The Second Avenue subway is a bit closer to becoming a reality.
Beth DeFalco, an MTA spokeswoman, confirmed that train runs began this past weekend as part of the agency’s plan to launch service on Dec. 31.
“We are beginning various tests all along Second Avenue subway as we said we would,” DeFalco said in an email. “That testing includes some train runs, which began this weekend.”
A video surfaced on YouTube late Sunday night of what appears to show train tests on the Upper East Side’s newest subway tracks. Nonoperational trains were running between the 57th Street station of the N, Q and R and Second Avenue’s new 96th Street station on Sunday, according to the video, posted on the transit channel by Dj Hammers, self-described “transit enthusiast.”
“I came across some test trains passing Lexington Avenue – 63rd St to test the third rail, signals, and track on the newly built Second Avenue Subway!” the videographer wrote in the video’s description.
The testing is part of a variety of work that the MTA still needs to complete in order to launch service on the $4.5 billion first phase of the new line by its Dec. 31 target. When the line does open, it will feature three new subway stations along Second Avenue — at 72nd, 86th and 92nd streets — as part of a project 97 years in the making.
