Coalitions File Lawsuit Against NYC, State and Federal Agencies Over Looming L Train Shutdown

A group of Manhattan-based coalitions and disability groups are suing New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other city, state and federal agencies alleging the plan to shut down the L train and repair the Canarsie Tunnel that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn violates environmental and disability rights laws.

Coalitions in Chelsea, Flatiron, Greenwich Village, West Village, and other neighborhoods filed the suit against the MTA, New York City Transit Authority, the city's Department of Transportation and the Federal Transportation Administration on Tuesday.

The suit alleges that the MTA and the city’s Department of Transportation failed to complete the necessary Environmental Impact Statement relating to the L train shutdown plan, which is in violation of national and state environmental laws.

The suit also claims that, while the MTA upgrades the stations along the shuttered L train line, at least five stations will not be accessible to those with disabilities.

In a statement, Edith Prentice, of Disabled in Action, one of the groups filing the suit, alleges that “New York City Transit already runs a system which is perhaps the least accessible of any major transit system in the world. They are spending a billion dollars, but can’t include in that elevators and other amenities in all stations that would allow people who can’t climb or descend stairs to use the system. It is shameful, and it has to stop.”

The L train shutdown is expected to take place on April 2019 and last for about 15 months. The looming service halt and repairs to the Canarsie Tunnel, which carries the subway line under the East River, is due to the flooding damage it sustained from Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Arthur Schwartz of Advocates for Justice Chartered Attorneys, who is representing the groups leading the lawsuit, said in a statement that the MTA’s plan will create “unprecedented dislocation” affecting thousands of New Yorkers.

The suit claims that officials should have looked into the plan’s impact and possible alternatives by completing an environmental impact statement. Additionally, the suit alleges that since the MTA is looking to obtain funding for the project from the Federal Transit Administration, it would also need to complete an environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act.

However, in a letter dated March 1 that was sent to Schwartz, the city’s DOT says that “the project complies with all environmental requirements pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act.”

The city’s Department of Transportation said in a statement that “the crisis stemming from next year’s closing of the L train tunnel is not just an issue for north Brooklyn and Greenwich Village,” but will have an impact that “will be felt citywide” and because of this the “DOT and MTA will continue to work with stakeholders over the next year to improve the plan.”

MTA spokesman Jon Weinstein said in a statement that the agency does not comment on pending litigation, but added that “the repairs to the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel are desperately needed to ensure the tunnel’s structural integrity so we can continue to provide safe and reliable subway service to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who depend on the L train every day.”

However, in a comment to NBC New York, Schwartz said the "local residents are looking for alternatives to having their streets clogged with cars and trucks, and subway stations which aren’t accessible to the disabled and the elderly."

The lawsuit asks for an Environmental Impact Statement to be completed, for the plan of actions to include making stations on the L line accessible to people with disabilities and to halt any funding of, or work, on the Canarsie Tunnel.