Cities 101: Listen to Clips of Announcements on New Second Avenue Subway

We received two sound clips from an anonymous source, rather mysteriously recently, in response to our recent photo expedition down in the construction of the Second Avenue Subway. All it said was that the attached sound files were the “loaded” train announcements for two stations stops along Phase I, the rerouting of the Q train from 63rd Street to 96th Street. Above, we’ve made a quick video mixing the sound clips and some our Second Avenue Subway photographs.

The voice seems same or similar to what we have today, but we almost wish the MTA would let Charlie Pellet, whose comforting voice reminds us to “Stand clear of the closing doors”, do all the station announcements. Pellet, a news anchor and reporter for Bloomberg Radio has been one of the voices since 1999.

In these recordings, the female voice says, “This is a 96th Street, Second Avenue-bound Q train via the Second Avenue Line. The next stop is 72nd Street” and “This is a 96th Street, Second Avenue-bound Q train via the Second Avenue line. The next and last stop is 96th Street.”

Another fun fact: the stations will have a new (and larger) stylized Helvetica font for the Lexington Avenue-63rd Street station.

We’ll have to wait until December 2016 to hear them in person. For now, check out our new photos inside the Second Avenue Subway Construction which is 82% complete.