Metro Rail trains will operate on one track for three weeks while completing last phase of DL&W project

Metro Rail trains will operate on a single track in a portion of downtown Buffalo for the next three weeks, while the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority completes the last phase of the DL&W Terminal project at Canalside.

Workers will build and connect a new electrical system for the overhead catenary cables over the next three weeks, which will make it hard for trains to move.

The expected completion date is November 11, if not sooner.

“This will be the last major interruption to Metro Rail service” because of this project, aside from short-term repair issues, Buffalo Place planner Debra Chernoff said. “It’ll be over soon.”

In the meanwhile, she noted, construction continues on the NFTA’s new Canalside Metro Rail station, with completion due in March 2023.

“There was a lot of utility work associated with the huge water main under the station that took extra time,” she told Buffalo Place board members Wednesday.

The construction is a component of the broader Cars Sharing Main Street project, which has restored automobile traffic alongside trains along a significant portion of Main Street south of Tupper Street. Only the part between Mohawk and Exchange streets needs to be finished, which will happen soon.