M.T.A. Plans to Shutdown Subway Tunnels for Repair

Two subway tunnels, serving the G and R trains, will be shutdown for an extended period of time, beginning this summer, as officials repair extensive damage that was left behind by Superstorm Sandy last fall, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Wednesday.

The Montague Tube, which carries the R train between Brooklyn and Manhattan, will be closed starting the first week of August. Officials expect the pair of tunnels will be closed for up to 14 months.

The Greenpoint Tube, which carries the G train between Brooklyn and Queens, will be closed for 12 weekends beginning July 6. Officials hope that by working on the weekends, more commuters may be able to ride the train without service interruption.

For those who have to reroute their morning commutes, customers will be able to use existing free transfers to other subway lines, the authority said.

"Closing these two subway tubes is a difficult but necessary step to restore them to the condition they were in before Sandy struck," Fernando Ferrer, the authority's acting chairman, said in a statement. "The temporary repairs that returned these tubes to operation after Sandy are not enough to provide reliable service. This is unfortunately the reality of recovery from Sandy: the damage is insidious and continuing, and repairing it will take billions of dollars over several years."