New York City Subway

Subway expansion in New York

South Ferry station

The New York City Subway is a large rapid transit system in New York City, New York, United States. It is the most extensive public transportation system in the United States and one of the largest in the world with 468 stations and 656 miles (1056 km) of mainline track. When non-revenue trackage in shops and yards is included, the total is 842 miles (1355 km). The subway is operated by the New York City Transit Authority, described by its parent Metropolitan Transportation Authority as "MTA New York City Transit"

Though it is known as "the subway," implying underground operations, about forty percent of the system runs on above ground rights-of-way, including steel or (rarely) cast iron elevated structures, concrete viaducts, earthen embankments, open cuts and, occasionally, surface routes. All of these modes are completely grade-separated from highway crossings.

History

New York City Subway Station Entrance (Corner of Broad St. and Wall St.)

There have been six distinct eras in New York rapid transit history.

The Private Enterprise Era (1867 - 1900)

During the Private Enterprise Era, the groundwork was laid for what would become the New York City Subway System.

At the outset of this era, New York County (Manhattan Island and part of the Bronx), Kings County (including the Cities of Brooklyn and Williamsburg) and Queens County were separate political entities.

In New York, competing steam-powered elevated railroads were built over major avenues. The first elevated line was constructed in 1867-70 by Charles Harvey and his West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway company along Greenwich Street and 9th Avenue. Later more lines were built on 2nd, 3rd and 6th Avenue. None of these structures remain today, but these lines later shared subway trackage as part of the IRT system.

In Kings County, elevated railroads were also built by several companies, over Park, Lexington and Myrtle Avenues, 5th Avenue to Bay Ridge, Fulton Street and Broadway (all these streets different from similarly named streets in Manhattan). Most of these structures have been dismantled, but some remain in original form, but mostly rebuilt and upgraded.

Also in Kings County, a number of surface steam, primarily excursion, railroads were built, most of which were connected to the elevated system by the end of the Private Enterprise Era, and all still extant, but mostly completely rebuilt.

The First Subway Era (1900 - 1913)

In 1898, New York, Kings and Richmond Counties, and parts of Queens and Westchester Counties and their constituent cities, towns, villages and hamlets were consolidated into the City of Greater New York.

During this era the expanded City of New York resolved that it wanted the core of future rapid transit to be underground subways, but realized that no private company was willing to put up the enormous capital required to build beneath the streets.

The City decided to issue rapid transit bonds outside of its regular bonded debt limit and build the subways itself, and contracted with the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) to equip and operate the subways, sharing the profits with the City and guaranteeing a fixed five-cent fare.

In this era, the original subway was built from City Hall to the Bronx, opening in October 1904, (subway contract 1) and to Atlantic Avenue LIRR terminal in Brooklyn (contract 2).

More subways were planned by the City in what was called the Triborough System and some construction was started. The IRT hoped to capture all of these lucrative lines and began acquiring or neutralizing possible competitors.

In Brooklyn, the various elevated railroads and many of the surface steam railroads, as well as most of the trolley lines, were consolidated under the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT). Some improvements were made to these lines at company expense during this era.

Some of the lines the IRT was seeking would have competed with existing BRT lines and the BRT wanted the opportunity to compete in Manhattan. This led to the City's agreeing to contract for future subways with both the BRT and IRT.

The Dual Contracts Era (1913 - 1929)

Main article: Dual Contracts (New York Subway).

The expansion of rapid transit was greatly facilitated by the signing of the Dual Contracts in 1913 between the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and the City of New York (contract 3) on the one hand, and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company and the City of New York (contract 4) on the other. The majority of the present-day NYC subway was either built or improved under these contracts, including most of the current IRT ("A Division")system and most of the BMT ("B1 Division").

The Independent System Era (1929 - 1940)

Main articles: Independent Subway System

The City, bolstered by political claims that the private companies were reaping profits at taxpayer expense, determined that it would build, equip and operate a new system itself, with private investment and without sharing the profits with private entities. This led to the building of the Independent City-Owned Subway (ICOS), though it was also sometimes called the Independent Subway System (ISS), the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad, or simply The Eighth Avenue Subway after the location of its premier Manhattan mainline. After the City acquired the BMT and IRT in 1940, the Independent lines were dubbed "the IND" to follow the three-letter initialisms of the other systems.

As the first line neared completion, New York City offered it, pro forma, for private operation, knowing that no operator would meet its terms, so the city declared that it would operate it itself, formalizing a foregone conclusion. In keeping with the quasi-Socialist spirit of the city at the time, the first line opened without a formal ceremony. The trains began operating their regular schedules ahead of time, and all stations of the Eighth Avenue Line, from 207th Street in Washington Heights to Hudson Terminal (now World Trade Center station), opened simultaneously at one minute after midnight on September 10, 1932.

Magnificently engineered, almost entirely underground, with ~670 foot (~204 m.) platforms and flying junctions throughout, the IND system tripled the City's rapid transit debt, ironically contributing to the demise of plans for an ambitious "second system" proposed before the first line of the "first" system was even opened.

Unification and the Era of Contraction (1940 - 1980)

In June, 1940, the transportation assets of the former BMT and IRT systems were taken over by the City of New York and operated by the City's Board of Transportation, which already operated the IND system.

A combination of factors had this takeover coincide with the end of the major rapid transit building eras in New York City. The City immediately began to eliminate what it considered redundancy in the system, closing the IRT 9th Avenue and most of the 2nd Avenue elevated lines in Manhattan, and the BMT 5th Avenue, 3rd Avenue and most of the Fulton Street elevated lines in Brooklyn.

