MTA to swap F and M trains next week

The MTA is rolling out a swap of the F and M lines to increase service starting next week.  Map via MTA 

By Ryan Schwach

The MTA will be permanently swapping two Queens train routes to improve congestion issues in Western Queens and Roosevelt Island, agency brass announced Wednesday.

Starting next Monday, Dec. 8, the MTA will permanently swap the F and M train routes on weekdays.

MTA CEO and President Janno Lieber said the route swap will help limit issues caused by a choke point at a merge near the Queens Plaza station in Long Island City.

“[The merge] creates all kinds of crossing and throughput problems, which actually causes a ton of delays for all the lines on the Queens Boulevard line – that's the F and the M, but also the E and the R,” said Lieber.

“All of those lines are being delayed by the way that the current configuration works,” he added. “The swap is going to allow us to provide more consistent running times and more throughput, and it's going to increase reliability for 1.2 million riders who use these trains every day.”

Officials called the switch a “big deal,” adding that it’s a move the MTA has been considering for a long time.

“This is a permanent change, something we've talked about for a long time internally, and we're very excited to be rolling it out,” said NYC Transit Executive Vice President of Subways Bill Amarosa Jr.

The service changes will be in effect during weekday hours from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., while the current route will remain in use during nights and and weekends.

While there may be some need for riders to adapt to a slightly different commute, Lieber said that the changes should only be positive.

“We're all New Yorkers, and we all know we have our set routines, nobody likes change,” said Lieber. “There is nobody who's being hurt by this. Everybody benefits when we can get more throughput on the Queens Boulevard line. That means more trains can go through, everybody's train is more likely to be on time.”