the MTA Board temporarily deferred the vote for these packages after city representatives refused to vote to award the contracts. The contract was put back for a vote in February, where it was ultimately approved. These improvements were substantially completed by May 2019. Station layout There are four tracks, two side platforms, and one island platform. Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line and 34th Street–Penn Station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line are the only other stations in the system with this configuration. There is no free transfer between this station and the station of the same name on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, despite the fact that both connect to Penn Station. The nearest transfer location is at 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal with a free transfer to Times Square–42nd Street. South of the station, an additional track begins at a bumper block between the two express tracks with a connection to both at both ends (about 25th Street on the south end and 33rd Street on the north end). This allows for various extra movements of trains including storage or removal of a train with mechanical problems to be sent back in the other direction. It could also be used if 34th Street functioned as a terminal station. The walls of the station contain red-tile bands bordered in black; since 34th Street is an express station, it has a wider tile band than local stations. The tile colors are intended to help riders identify their station more easily, part of a color-coded tile system for the entire Independent Subway System. The stations on the Eighth Avenue Line were built with long platforms, but there were provisions to lengthen them to to accommodate eleven-car trains. Below the red band are small tile captions reading "34" in stretched Arial font, though these are not original to the station. Originally the station had no trim line and the tile captions were in the standard IND caption font. The original mosaic name tablets however are still visible, being surrounded by new black tiles; The mosaics read "34TH STREET PENN. STATION" broken onto two lines on a claret background and same claret border. Red I-beam columns run along all the platforms at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate with white lettering. Like other subway stations, 34th Street–Penn Station includes black-and-white "sighting boards" for conductors to