MTA debuts R211 trains in Rockaways
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has introduced standard R211A subway cars on the Rockaway Park Shuttle. It is the fifth subway line to receive the new fleet and fully replacing the R46 cars that have operated on the shuttle since the 1970s.
SThe rollout comes as weekend Rockaway Park Shuttle service has been extended for the summer to improve connections to the Rockaways.
huttle riders will appreciate the brighter lights, bigger doorways and new communication technology.
Part of the MTA's systemwide modernization effort, the R211 cars feature door openings that are 8 inches wider than those on existing subway cars to speed boarding and reduce station dwell times. The trains also include security cameras, additional accessible seating, digital information displays and upgraded lighting and signage.
“These new R211 subway cars will give customers on the Rockaway Park Shuttle the more modern, comfortable and reliable ride they deserve,”
MTA Chief of Rolling Stock Jessie Lazarus said in a news release. “Shuttle riders will appreciate the brighter lights, bigger doorways and new communication technology throughout the new cars, which we're rolling out across the B Division to replace the fleets we bought generations ago.”
The MTA has been expand -
ing the use of R211 cars throughout the transit system. In 2025, the trains replaced all R44 cars on the Staten Island Railway. The fleet is also replacing R46 subway cars operating on the A, C, N, Q, R and W lines and beginning to replace R68 cars, which entered service in the mid-1980s and primarily operate on the B, D, N and W lines.
According to the MTA, the R211 fleet averages roughly 294,221 miles between mechanical failures requiring maintenance, compared with 58,685 miles for the R46 fleet.
City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said the new trains would improve reliability while replacing aging equipment.
“Getting new cars rolling in the system for riders to enjoy is
essential to ensuring NYC Transit continues to provide fast, reliable and safe service," Crichlow said in the release.
“While just in time for beach season, I'm also thrilled to be replacing 1970s-era cars with R211s that will provide customers with smoother and more reliable rides all year round.”
The expansion of the R211 fleet follows the MTA's March announcement that it is seeking proposals for what would be the largest subway car contract in its history. The base order would include 1,140 subway cars to replace the R62 and R62A fleets operating on the 1, 3 and 6 lines, with an option for an additional 1,250 cars to replace R142 and R142A cars operating on the 2, 4 and 5 lines.
The MTA also reported higher customer satisfaction rat -
ings for cleanliness on lines using R211 trains. In the fall 2025 Customers Count survey, cleanliness satisfaction reached 63 percent on the A line, 62 percent on the B line, 64 percent on the C line and 78 percent on the G line, compared with a systemwide average of 59 percent. The B line's cleanliness rating increased by 7 percentage points, while the G line's rating rose by 14 points after the introduction of R211 trains.
Transit Executive Vice President of Subways Bill Amarosa
Jr. said the arrival of the trains complements the agency's enhanced summer service to the Rockaways.
“This summer's Rockaway service is now paired with a better ride with the arrival of R211 cars on the Rockaway Park Shuttle,” Amarosa said in the release. “These trains are brighter, more accessible and equipped with modern technology that helps us deliver better service.”
— Jeffrey Bessen
Marc A. Hermann/MTA
A R211A subway car in service on the Rockaway Park Shuttle after the new fleet was unveiled on June 17.
JeSSie LazaruS MTA chief of Rolling Stock
Annual Santa Marina Feast lights up Inwood
By MELISSA BERMAN mberman@liherald.com
For more than a century, generations of Italian American families in Inwood have gathered each summer to honor their patron saint, celebrate their heritage and reconnect with loved ones during the annual Santa Marina Feast.
This year’s celebration will take place July 10 and 11 at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Inwood, featuring two evenings of food, music, rides, raffles and community festivities.
At its heart, however, organizers said the feast remains a deeply religious tradition centered on faith, family and honoring Santa Marina, the patron saint of Filandari, Calabria, Italy — the hometown of many of the area’s earliest Italian immigrants.
The festivities will begin with a novena service on July 9 at 8 p.m. The feast opens on July 10 at 7 p.m. and continues July 11 with a 10 a.m. Mass and procession through the streets of Inwood, followed by an evening feast beginning at 7 p.m.
For Giovanni Curra, the Santa Marina Society’s treasurer and secretary, the weekend represents a continuation of a tradition passed down through generations.
“My father and my grandfather brought this tradition here from Italy,” Curra said. “We continue to raise money for the church and the community in general. The neighborhood has changed very much over the years, but we continue our Italian heritage and tradition and try to keep the church going and bring something special for families to enjoy.”
While the food, games and entertainment draw large crowds, Curra said the religious observance remains the centerpiece.
“My favorite part, truly, is the religious end of it — the Mass and the procession on Saturday,” he said. “The feast part is fun, but the main pur-
You’ll see a photo and say, ‘That was my first Santa Marina Feast,’ or ‘That’s the first year I brought my boyfriend.’ These are marked moments in people’s histories.”
Geluso said one of the most meaningful aspects of the feast is the role women play in preserving traditions and passing them to future generations.
Women begin meeting as early as January to organize raffles, merchandise sales, religious items and other details that help support the celebration. In years’ past, they also operated food booths and coordinated many of the feast’s dayto-day activities.
