A modernized elevator is now running at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, giving riders a freshly rebuilt lift connecting the N platform to the D line overpass. The agency says the station serves almost 9,000 riders on a typical weekday, and the new elevator marks the 25th such replacement the MTA has finished in 2026.
The MTA announced the opening on Tuesday, according to mta.info, which described the project as a full replacement of the elevator cab and associated equipment within the cab, shaft, and pit, along with upgrades to the machine-room, electrical, and mechanical systems. News12 Brooklyn reported that the new elevator specifically serves the connection between the N platform and the D line overpass at the station. The agency credited Forte Gramercy JV as the elevator design-builder and Mid-America as the installer, and said the elevators opened on budget.
Part of a Record-Pace Year for MTA Elevators
This Coney Island-Stillwell project did not come together overnight. The agency's own accessibility report from late September showed one replacement elevator at the station already in service while the broader 37-elevator project, which spans 17 stations, sat at roughly 90% complete, with fire-alarm testing and pre-site acceptance testing still underway at the time, per the same report.
The 25 completed replacements this year put 2026 at the second-highest total in MTA history, trailing only the record the agency set in 2025. The pace reflects a broader accessibility push: the MTA says it is replacing and modernizing more than 50 elevators systemwide, arguing that doing so now means fewer repairs and fewer disruptions for riders later.
Accessibility Numbers Still Climbing
The agency says it is pouring nearly $7.1 billion into station accessibility through its 2025-2029 Capital Plan, with a goal of making at least 60 stations newly ADA-accessible. In its Tuesday announcement, the MTA put the current count at 164 fully accessible stations systemwide, including 49 made accessible since 2020. That figure differs from an earlier tally; a July report from amNewYork put the number at 160 accessible stations, with 34 more in progress at the time, and noted the MTA had completed elevator installations at nine stations by that point in the year.
Coney Island-Stillwell isn't the only Brooklyn station that has seen elevator work this year. In July, the MTA cut the ribbon on three new elevators at the Borough Hall station serving the 4 and 5 trains, according to the same amNewYork report, part of the same systemwide effort now adding its 25th finished project at the Coney Island terminal.
