The MTA is looking to add two trains per hour to the overcrowded L Line, saying the trains would carry up to 2,200 additional passengers each hour.
The line, which runs from Manhattan to the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, serves more than 300,000 commuters on an average weekday.
Additional improvements include new street-level entrances and elevators at the Bedford Avenue and 1st Avenue stops to ease platform congestion and make the stops fully compliant with federal disability regulations.
The long-demanded entrance at Avenue A in the East Village would double capacity up to the street from each platform, and would also eliminate a 500-foot walk from 1st Avenue to Avenue A for 31,000 weekday customers, officials said.
The MTA is seeking $300 million in federal funding for the improvements.