Even during World War II which gave a reprieve to the closure of most rail transit in the US, some closures continued, including the remainder of the IRT 2nd Avenue el in Manhattan (1942), and the surviving BMT elevated services over the Brooklyn Bridge (1944).

The originally planned IND system was built to the completion of its original plans after World War II ended, but the system then entered an era of deferred maintenance in which infrastructure was allowed to deteriorate, and closures continued. These closures included the entire IRT 3rd Avenue el in Manhattan (1954) and the Bronx (1974); in Brooklyn the BMT Lexington Avenue el (1950), remainder of the Fulton Street el (1956), the downtown Brooklyn part of the Myrtle Avenue el (1969) and the Culver Shuttle (1975).

Only two new lines were opened in this era, the IRT Dyre Avenue Line (1941) and the IND Rockaway Line (1956). Both of these lines were rehabilitations of existing railroad rights-of-way rather than new construction. The former line was the City portion of the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway and the latter a line obtained from the Long Island Rail Road. While the Rockaway Line is a long and substantial line, it consists mostly of a long right-of-way crossing Jamaica Bay with a single station on Broad Channel island and two branches on a peninsula that is only several City blocks wide.

In 1951 a half-billion dollar bond issue was passed to build the Second Avenue Subway, but money from this issue was used for other priorities and the building of short connector lines, including the 60th Street Tunnel Connection (1955), linking the BMT Broadway Line to the IND Queens Boulevard Line, the Chrystie Street Connection (1967), linking the BMT southern and eastern Brooklyn Lines to the IND Sixth Avenue Subway, and completion of a connection between the IND Brooklyn Line and the BMT Culver Line at Ditmas and McDonald Avenues in Brooklyn (1954), allowing IND subway service to operate to Coney Island for the first time.

The Era of Reconstruction and Incremental Advance (1980 - Present)

On January 23, 2005, an unidentified homeless person set fire to a control room at the Chambers Street station. The room was nearly destroyed, and the A and C lines were seriously crippled. It may take millions of dollars and several years to fully restore the system. For more details, see Eighth Avenue Line.

The Three Systems and the One

The current lines and services, color-coded by which system originally operated them, including current service letters or numbers and line names

The subway as it exists today is a consolidation of three separate and competing systems.

Interborough Rapid Transit Company

The Interborough Rapid Transit or IRT was the first of these systems to operate subway service, following more than twenty years of public debate on the merits of subways versus the existing elevated rail system and on various proposed routes. It opened on October 27, 1904. The first IRT line to open ran between City Hall and Broadway at 145th Street.

It acquired the pre-existing Manhattan Elevated by lease, gaining a monopoly on rapid transit in Manhattan. The Manhattan el was the operator of four elevated railways in Manhattan with an extension into The Bronx. The IRT coordinated some services between what became its subway and elevated divisions, but all the lines of the former Manhattan el have since been dismantled.

The IRT today operates as a subway in Manhattan, except for a short stretch across Harlem at 125th Street and in northernmost Manhattan. Its many lines in the Bronx are predominantly elevated, with some subway, and some railroad-style right-of-way inherited from the defunct New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, which now comprises the Dyre Avenue Line. Its two Brooklyn lines are in subway with a single elevated extension that reaches into Queens, and the Flushing Line, its sole major Queens line is entirely elevated except for a short portion approaching its East River tunnel and its terminal in Flushing. The Flushing Line has had no physical connection to the rest of the IRT since 1942. It is connected to the BMT at Queensborough Plaza and major servicing in done at the BMT's Coney Island Yard.

The IRT was taken over by the City of New York in June 1940.

Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation

The Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation or BMT was a holding company that operated both elevated trains (els) and subways through its subsidiary New York Rapid Transit Corporation, mostly within Brooklyn or connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan and Queens. It succeeded the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) but was renamed when the latter company was released from bankruptcy in 1923.

The predecessor BRT opened its first short subway segment, consisting only of an underground terminal at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge at Delancey and Essex Streets in Manhattan on June 16, 1908. This line was extended three stations to Chambers Street beneath the Municipal Building at the foot of Brooklyn Bridge on August 4, 1913. The BRT opened its first Brooklyn subway under 4th Avenue on June 22, 1915, running over the Manhattan Bridge to reach the aforementioned Chambers Street station. The BRT opened the first segment of its Manhattan main line subway, the Broadway Line, as far as Union Square on September 4, 1917.

Some of the former elevated system of the BRT, dating to 1885, remains in use today, though most of the surviving structure was either built new or rehabilitated between 1915 and 1922. One piece of structure, the elevated portion of the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, built in 1896 and 1905, was extensively rebuilt in 1999.

The BRT also succeeded to the property of a number of surface railroads, the earliest of which, the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad or West End Line, opened for passenger service on October 9, 1863 between Fifth Avenue at 36th Street at the then border of Brooklyn City and Bath Beach in the Town of Gravesend, New York. A short piece of surface route of this railroad, near Coney Island Creek, is the oldest existing piece of rapid transit right-of-way in New York City, and in the U.S., having opened on June 8, 1864.

Current BMT lines in Manhattan are exclusively subway. Its Brooklyn lines include one long subway line, the Fourth Avenue Line, and one subway connector, hooking the pre-existing Brighton Beach Line to the main subway at a large flying junction at DeKalb and Flatbush Avenues. The remaining Brooklyn lines are on elevated structures, in open cuts or on embankments, or on short portions of surface trackage. Several Brooklyn lines extend into Queens, and these are elevated, except for the final station on the Myrtle Avenue Line, which is on the surface, and the last two stations of the Jamaica Line, which is in a new (1989) subway. The BMT's only line in Queens which comes directly from Manhattan, the Astoria Line, is all elevated.

