The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced transit crews completed extensive functional and aesthetic upgrades at Howard Beach-JFK Airport A Station in the Queens. This work is part of New York City Transit (NYCT)’s Re-NEW-vation Program, which utilizes planned service outages to perform station-wide repairs, enhancements and deep cleaning providing customers with brighter and better station environments.
NYCT workers scraped, primed and repainted the entire station. Other station enhancements included installing new LED lighting to brightening darkened areas, replacing the iconic stairway subway globes located at station entrances, removing outdated signage, completing repairs to boards that protect the platform from damage caused by trains brushing against it, ensuring drains are clear, and removing unnecessary water drip pans. In addition to customer facing areas, employee facilities including breakrooms and bathrooms were deep cleaned, renewed, and repaired.
“Howard Beach customers are experiencing a brighter, cleaner station in line with our North Star mission of delivering faster, cleaner, safer service,” said New York City Transit President Richard Davey. “Thanks to the hard work of our re-NEW-vation team, we surpassed our goal for 2023 and I look forward to continuing the momentum in 2024.”
“The MTA has heard our concerns about the Howard Beach subway station and taken some tremendous steps forward," said Assembly Member Stacey Pheffer Amato. "I’m thrilled to see that residents and visitors now have freshly cleaned and refinished benches, along with new lighting fixtures, while installing brighter lights to improve safety. The Re-New-Vation work took the concerns my office raised seriously and made an incredible difference and I thank the MTA for their partnership."
“The Howard Beach train station received a much-needed facelift under the Re-NEW-Vation Initiative,” said Council Member Joann Ariola. “That station serves as a vital lifeline for both everyday commuters and for visitors to our city seeking to connect to the airport. The new repairs, fresh paint, and other improvements will allow New York City to show its best face to the world and will help to improve the quality of life for all those who use it every day as well.”
“Howard Beach residents deserve a subway station that is not only safe, but clean and welcoming as they make their way across our city. They finally have exactly that with the completion of the MTA’s much-needed re-NEW-vation of the stop,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. “I look forward to seeing even more Queens stations get a much-needed facelift through this critical deep cleaning program.”
In October, NYCT announced it had delivered on its promised goal to complete re-NEW-vations at 50 subway stations by the end of the year.