New York, Shawwal 20, 1437, July 25, 2016, SPA -- A major New York City subway line will be closed for 18 months starting in January 2019 to repair damage caused nearly six years earlier by Hurricane Sandy, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said Monday, according to dpa. One subway tunnel on the L line, which runs between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was so badly damaged in the October 2012 storm that the best option was to shut down the entire track for a year and a half, the MTA said. "We think it is better to have a shorter duration of pain than a longer more unstable process - and risk unplanned closures - by leaving one track open during construction," New York City Transit President Veronique Hakim said to explain why the transit agency had opted for a total shutdown rather than a less disruptive but longer option. Currently, around 225,000 people use the L line every day to commute to and from Brooklyn and Manhattan. --SPA 00:35 LOCAL TIME 21:35 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w