Like the IRT, the BMT was taken over by the City of New York in 1940.

Independent City-Owned Subway System

The Independent Subway System or IND first opened on September 10, 1932, as a municipally-owned alternate to the two earlier private systems. The first IND line to open was the 8th Avenue line between 207th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, and Hudson Terminal (later renamed World Trade Center station) downtown.

The entire original IND system, as built, was entirely underground in the four boroughs that it served, with the exception of a section of track containing two stations spanning the Gowanus Canal in the Red Hook/South Brooklyn section of Brooklyn.

The IND was extended over two pieces of elevated line that were disconnected from the original BMT system: the Culver Line in 1954, and the Liberty Avenue extension of the Fulton Street Elevated in 1956. The IND had surface running to and across Jamaica Bay, along with elevated tracks on the viaduct on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, the same year. The Queens additions occurred when a sizable portion of the Long Island Rail Road was added to the division.

In 1929, plans were drawn for an ambitious "Second System" that would have added massively to the original lines. Provision was made at several key crossing points for some of these lines, but they never advanced further.

The Independent System was not called the IND until after Unification in 1940. Previously it was known as the Independent City-Owned Subway System (ICOS), Independent Subway System (ISS) or Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad. However, most people simply called it the Eighth Avenue Subway from the beginning of operation and for many years after Unification.

The Unified System and its Problems

The three systems were unified and then operated by the City of New York through its Board of Transportation in 1940, which was succeeded in 1953 by the New York City Transit Authority, a state agency incorporated for the benefit of the city, now known to the public as MTA New York City Transit. However, a distinction between the three systems survives in the line numbering: IRT lines (now referred to as "Division A") have numbers, BMT/IND (now collectively "Division B") uses letters. There's also a more physical but less obvious difference. Division A (IRT) cars are narrower than Division B (BMT and IND) ones by 18 inches (~45cm) and shorter by 9 to 24 feet (~2.7 to 7.3m).

The original IRT subway lines were built to elevated line dimensions. The clearances and curves on these lines are too narrow and too sharp for any IND or BMT equipment. The later extensions of the IRT, constituting the bulk of the system, were built to BMT dimensions, and so are of a profile that could use IND/BMT sized equipment. In other words, Division B equipment could operate on much of Division A if station platforms were trimmed and wayside (trackside) furniture moved. Being able to do so would increase the capacity of Division A. However, there is virtually no chance of this happening because the portions of Division A that could not accommodate Division B equipment without major physical reconstruction are situated in such a way that it would be impossible to put together coherent through services. The most that can be reasonably hoped for is that some branch lines of Division A might be resized and attached to Division B lines. This was done with the Astoria Line in Queens, and has been proposed for the Pelham Bay Line in the Bronx.

Because the Division A lines are of lower capacity for a given capital investment, all new extensions and lines built since World War II have been for Division B.

Division A cars can travel on Division B lines when necessary, but are not used for passenger service on those lines due to the dangerously wide gap between the car and the station platform.

Though widely used and an essential part of urban life for New York City, the unified system's turbulent history has left other challenges for the modern New York City subway. First of all, the subway system began at a time when Thomas Edison and his opponents in the electricity industry were trying to decide whether or to accept alternating current or, as Edison wanted, direct current as the standard way to deliver electricity. Edison lost the battle and alternating current became the standard, but not before the New York City subway system adopted direct current. As a result, to this day, the city has to convert alternating current to direct current when it buys electricity to power the trains. Secondly, because the early subway systems competed with each other, they tended to cover the same areas of the city, leading to much overlapping service. The amount of service has actually decreased since the 1940s as the rail concourses over New York City's avenues were torn down, and finding funding for underground replacements has proven difficult.

The subway system today

Christmas Eve on Sesame Street scene with Oscar (in garbage can) and Big Bird at the 86th Street station

The New York City Subway is designed for carrying large numbers of people during working days. A typical subway station has waiting platforms ranging from 400 to 700 feet (122 to 213 m) long to accommodate large numbers of people. Passengers enter a subway station through stairs towards station booths and vending machines to buy their fare, currently the MetroCard. After swiping at a turnstile, customers walk down to the waiting platforms below. Some subway lines in the outer boroughs have elevated tracks with stations that passengers climb up to. With some exceptions, subway tunnels between stations are rectangular in shape.

In many stations there is both express and local service. These lines generally have four tracks-the outer two for local trains, and inner two for express trains. Express lines have subway trains that pick up and unload passengers at specific stations, particularly transfer stations (special stations where passengers can walk from one line to another for free), while skipping less frequently used local stations.

A typical subway train has from 8 to 11 cars (shuttles as short as 2), when put together the train can range from 150 to 600 feet (46 to 183 m) long. As a general rule the IRT trains are shorter and narrower than the IND/BMT trains, the result being that each line uses different types of subway cars. Between 1985 and 1989 some trains on the IRT lines were painted red, giving them the name redbirds. Most of them were replaced by new, more modern subway trains between 2000 and 2004.

Subway stations are located throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Nearly all subway lines cross through these boroughs, and they also possess a majority of transfer stations. All lines pass through Manhattan, except one major line, the 'G' Brooklyn-Queens Crosstown Local, which directly connects Brooklyn and Queens without entering Manhattan.

