Although progress may or may not be being made underground, the MTA still purports that the Second Avenue Subway will open in late 2016, and an unlikely harbinger confirms that the line is not just a figment of the city's collective imagination: someone leaked to Untapped Cities sound clips of the train announcements for two stops along Phase One, which UC has put to video. The speaker isn't Charlie Pellet, whose announcements have been played throughout the subway since 1999, but is an unnamed woman.
As construction progresses (or doesn't progress) on the massive underground undertaking, the Village Voice took a trip to the MTA's Second Avenue Subway Community Information Center on Second Avenue between 84th and 85th streets only to discover that the agency has commissioned a video game where players assume the role of conductor and have to guide trains into the three new stations by way of joystick. Players earn points for not exceeding the 50 mile/hour speed limit, for guiding the train smoothly, and for getting in and out of stations efficiently. The game sounds like a pretty legitimate reason for a weekend sojourn, even though it cost the cash-strapped MTA $80,000 that might have been better spent on actually finishing the train line.
· Listen to Clips of Announcements on New Second Avenue Subway [Untapped Cities]
· The MTA Debits an $80,000 Video Game About the Second Avenue Subway [VV]
· All Second Avenue Subway coverage [Curbed]
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