IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line

IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line
Train services that use the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line have been colored red since 1979.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	New York City Subway
Termini	Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street South Ferry (Manhattan branch) Borough Hall (Brooklyn branch)
Stations	44
Daily ridership	1,093,105 (south of 96th Street) 348,027 (north of 96th Street)[1]
Operation
Opened	1904-1919
Owner	City of New York
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Character	Underground (Brooklyn and most of Manhattan) Elevated (125th Street and North of Inwood)
Technical
Number of tracks	1–4
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	625V DC third rail

IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line
Legend
Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street 240th Street Yard 238th Street 231st Street Marble Hill – 225th Street Hudson Line (Metro-North) Broadway Bridge over Harlem River 215th Street 207th Street Yard 207th Street Dyckman Street 191st Street 181st Street 168th Street IND Eighth Avenue Line 157th Street 145th Street 137th Street Yard 137th Street – City College 125th Street 116th Street – Columbia University Cathedral Parkway – 110th Street 103rd Street IRT Lenox Avenue Line 96th Street 91st Street (closed) 86th Street 79th Street 72nd Street 66th Street – Lincoln Center IND Eighth Avenue Line 59th Street – Columbus Circle IND Sixth Avenue Line IND Queens Boulevard Line 50th Street BMT Broadway Line 42nd Street Shuttle IRT Flushing Line Times Square – 42nd Street 34th Street – Penn Station Pennsylvania Station on Northeast Corridor Line 28th Street 23rd Street 18th Street 14th Street BMT Canarsie Line IND Sixth Avenue Line IND Eighth Avenue Line Christopher Street – Sheridan Square Houston Street Canal Street Franklin Street Chambers Street Chambers Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line) Park Place World Trade Center (IND Eighth Avenue Line) BMT Broadway Line IRT Lexington Avenue Line BMT Nassau Street Line Cortlandt Street (closed) IND Eighth Avenue Line Fulton Street Wall Street Rector Street South Ferry (closed) Staten Island Ferry South Ferry loops South Ferry (IRT Lexington Avenue Line) Joralemon Street Tunnel | Clark Street Tunnel under East River Clark Street Borough Hall IRT Eastern Parkway Line

The IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line (also known as the Seventh Avenue Line or the West Side Line) is a New York City Subway line. It is one of several lines that serves the A Division (IRT), stretching from South Ferry in Lower Manhattan north to Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street in Riverdale, Bronx.^[2][3] The Brooklyn Branch,^[4] from the main line at Chambers Street southeast through the Clark Street Tunnel to Borough Hall in Downtown Brooklyn, is also part of the Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line.^[5]

Description

The south end of the Brooklyn Branch is unclear. In a 1981 list of "most deteriorated subway stations", the MTA listed Borough Hall and Clark Street stations as part of the IRT New Lots Line.^[6] However, as of 2007, emergency exit signs label Borough Hall as an IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line station, and the two parts of Borough Hall are signed as being along the Broadway – Seventh Avenue and IRT Eastern Parkway Lines. The chaining designations "K" (Clark Street Tunnel) and "M" (Joralemon Street Tunnel) join and become "E" (Eastern Parkway Line) at Borough Hall.

The line is also known as the IRT West Side Line, since it runs along the west side of Manhattan; the part north of 42nd Street was built as part of the first subway in New York. The line serves places such as Lincoln Center, Columbia University, and the City College of New York.

Train services that use the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line are colored tomato red on subway signage and literature. The line is served by the 1 2 3 trains, which operate together over much of the line. In the past, the 1 train operated as a skip-stop service in tandem with the 9, which was discontinued after May 27, 2005; from 1994 onward, this skip-stop separation existed only in Upper Manhattan during rush hours.

An unused third track along much of the line north of 96th Street has been used in the past for peak direction express service, at least between 96th Street and 137th Street.^[7] Currently, this center track is used only during construction reroutes. There is another unused third track beginning after Dyckman Street and ending before Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street.