In 1994 the subway system introduced a special fare-paying system called the MetroCard, which allows riders to use cards that store money paid to a token booth clerk or to a vending machine. The MetroCard was further enhanced in 1997 to allow passengers to make free transfers from subway to bus and vice versa within two hours. The world-famous token was phased out in 2003, the same year the MTA raised the basic fare to $2, amid angry protests from passenger and advocacy groups such as the Straphangers Campaign.

In 2002 an average of 4.5 million passengers used the subways every weekday.

Accessibility

The accessible stations and lines

Very few subway stations are handicapped accessible; most that are lie on recently constructed lines or are terminal stations. In an interesting twist, the G is accessible as a connector route (via same-platform transfers on both ends) except during rush hours and middays, when it ends at Long Island City-Court Square, where stairs are required to transfer.

Lines and routes

Many rapid transit systems run relatively static routings, so that a train line is more or less synonymous with a train route. In New York, routings change often as new connections are opened or service patterns change. Line describes the physical railroad line or series of lines that a train route uses on its way from one terminal to another.

Routes (also called services) are distinguished by a letter or a number.

Lines have names.

For example, the D Train, D Route or D Service, though colloquially called the D Line, runs over the following lines on its journey:

• In the Bronx, the Concourse Line;
• In Manhattan, the 8th Avenue Line, 6th Avenue Line, Houston Street Line and Chrystie Street Connection;
• In Brooklyn, the Fourth Avenue Line and West End Line.

Subway routes

There are 27 train routes in the NYCT system, including several shuttles. Each route has a color, representing the Manhattan trunk line of the particular service, but a different color is assigned to the G-Brooklyn Queens Crosstown Route, since it does not operate in Manhattan. The following colors are used:

• blue - Eighth Avenue Line
• red - Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line
• orange - Sixth Avenue Line
• yellow - Broadway Line
• green - Lexington Avenue Line
• brown - Nassau Street Line
• light gray - Canarsie Line (along 14th Street)
• purple - Flushing Line (along 42nd Street)
• light green - Crosstown Line
• dark gray - shuttles

Trains are marked by the route letter in either black or white (for appropriate contrast) on a field in the color of its mainline. The field is enclosed in a circle for most services, or a diamond for special services, such as rush-hour only expresses on a route that ordinarily runs local.

This article is about service patterns. For the physical trackage used by these services, see List of New York City Subway lines. For the difference between New York City Subway lines and services, see New York City Subway nomenclature.

Route bullets for the A, G, N, and 7 services
(clockwise from top left) on rolling stock

The New York City Subway system has 28 lettered or numbered route designations.

• The 1, C, G, L, M, R, and W trains are fully local, making all stops.
• The 2, 3, 4, 5, A, B, D, E, N, and Q trains have portions of express and local service.
• The J train normally operates local, but during rush hours it is joined by the Z train in the peak direction. Both run local, express or skip-stop on different parts of their route.
• The 6 and 7 are fully local, but during rush hours, express variants of the routes, designated by diamond-shaped route markers, are operated alongside the locals in the peak direction.
• The F has portions of express and local service, but during rush hours, an express variant of the route, designated by a diamond-shaped route marker, is operated alongside the local in Brooklyn in the peak direction.
• The letter S is used for three shuttle services: the 42nd Street Shuttle, Franklin Avenue Shuttle, and Rockaway Park Shuttle.

The subway normally operates 24 hours a day with five different service patterns: rush-hour, midday, evening, weekend and late-night. Each service has a table in its article to show what tracks are used and when. This article lists all the current services, along with their lines and terminals and a brief description; see Unused New York City Subway service labels for unused and defunct services.

In the New York City Subway nomenclature, numbered or lettered "services" use different segments of physical trackage, or "lines". The services that run on certain lines change periodically.

Time periods

The New York City Subway is one of the few subways worldwide operating 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The schedule is divided into different periods, with each containing different operation patterns and train intervals.

The MTA defines time periods as follows; these are used in articles (sometimes abbreviated by numbers in superscript or the symbol indicated):

• (1) rush hours – 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday–Friday
  • (1a) rush hours in the peak direction (toward Manhattan in the morning, away from Manhattan in the afternoon)
• (2) middays – 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday–Friday
  • (2a) middays in the peak direction
  • (2b) middays in the non-peak direction
• (3) evenings – 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., Monday–Friday
  • (3a) early evenings – 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
  • (3b) evenings in the peak direction
  • (3c) early evenings in the peak direction – 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
• (4) weekends – 6:30 a.m. to 12:00 a.m., Saturday and Sunday (weekends during the day)
• (5) late nights – 12:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., every day
  • (5a) weekday late nights
  • (5b) weekend late nights

Other symbols are derivatives and are defined based on the rules above:

• – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • 24 hours a day, except rush hours in the peak direction
  • 24 hours a day, except weekdays in the peak direction
• daily – criteria (1), (2), (3), and (4) above (all times except late nights)
  • daytime hours only, except rush hours in the peak direction
  • daily – criteria (1), (2), (3), (4), and (5b) above (all times except weekday late nights)
• weekdays – criteria (1), (2), and (3) above (weekdays during the day)
• weekdays and weekday nights – criteria (1), (2), (3), and (5a) above
• nights and weekends – criteria (4) and (5) above
  • weekends and weekend nights – criteria (4) and (5b) above
• limited service during rush hours – criterion (1) above, but only for selected trains
  • limited service during rush hours in the peak direction
• service during rush hours in the reverse peak direction – opposite of criteria (1) above
  • limited service during rush hours in the reverse peak direction

Service listing

Lines with colors next to them are the primary trunk line of the corresponding service; they determine the color of the service bullets and diamonds, except shuttles, which are dark gray.

