like it’s going that direction,” he said.
He said saving the so-called Brooklyn Local is a priority due to good ridership numbers and noted that the agency is “in position to do something” financially.
“There’s a decent likelihood it will remain,” he said.
The extension brought G trains to the Fourth Avenue–Ninth Street, Seventh Avenue, Prospect Park–15th Street, Fort Hamilton Parkway, and Church Avenue stations starting in 2009 and is set to expire when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $257.5 million Culver Viaduct rehabilitation project ends next winter.
But hundreds of impassioned straphangers have jumped on board a movement to save the service, demanding the agency keep it alive.
On July 25, the MTA board is poised to allocate roughly $20 million more to citywide bus, commuter rail, and subway service — a budget that will likely include the G train extension, Cappelli said.
Charles Seaton, a spokesman for the MTA, said the agency would “neither confirm nor deny” the service will be saved, but riders and politicians are already celebrating — perhaps a bit prematurely.
“Major victory for G train riders!” Williamsburg Democratic District Leader Lincoln Restler tweeted.
Reach reporter Natalie O'Neill at noneill@cnglocal.com or by calling her at (718) 260-4505.