“Being part of this society is truly special,” she said. “When you’re in that church during the Mass, especially when the band comes in, it’s a feeling that is hard to describe. No matter what people are going through, it lifts them up.”
She now helps organize raffles and merchandise sales, including commemorative ornaments and rosary beads.
“We’re not all family by blood, but we truly feel like one big family,” Perna said. “We all come from the same roots, from the same town in Italy, and we work together all year to make this happen.”
pose is to celebrate Santa Marina. We still carry the statue of the saint through the streets of Inwood, and everyone walks together with a marching band. That’s my favorite part of the whole thing.”
The procession annually attracts hundreds of worshippers, many of whom return to Inwood from across Long Island and beyond.
Organizers estimate that nearly 1,000 people attend the Mass each year.
Behind the scenes, dozens of volunteers spend months preparing for the celebration. Among them is Michelle Geluso, the society’s corresponding secretary, who has dedicated nearly three decades to the organization.
Geluso first became involved as a teenager in the 1990s, directing a children’s choir that performed during the feast Mass.
“I always watched my mom, who was a singer and involved with the society,” Geluso said. “When I was old enough to start helping, that responsibility made you feel important. It gave
you a chance to contribute to something bigger than yourself.”
Over the years, her role evolved from choir director to communications coordinator, historian and social media administrator. For the society’s 100th anniversary, she compiled historical photographs and documents into a commemorative booklet.
“The photographs are a huge part of each year’s feast,” Geluso said. “People look back at loved ones who are no longer with us or remember milestones in their lives.
Tim Baker/Herald photos Pasquale Curra, back, left, Maria Vitale, Elizabeth Gonzalez, Marina Perna, front, left, and Domenica Vitale manned the raffle table at last year’s Santa Marina Feast in Inwood. Hundreds of
“We recently welcomed a new 16-year-old into our women’s society meetings, and that’s such a milestone,” Geluso added. “For the women, it’s about carrying on traditions and making sure the next generation stays connected.”
That next generation includes Marina Perna, 16, a fourth-generation Santa Marina Society member who officially joined the organization this year.
“My whole family is involved,” Perna said. “It started with my greatgrandfather, then my grandfather, my parents and now me.”
Perna, who will attend Kellenberg Memorial High School this fall, said joining the society is about much more than volunteering.
As preparations continue, organizers hope the feast will once again serve as a bridge between generations, preserving traditions while welcoming newcomers.
“We’re looking forward to having the Mass in English again,” Geluso said. “It helps younger generations stay connected to the faith and understand what’s happening. As long as they understand the Mass and its meaning, they’ll continue carrying these traditions forward.”
For many families, that continuity is exactly what makes the Santa Marina Feast so enduring.
“It’s about faith, family and remembering where we came from,” Curra said. “That’s why we keep doing it.”
LONG ISLAND’S 2026 STAYCATION GUIDE
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LONG ISLAND’S 2026 STAYCATION GUIDE
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Why should we have to pay for changes?
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CEDARHURST NO FEE Private Entrance, Modern 1BR, 2BR, 3BR, CAC, W/D, Storage, Wall To Wall Carpeting, Indoor Parking Space When Available. For Details Call 516-860-6889/ 516-852-5135/ 516-582-9978
Q. We want your opinion. Who should pay for changes to our drawings in order for us to get our permit? We got a list of problems from the building department, and most of them seem pretty simple, but our architect is telling us these are changes, and he wants to be paid for doing the changes. They most include words to change, but there are some other things. The plans are too big for the property by only a few feet, and the height is more, because we want 10-foot ceilings on each floor. Why should we have to pay for changes? The architect should have known about this.
A. The answer to your question is another question. Whose building is it? Who wants the high ceilings that prompted the extra height? You, the owner, are the driving factor in the direction your plans went, and because of that, and the outcome you want to ultimately reach — approval, legality and a building you started out wanting — there is the price of services by each person you hire.
Many people have a misperception of the process of planning a building. They also have this commonly held belief that the builder knows the laws, the structure, the unique, unwritten requirements of the municipality. Owners place faith in a system they imagine works a particular way, and find out the hard way that things are often not what they assumed they would be.
I have had many experiences in which I warned clients that doing or insisting on certain things was going to get rejected, just to hear them say, naively, “Let’s try anyway,” doubting the advice, only to be turned back. In most cases, they insisted that the architect bear at least part of the cost for the redoing. That’s when you realize the personality of the person you are working for, when they cannot take responsibility for ignoring good advice.
Over the years, there have been many people who insisted that they “knew somebody” who would allow something that wasn’t ordinarily allowed. Very rarely did that strategy work. This question sounds similar, where you don’t want to bear the responsibility, yet the end result should be that you must.
Remember, going forward with the idea that changes may have to be made causes an even bigger problem. The changes have to be as thoroughly and thoughtfully addressed as the first time. Making constant calls to see if the work to change the plans has been done is frustrating, because if any issue, any note, any inconsistency is left that should have been changed, the construction project can take an ugly turn.
I have often wanted to put a note on the plans, in tall, bold letters, that “change is bad.” Changes unravel the best-laid plans. Others reading this should understand that municipalities are consistent, and if the architect, builder, electrician or plumber advises you to think twice based on trying to break a regulation, listen. Good luck!
© 2026 Monte Leeper
Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte
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