Current services

	Route	Line(s)	North terminal	South terminal	Service pattern(s)
A Division (IRT)
	Broadway–Seventh Avenue Local	IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line	Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street	South Ferry	Operates 24 hours a day. Makes all stops along the full route.
	Seventh Avenue Express	IRT White Plains Road Line IRT Lenox Avenue Line   IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line IRT Eastern Parkway Line IRT Nostrand Avenue Line	Wakefield–241st Street	Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College New Lots Avenue (some rush hour trips)	Operates 24 hours a day; Makes express stops in Manhattan (between 96th and Chambers Streets) and all stops in the Bronx and Brooklyn during daytime hours; Makes all stops along the full route during overnight hours.
	Seventh Avenue Express	IRT Lenox Avenue Line   IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line IRT Eastern Parkway Line IRT New Lots Line	Harlem–148th Street	New Lots Avenue 34th Street–Penn Station (late nights)	Operates 24 hours a day. Operates along the full route during daytime hours; makes express stops in Manhattan (between 96th and Chambers Streets) and all stops in Brooklyn. Short turns at 34th Street-Penn Station during overnight hours and does not operate to or from New Lots Avenue.
	Lexington Avenue Express	IRT Jerome Avenue Line   IRT Lexington Avenue Line IRT Eastern Parkway Line IRT New Lots Line	Woodlawn	Crown Heights–Utica Avenue New Lots Avenue (some rush hour trips and late nights)	Operates 24 hours a day; Makes express stops in Manhattan and Brooklyn and all stops in the Bronx during daytime hours (skips 138th Street during rush hours in the peak direction; Extended beyond Utica Avenue to and from New Lots Avenue and makes all stops during overnight hours (skips Hoyt Street in Brooklyn).
	Lexington Avenue Express	IRT Dyre Avenue Line IRT White Plains Road Line IRT Jerome Avenue Line   IRT Lexington Avenue Line IRT Eastern Parkway Line IRT Nostrand Avenue Line	Eastchester–Dyre Avenue Nereid Avenue (some rush hour trips)	Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College (weekdays until 8:45 PM) Bowling Green (weekday evenings and all day weekends) East 180th Street (late nights)	Operates 24 hours a day. Operates along the full route (between Dyre Avenue and Flatbush Avenue) during weekday rush hours, middays and early evenings; Makes express stops in Manhattan and Brooklyn (between Borough Hall and Franklin Avenue and all stops in the Bronx (makes express stops in the Bronx between East 180th Street and Third Avenue–149th Street during rush hours in the peak direction; Additional service operates to and from Nereid Avenue during rush hours in the peak direction instead of Dyre Avenue. Short turns at Bowling Green during weekday evenings and all day on weekends and does not operate to or from Flatbush Avenue; Operates as a shuttle between Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street during overnight hours.
	Lexington Avenue Local	IRT Pelham Line   IRT Lexington Avenue Line	Pelham Bay Park Parkchester (weekday rush hours, middays and evenings)	Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall	Operates 24 hours a day. Makes all stops along the full route; When the <6> is operating, 6 Local trains short turn at Parkchester in the Bronx during weekday rush hours, middays and evenings; peak direction service does not operate to or from Pelham Bay Park.
	Pelham Bay Park Express	IRT Pelham Line   IRT Lexington Avenue Line	Pelham Bay Park	Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall	Operates weekday rush hours and middays in the peak direction only. Operates along the full route and makes express stops in the Bronx (between Parkchester and Third Avenue–138th Street and all stops in the Bronx.
	Flushing Local	IRT Flushing Line	Flushing–Main Street	34th Street–Hudson Yards	Operates 24 hours a day. Makes all stops along the full route.
	Flushing Express	IRT Flushing Line	Flushing–Main Street	34th Street–Hudson Yards	Operates weekday rush hours and early evenings in the peak direction only. Makes express stops in Queens between Main Street and 74th Street–Broadway and all stops in Manhattan.
	42nd Street Shuttle	IRT 42nd Street Shuttle	Times Square	Grand Central	Operates during daytime hours only; no overnight service.
B Division (IND/BMT)
	Eighth Avenue Express	IND Eighth Avenue Line IND Fulton Street Line IND Rockaway Line	Inwood–207th Street Euclid Avenue (late night Lefferts Boulevard Shuttle)	Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue or Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street (some peak direction rush hour trips)	Operates at all times, normally express between 168th Street and Euclid Avenue and local elsewhere. Trains alternate between Lefferts Boulevard and Far Rockaway with limited peak service to Rockaway Park. Operates fully local late nights only to Far Rockaway with shuttle service between Euclid Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard.
