Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority continues to implement state dollars for critical upgrades to the Metro Rail, as they announced the temporary shut down of above-ground services for weeklong construction.
This suspension is necessary to facilitate crucial track bed and electrical system upgrades aimed at enhancing the safety and reliability of the Metro Rail system.
"This is major work being done on the rail line. It's part of our rail revitalization program that's been going on for many years," noted James Morrell, NFTA's Director of Public Transit in an interview with WBEN.
"This particular piece of work is crucial, because we're putting in a crossover. When I say crossover, that means that it would allow the train to crossover between track one and track two, the inbound track and the outbound track. So putting in this crossover and doing other trackwork, rebuilding the track bed, putting a new track, putting in new ties, taking care of the catenary, all of that has been done for the safety of our passengers and the reliability of metro rail system."
As Morrell mentions, this is all part of a bigger revitalization plan for the metro rail.
The above-ground rail will be out of operation starting Tuesday, May 28 and will extend through Sunday, June 2.
"The stations are being redeveloped," he said. "We went through a reconstruction of all our trains many years ago. We have stations that are being redeveloped, the Canalside station was recently done. We're in the process of starting the work on Church Street Station, and the New DL&W Station will be in operation close to the end of the year or closer to the beginning of next year. So this is work that's needed, it's needed for continuation of metro rail into the future."
Morrell thinks once all the work is officially completed, public transit users will notice and appreciate the upgrades.
"If you look at Delevan Station, that station was completely redone. It is beautiful. It looks brand new," Morrell said. "A lot of our escalators are being redone. Currently, the University Station escalators are being completely revamped, that has a major impact on our passengers having to walk those stairs, those escalators will be done fairly soon.
"We recently implemented a new fare collection system, we widened the area at University Station for more buses to navigate the space and at the area for buses. There's a lot of capital projects that are happening, and it's just going to make the system that much better for now in the future."
To minimize inconvenience to passengers, the NFTA will provide a shuttle service running every 20 minutes between Allen Medical Campus and Canalside Station. Transit employees will be on-site to assist passengers.