The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is changing how it does major track work and will be shutting down subway lines at night for days at a time.

The agency is planning to shut down lines for up to five consecutive weeknights from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

They will be suspended from Grand Central to Atlantic Avenue from January 9-13.

Seventh Avenue 1, 2, and 3 trains will not run between 34th Street-Penn Station and Atlantic Avenue from February 13-17.

Sixth Avenue B, D, F and M trains will be suspended between 59th and West 4th Streets from February 20-24.

Eighth Avenue A, C and E trains won't run from 59th Street to Jay Street in Brooklyn from March 12-16.

Straphangers who spoke with NY1 said there is never really a good time to halt service in the Big Apple.

"Sometimes I have to go to work on the weekends and then I don't know. It's just real hard to deal with all these changes on the trains," said one subway rider.

"When I get out of work late, I don't, I mean it's been shut down before and I've had to walk home, which really stinks or at least walk to the next line, which is like 10 blocks away," said another.

"I guess you have to think of a trade off whether on the weekend when there's lots of travelers or at night when there's lots of travelers," said a third.

A recent NY1 snap poll found 51 percent of respondents to the informal survey saying they like the new consecutive overnight plan; 15 percent said they would rather have a short, around-the-clock shutdown; and 34 percent say they like the standard weekend shut down rather than at night.

The MTA says the weekend work will be less expensive and less disruptive overall for riders. However, the watchdog group Straphangers Campaign says the agency should run multiple tests on several lines to make sure that's true.

The changes do not need board approval.

Meantime, the New York City Police Department is sending dozens of additional undercover officers into the subways to combat a rise in thefts of smartphones and other devices.

Grand larcenies are up nearly 24 percent this year to date compared to the same period last year, while arrests are down four percent.

The new MTA chief is also teaming up with the transit union to ask prosecutors to throw the book at people who assault transit workers.

In a letter to the city's five district attorneys, new MTA Chairman Joe Lhota and Transport Workers Union Local 100 President John Samuelsen are asking for tougher prosecutions for riders who assault bus drivers or subway conductors.

The two say tougher sentences are the only way to deter violence against transit workers.

Injuring a transit worker is a class D felony, punishable by up to seven years in prison.