	Sixth Avenue Express	IND Concourse Line IND Eighth Avenue Line   IND Sixth Avenue Line BMT Brighton Line	Bedford Park Boulevard (rush hours and limited middays) 145th Street (limited middays and evenings)	Brighton Beach	Operates weekdays only, until 10:00 PM Operates express in Brooklyn and on the IND Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan; local on Central Park West/Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and in the Bronx. Short turns at 145th Street during limited middays and evenings.
	Eighth Avenue Local	IND Eighth Avenue Line IND Fulton Street Line	168th Street	Euclid Avenue	Operates at all times except late nights, fully local.
	Sixth Avenue Express	IND Concourse Line IND Eighth Avenue Line   IND Sixth Avenue Line BMT Fourth Avenue Line BMT West End Line	Norwood–205th Street	Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue	Operates at all times, express in Manhattan at all times, normally express on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line in Brooklyn and local elsewhere in Brooklyn. Operates fully local in Brooklyn late nights. Express on the IND Concourse Line rush hours in the peak direction and local other times.
	Eighth Avenue Local	IND Archer Avenue Line IND Queens Boulevard Line   IND Eighth Avenue Line	Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer Jamaica–179th Street (some rush hour trips)	World Trade Center	Operates at all times, normally express on the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Queens and local elsewhere. Operates local north of Forest Hills weekday evenings and weekends. Operates fully local late nights.
	Queens Boulevard Express/Sixth Avenue Local	IND Queens Boulevard Line IND 63rd Street Line   IND Sixth Avenue Line IND Culver Line	Jamaica–179th Street	Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue Kings Highway (some rush hour trips)	Operates at all times. Operates express in Queens between Forest Hills–71st Avenue and 21st Street–Queensbridge and local elsewhere. Some rush hour trains short turn at Kings Highway.
	Culver Express	IND Queens Boulevard Line IND 63rd Street Line   IND Sixth Avenue Line IND Culver Line	Jamaica–179th Street	Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue	Operates rush hours, peak direction only. Operates express in Queens between Forest Hills–71st Avenue and 21st Street–Queensbridge and in Brooklyn between Jay Street–MetroTech and Church Avenue, and local elsewhere.
	Brooklyn–Queens Crosstown	IND Crosstown Line IND Culver Line	Court Square	Church Avenue	Operates at all times, fully local.
	Nassau Street Local	BMT Archer Avenue Line BMT Jamaica Line   BMT Nassau Street Line	Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer	Broad Street	Operates at all times, normally fully local. Operates skip-stop with the Z train during rush hours in the peak direction. Runs express from Myrtle Avenue to Marcy Avenue rush hours and middays in the peak direction.
	14th Street–Canarsie Local	BMT Canarsie Line	Eighth Avenue	Canarsie–Rockaway Parkway	Operates at all times, fully local. Some Canarsie-bound trains short-turn at Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues during the AM rush hour.
	Queens Boulevard/Sixth Avenue Local	IND Queens Boulevard Line   IND Sixth Avenue Line BMT Nassau Street Line BMT Jamaica Line BMT Myrtle Avenue Line	Forest Hills–71st Avenue Essex Street (weekdays evenings and all day weekends) Myrtle Avenue (late nights)	Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue	Operates the full route weekdays, fully local. Short turns at Essex Street weekday evenings and all day weekends. Operates as a shuttle (Metropolitan Avenue to Myrtle Avenue) late nights.
	Broadway Express	BMT Astoria Line   BMT Broadway Line BMT Fourth Avenue Line BMT Sea Beach Line	Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard	Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue	Operates at all times. Normally operates via the Manhattan Bridge, express on the BMT Broadway Line south of Times Square weekdays, express on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line in Brooklyn, and local elsewhere. Local in Manhattan weekends Operates via the Montague Street Tunnel late nights, fully local.
	Second Avenue/Broadway Express/Brighton Local	IND Second Avenue Line BMT 63rd Street Line   BMT Broadway Line BMT Brighton Line	96th Street	Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue	Operates at all times, normally express in Manhattan and local in Brooklyn. Operates fully local late nights.
	Broadway Local	IND Queens Boulevard Line   BMT Broadway Line BMT Fourth Avenue Line	Forest Hills–71st Avenue Whitehall Street–South Ferry (late nights)	Bay Ridge–95th Street	Operates the full route at all times except late nights, fully local. Short turns at Whitehall Street late nights.
	Franklin Avenue Shuttle	BMT Franklin Avenue Line	Franklin Avenue	Prospect Park	Operates at all times.
	Rockaway Park Shuttle	IND Rockaway Line IND Rockaway Park Branch	Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue	Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street	Operates at all times.
	Broadway Local	BMT Astoria Line   BMT Broadway Line	Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard	Whitehall Street–South Ferry	Operates during weekdays only until 10:00 PM, fully local, making all stops.
	Nassau Street Express	BMT Archer Avenue Line BMT Jamaica Line   BMT Nassau Street Line	Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer	Broad Street	Skip-stop pair with J service during rush hours in the peak direction only.

