Times Square shuttle will be NYC’s first subway line with cell service

NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – The shuttle between Times Square and Grand Central station will soon have cellphone service along the entire line, the MTA announced Wednesday. 

It’s the first subway line to get full cell connectivity, but it won’t be the last, according to MTA Chair Janno Lieber. The entire system will ultimately have cellphone service much like the tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan on the L line, Lieber said. 

Boldyn Networks will install infrastructure for phone use whenever MTA crews go in for other maintenance, MTA officials said. The G train, for example, now has equipment for cell connectivity that was installed during the signal modernization shut-down this summer. 

“Whether it’s checking email, answering a phone call, people want to be able to do work on the mass transit system. It’s one of the advantages of not driving,” Janno Lieber said. “And we also have to recognize that a lot of people want to play Candy Crush or continue their domestic arguments.”

Next, the MTA will bring cell service on the 4/5/6 line that will extend 5 miles north of Grand Central to 161st Street. Work on this line will start in mid-2025.

Work will also soon start on the tunnel that connects Borough Hall and Bowling Green, according to Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA construction and development.

“We’re on a very aggressive schedule working hand in hand with the MTA to make sure we can build our system in conjunction with their project to minimize disruption,” Boldyn CEO Christos Karmis. “It’s a huge project.”

All above-ground stations will also ultimately be equipped with cell connectivity on the platforms, Lieber said. And by the end of this year, Penn Station’s LIRR concourse will be fully online, according to Torres-Springer.