Elected officials form bipartisan effort to combat subway noise

CONEY ISLAND - For decades, the noise emanating from the curved subway tracks near the West 8th Street F/O train station has been a proverbial thorn in the side of residents that live nearby - and once again members of the surrounding community are hoping something can be done about it.

On Friday, Democratic New York State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and Republican Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny held a press conference outside of the West 8th Street F/O train station to address concerns raised by constituents - particularly those in the Brightwater Towers, Trump Village and Warbasse Houses - regarding excessive subway noise and mitigation efforts.

Scarcella-Spanton, who represents the 23rd District, serving the north shore of Staten Island as well as parts of Southern Brooklyn that include Sea Gate, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach and Sheepshead Bay, said she hopes to call on the MTA "to right a wrong that these residents have had to live with for far too long."

"This train has been an issue for many, many years," she said. "And those living in the neighboring buildings have been plagued by noise pollution stemming from the curved overhead subway tracks."

Spanton pointed out that in early 2020, residents submitted a petition requesting that the MTA address the excessive noise levels coming from the curved, guarded sections of the track.

"And despite the MTA engineering and operations teams investigating the area and confirming the excessive noise that the residents were experiencing, there has been no relief for those in the community," she said.

"We asked the MTA - in the form of a joint letter - to continue exploring all avenues for noise mitigation efforts, particularly the exploration of decreasing the speeds of trains moving across these curved tracks to five miles per hour (from approximately 20)."

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