Future services

	Route	Line(s)	North terminal	South terminal	Service pattern(s)
	Second Avenue Local	IND Second Avenue Line	Harlem–125th Street	Houston Street (Phase 3) Hanover Square (Phase 4)	Will operate at all times, fully local, making all stops

Service variants

• The 6 service has a midday (2a) and rush hour (1a) diamond Bronx express service labeled <6>, in addition to 6 local service.
• The 7 service has a rush hour (1a), and evening (3c) diamond Queens express service labeled <7>, in addition to 7 local service.
• Overnights (5), the A train between 104th Street and Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard is replaced by a shuttle which originates at Euclid Avenue. This service has been labeled on the late-night map as (gray A) and on trains as (blue S).
• The F service has a rush hour (1a), diamond Brooklyn express service labeled <F>, in addition to F local service.

Several services operate shorter routes during lower ridership hours, but these are neither signed differently nor counted as separate services. Although service changes caused by General Orders for construction occur on most days during midday and overnight hours, and throughout most weekends, these changes are not counted as separate services.

Variants to a different terminal

Because of some terminal station capacity constraints, numerous services operate to a secondary terminal as well as their usual terminus during peak hours.

• Limited rush hour 2 trains operate to and from a different southern terminal (New Lots Avenue).
• Limited rush hour 4 trains are extended to and from New Lots Avenue.
• Limited rush hour 5 trains operate to and from two different northern terminals (Nereid Avenue and Gun Hill Road) and two different southern terminals (New Lots Avenue and Utica Avenue).
• Limited rush hour E trains operate to and from a different northern terminal (Jamaica–179th Street).
• Limited rush hour N trains operate from a different northern terminal (96th Street).
• One rush hour R train operates to a different northern terminal (96th Street).
• Limited rush hour W trains are extended to and from 86th Street.

Event variants

The "2007 Holiday Shopper's Special", which ran on December Sundays, is a train of museum subway cars. This particular car is displaying the (former) S Special on its rollsign at the 23rd Street (Sixth Avenue) station.

The following lines run in special service or after sporting and other events:

• The 4 train has a downtown-only express from 161st Street–Yankee Stadium to Bowling Green after events at Yankee Stadium.
• The 7 train has a Manhattan-bound "Super Express" from Mets–Willets Point, operating express, and also bypassing Junction Boulevard, Hunters Point Avenue and Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue after New York Mets games weeknights and weekends at Citi Field, as well as after US Open tennis matches.
• The Holiday Nostalgia Train, which is made up of retired subway cars, runs on weekends during the Christmas holiday season. The pre-2022 version of the train, marked as S | Special, ran via IND trackage to Second Avenue, with northern terminals at either Queens Plaza or 145th Street and ran on Sunday mornings and mid-days from Thanksgiving until the Sunday before Christmas. For the 2022 holiday season, the train, signed as the 1 train, traveled via IRT trackage between 137th Street and Chambers Street. During Saturdays in December 2023, the IND version was back in the daytime, with 145th Street being the northern terminal.

Train frequency charts

Train intervals

The schedule offers trains every 3 to 5 minutes on the most used sections during rush hours. During other traffic periods, intervals range usually from 4 to 12 minutes or up to 20 minutes on outer sections. During late nights, only selected express services are operated and all late-night services usually run every 20 minutes.

Train times
Day of the week	Rush Hour a.m.	Midday	Rush Hour p.m.	Evening	Weekend	Late Night
Monday to Friday	6:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.	9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.	3:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.	8 p.m. – 12 a.m.	—	12 a.m. – 6:30 a.m.
Saturday, Sunday, Holidays	—	—	—	—	6:30 a.m. – 12 a.m.

Train headways in minutes
Period								(42nd St.)															(Fkln. Ave.)	(Rock. Park)
Rush hours	3-7	6-7	6-7	4-5	4-6	3-7	2-3	2-4	6	7-9	9-10	6-7	4-5	4-5	6-9	5-8	3-4	8-10	6-8	5-7	6-8	8-10	10	12-28
Middays	6	7-8	8-9	7-8	8-9	5-6	5	5	8	8	8	8	7-8	7-8	8	8	4-6	8	8	8	8	10	10	13-17
Evenings	10	8-12	12	10	10-12	10-12	5-8	5	7	10	12	10-12	6-10	8-10	8-12	12-15	7-12	12-15	10-12	8-12	12	10	12-15	15-20
Weekends	6-8	8-12	8-12	8-12	8-12	6-8	4-8	5	10	—	12	12	12	12	8	8-10	4-10	8-10	12	8-10	12	—	10-15	15-20
Late nights	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	—	20	—	—	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	—	20	20
The 3 train runs late nights Harlem–148th Street ↔ 34th Street-Penn Station only. Between Crown Heights–Utica Avenue and New Lots Avenue, 4 train operates during this time. The 5 train runs late nights Eastchester-Dyre Avenue ↔ East 180th Street only. During weekday rush hours, 5 train runs express between East 180th Street and Third Avenue–149th Street in the peak direction; this is the reason for the different intervals shown in the table. Every other 6 train runs express between Third Avenue–138th Street and Parkchester weekdays from 06:30 until 12:30 only in inbound direction and from 12:30 until 21:00 only in outbound direction. Local trains terminate at Parkchester while express trains continue as locals to Pelham Bay Park during weekday p.m. rush hours. Every other 7 train runs express weekdays from 06:30 until 10:00 only in inbound direction and from 14:30 until 22:00 only in outbound direction. The A train, except overnights, serves both the Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard and Howard Beach - JFK Airport termini approximately alternating; during rush hours, very limited service terminates at Euclid Avenue. Overnights, just the Howard Beach terminus serves the entire route, with Ozone Park-Lefferts Boulevard being served by an A shuttle operating from Euclid Avenue. Two F trains in the weekday a.m. rush hour, and two in the p.m. rush hour, operate peak-direction express in Brooklyn between Jay Street and Church Avenue. Every other J train is designated as a Z train during weekdays rush hours for one hour in the peak direction; both J & Z operate skip-stop between Sutphin Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue during these times. The M train operates as a shuttle between Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue and Myrtle Avenue from 23:00 until 06:30, and on weekends and evenings between Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue and Essex Street The R train operates between Whitehall Street and 95th Street during late nights.

Trains per hour

This is a list of average train frequencies during different times of the day, measured in trains per hour (tph). This chart shows frequencies based on the train intervals listed in timetables, with a margin of error of 2 tph.

