R Train Riders Get Back Their Uninterrupted Commute

As of Monday at 5 a.m., the R train will once again travel along one continuous ride for commuters between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

After just over a year, workers have completed repairs on the Montague tunnel under the East River, which was heavily damaged by Sandy. Officials said the MTA completed the project one month ahead of schedule and $60 million under budget.

"It's laudatory that they got it done and they got it done as quickly as they did," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference on Sunday. "It also reminds us how challenging it's going to be to rebuild this system."

The Governor said the more than century-old subway system was not built to anticipate flooding, and that there is more work to do to prepare it for severe storms in the future.

The tunnel had been flooded with millions of gallons of water by Sandy in October, 2012. The cost of the reconstruction project was $250 million. Repairs to the tunnel included replacing everything from cables to the signal system. The pumping equipment was also upgraded to better deal with future water events like Sandy.