Trains per hour
Period										(42nd St.)																	(Fkln. Ave.)	(Rock. Pk.)
Rush hours	8–18	9–10	9–10	14.5	14.5	8	8–12	10–15	10–15	20	12	8	6–7	10	15	14.5	2	6–8	6	6	18–20	7–8	7.5	7.5-10	7.5	6-7	6	3-4
Middays, evenings, and weekends	10	7.5	7.5	7.5	7.5	7.5	7.5	12	—	12	8	6-7.5	6-7.5	6-7.5	8	8	—	7.5	6-7.5	—	15	6-7.5	6	6	6	6	6	4
Late nights	3	3	3	3	3	3	—	3	—	—	6	—	—	3	3	3	—	3	3	—	3	3	3	3	3	—	3	3

History

See New York City Subway nomenclature for a complete explanation; this is just a table of when each service has existed (and been signed for the public). Shuttles were SS until 1985, when they became S (which had been used for specials). See here for the colors used for shuttles in 1967; in 1968 all six became green, and in 1979 all shuttles became dark gray.

See also

• List of New York City Subway lines
• New York City Subway nomenclature
• Unused New York City Subway service labels
• Staten Island Railway

References

The Second Avenue Subway was (and still is) planned, but only some initial construction has been built.

The original IND nomenclature (for letters A-H) depicted the Manhattan mainline name as the route name, and included the branch line name with the destination name. For example, the "A-Washington Heights - Fulton Street Express via 8th Avenue" had "A-8th Avenue Express" as the route name, "Washington Heights-207th Street" as the upper destination and "Fulton-Euclid Avenue" as the lower destination.

IND usage classified all routes that entered Manhattan by their mainline routing: A, C, E via 8th Avenue, B, D, F via 6th Avenue; then further grouped the letters by "uptown" destination: A & B to Washington Heights, C & D to Concourse, E & F to Queens. As a final touch, single letters (A train) denoted an express, double letters (AA) a local on the same route.

BMT prior to IND integration

Once integration with the BMT system began in earnest in 1967, the coherence of this lettering scheme was first corrupted, then pretty much thrown out the window, with trains running express on part of a route, local on another part. Terminals were swapped, and new letters introduced without any particular underlying logic. The double letter system was played around with: in addition to the original "neat" AA, BB, CC, etc., classifications, there were QB, QT, QJ, RJ, MJ, and NX, the latter an express; and then the system was abandoned entirely, all lines receiving a single letter or number.

The original BMT nomenclature didn't use route letters, though it sometimes used numbers. The "W-West End Express via Broadway Express" routing above was simply the "West End Express."

BMT route numbers, used on some equipment until 1967, were:

• 1—Brighton Beach Line (now B & Q)†
• 2—Fourth Avenue Line (now R)
• 3—West End Line (now D & M)†
• 4—Sea Beach Line (now N)
• 5—Culver Line (now F)
• 6—Fifth Avenue (Brooklyn)-Bay Ridge Line (abandoned 1940)
• 7—Brighton-Franklin Line (now S, as a shuttle only)
• 8—Astoria Line (now covered by N and W services)
• 9—Flushing Line (now IRT 7 Line)
• 10—Myrtle-Chambers Line (now M)
• 11—Myrtle Avenue Line (abandoned 1969)
• 12—Lexington Avenue (Brooklyn) Line (abandoned 1950)
• 13—Fulton Street Line (abandoned 1940 (part) and 1956)
• 14—Broadway Brooklyn Line (now covered by M, J and L services)
• 15—Jamaica Line (now J)
• 16—14th St.-Canarsie Line (now L)

†As of 2/23/2004

With the beginning of major route integration of the IND and BMT in 1967, an attempt was made to eliminate the traditional BMT route names, like Brighton Beach, Culver and Sea Beach, in favor of the more "efficient" route letter system. It was thought this would make the system easier to use for tourists and casual riders, but it created a different confusion as lines with identical destinations might take different routes to get there: In 1965 there were two "Broadway Express" trains and one "Broadway Local" which went to Coney Island, but by entirely different paths. This problem was exacerbated by shuffling of services between different branch lines: in 1954 "D" train service was introduced on the Culver Line in Brooklyn; in 1967 it was switched to the Brighton Beach Line, and in 2004 it was switched yet again, this time to the West End Line.

Rolling Stock

The New York City Subway has the world's largest fleet of subway cars. Over 6400 cars (as of 2002) are on the NYCT roster. Car models are known as "R-types". The "R" in the model designation stands for "Rolling Stock" or "Revenue". This model numbering system dates back to the first cars for the IND division, the R1, in 1932.

see Rolling Stock of the New York City Subway for a summary of the fleet and car models.

Car models/classes purchased by NYC

So called "R" types cover only equipment purchased for the IND from its inception and purchased for all divisions after city ownership. The first class purchased after city ownership were the R10s.

IND/BMT (Division B)	IRT (Division A)
R1	R12
R4	R14
R6	R15
R7	R17
R9	R21
R10	R22
R11	R26
R16	R28
R27	R29
R30	R33
R32	R33 World's Fair
R38	R36
R40	R36 World's Fair
R40M	R62
R42	R62A
R44	R110A (R142 prototype)
R46	R142
R68	R142A
R68A
R110B (R143 prototype)
R143
R160

See also

• List of New York subway stations
• New York City Subway line, route and station nomenclature
• Straphanger

External links

• MTA New York City Transit -Subways -official page
• www.nycsubway.org -a very thorough site
• NYPIRG's Straphangers Campaign -riders' advocacy
• Find the closest subway stop --courtesy the Straphanger's Campaign & nonprofitmaps.org
• rapidtransit.net -the history, technology and politics of rail transit
• New York City Subway Centennial -MTA site
• Brooklyn's Culver Shuttle
• Hopstop.com: online subway directions
• 2 Subway Lines Crippled by Fire; Long Repair Seen