Clark Street Tunnel

Emergency exit, Furman Street, Brooklyn

1915 Seventh Avenue subway collapse with car fallen in tunnel

The Clark Street Tunnel carries the 2 3 trains under the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was opened for revenue service on Tuesday, April 15, 1919, relieving crowding on the Joralemon Street Tunnel and providing passengers with a direct route to travel between Brooklyn and the west side of Manhattan.^[8] It is about 5,900 feet long, with about 3,100 feet underwater.

Construction of the tunnel began on October 12, 1914, using a tunneling shield in conjunction with compressed air. The tunnel was designed by civil engineer Clifford Milburn Holland, who would later serve as the first chief engineer of the Holland Tunnel.^[9][10] The north tube was holed through on November 28, 1916.^[11]

On December 28, 1990, an electrical fire in the Clark Street Tunnel trapped passengers on a subway train for over half an hour, killed two people, and injured 149 passengers.^[12]

History

When the first subway opened between 1904 and 1908, one of the main service patterns was the West Side Branch, running from Lower Manhattan to Van Cortlandt Park via what is now the Lexington Avenue, 42nd Street, and Broadway – Seventh Avenue Lines. There was both local and express service with express trains using the express tracks south of 96th Street. Some express trains ran to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn via the Joralemon Street Tunnel during rush hours while all other trains turned around at City Hall or South Ferry.^[13][14][15]

On September 22, 1915, there was an explosion during construction of the 23rd Street subway station that caused the tunnel to collapse.^[16]

On June 3, 1917, the first portion of the Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line south of Times Square – 42nd Street, a shuttle to 34th Street – Penn Station, opened; a separate shuttle service, running between 42nd and 34th Streets, was created.^[17] This shuttle was extended south to South Ferry, with a shorter shuttle on the Brooklyn branch between Chambers Street and Wall Street, on July 1, 1918.^[18] Finally, the new "H" system was implemented on August 1, 1918, joining the two halves of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and sending all West Side trains south from Times Square.^[19]

The local tracks ran to South Ferry, while the express tracks used the Brooklyn Branch to Wall Street, extended into Brooklyn to Atlantic Avenue via the Clark Street Tunnel on April 15, 1919.^[20] Extensions of the Eastern Parkway Line and the connecting Nostrand Avenue Line and New Lots Line opened in the next few years, with the end result being that West Side trains ran to Flatbush Avenue or New Lots Avenue.

On February 6, 1959, the 1 train became the West Side local. Previously, 1 trains ran express along the West Side and into Brooklyn, and the 3 was the local service to South Ferry. Since then, 1 train service has remained consistent.

On August 21, 1989, the 1/9 weekday skip-stop service was formed.^[21] Skip-stop service operated north of 137th Street – City College.

In 1994, midday skip-stop service was discontinued.^[22] By this time, 1 trains only skipped Marble Hill – 225th, 207th and 145th Streets and 9 trains only skipped 238th, 215th, Dyckman and 157th Streets.

After September 11, 2001, 1 trains had to be rerouted since the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line ran directly under the World Trade Center site and was heavily damaged in the collapse of the Twin Towers. It ran only between 242nd Street and 14th Street, running local north of and express south of 96th Street; the 9 train and skip-stop service were suspended at this time. On September 19, after a few switching delays at 96th Street, service was changed. 1 trains made all local stops from 242nd Street to New Lots Avenue via the Clark Street Tunnel and IRT Eastern Parkway Line, to replace 3 trains, which terminated at 14th Street, at all times except late nights, when it terminated at Chambers Street in Manhattan instead. On September 15, 2002, 1 trains returned to South Ferry and the 9 train and skip-stop service was restored.^[23]

On May 27, 2005, the 9 train and skip-stop service was discontinued.^[22]

On March 16, 2009, the 1 local via the South Ferry loop was discontinued and a new South Ferry terminal station opened.^[24] This was the first new station to open since 1989 when the IND 63rd Street Line stations opened. Both loops at South Ferry remain in service to short-turn trains (such as the 5 train when it doesn't run to Brooklyn), but the platforms are now closed to passengers. The loop station reopened in April 2013 after the station that was built in 2009 was damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Extent and service

The following services use part or all of the Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line, whose services' bullets are colored tomato red:

	Time period		Section of line
	All except late nights	Late nights
	local		full line to South Ferry
	express	local	south of 96th Street to Borough Hall
	express		south of 96th Street to Borough Hall (all except late nights) between 96th Street and Times Square (late nights)

Station listing

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops late nights only
	Stops weekdays only
	Stops rush hours only
	Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Time period details

Neighborhood (approximate)		Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
Riverdale		Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street		1	August 1, 1908[25]
Center Express track begins (no regular service)
Connecting Tracks to 240th Street Yard
Kingsbridge and Riverdale		238th Street	local	1	August 1, 1908
		231st Street	local	1	January 27, 1907
Marble Hill		Marble Hill – 225th Street	local	1	January 14, 1907[26]	Connection to Metro-North Railroad (Hudson Line at Marble Hill)
Broadway Bridge
Inwood		221st Street	local		March 13, 1906	Closed January 14, 1907
		215th Street	local	1	March 12, 1906[27]
	Connecting Track to 207th Street Yard
		207th Street	local	1	March 16, 1906	Bx12 Select Bus Service
	Center Express track ends
		Dyckman Street		1	March 12, 1906[27]	Station is ADA-accessible in the southbound direction only.
[[Washington Heights, Manhattan|Washington Heights	]]	191st Street		1	January 14, 1911[28]
		181st Street		1	March 16, 1906
		168th Street		1	April 14, 1906[29]	IND Eighth Avenue Line (A  C )
		157th Street		1	November 12, 1904[30]
Center Express track begins (No Regular Service)
Harlem		145th Street	local	1	October 27, 1904[31]
	137th Street Yard tracks surround Main Line
		137th Street – City College	local	1	October 27, 1904[31]
		125th Street	local	1	October 27, 1904[31]
Morningside Heights		116th Street – Columbia University	local	1	October 27, 1904[31]	M60 Select Bus Service to LaGuardia Airport
		Cathedral Parkway – 110th Street	local	1	October 27, 1904[31]
Upper West Side		103rd Street	local	1	October 27, 1904[31]
	Center Express track ends
	IRT Lenox Avenue Line joins as the express tracks (2  3 )
		96th Street	all	1  2  3	October 27, 1904[31]
		91st Street	local		October 27, 1904[31]	Closed February 2, 1959
		86th Street	local	1  2	October 27, 1904[31]	M86 Select Bus Service
		79th Street	local	1  2	October 27, 1904[31]
		72nd Street	all	1  2  3	October 27, 1904[31]
		66th Street – Lincoln Center	local	1  2	October 27, 1904[31]
Midtown		59th Street – Columbus Circle	local	1  2	October 27, 1904[31]	IND Eighth Avenue Line (A  B  C  D )
		50th Street	local	1  2	October 27, 1904[31]
	merge on northbound local track to IRT 42nd Street Shuttle (no regular service)
		Times Square – 42nd Street	all	1  2  3	June 3, 1917[32]	IRT Flushing Line (7  <7>) IND Eighth Avenue Line (A  C  E ) at 42nd Street – Port Authority Bus Terminal BMT Broadway Line (N  Q  R ) 42nd Street Shuttle (S ) Port Authority Bus Terminal
		34th Street – Penn Station	all	1  2  3	June 3, 1917[32]	Connection to Amtrak, LIRR, and N.J. Transit at Pennsylvania Station M34 / M34A Select Bus Service
Chelsea		28th Street	local	1  2	July 1, 1918
		23rd Street	local	1  2	July 1, 1918
		18th Street	local	1  2	July 1, 1918
		14th Street	all	1  2  3	July 1, 1918	IND Sixth Avenue Line (F  M ) at 14th Street BMT Canarsie Line (L ) at Sixth Avenue Connection to PATH at 14th Street
Greenwich Village		Christopher Street – Sheridan Square	local	1  2	July 1, 1918	Connection to PATH at Christopher Street
		Houston Street	local	1  2	July 1, 1918
TriBeCa		Canal Street	local	1  2	July 1, 1918
		Franklin Street	local	1  2	July 1, 1918
Financial District		Chambers Street	all	1  2  3	July 1, 1918[33]
	Express tracks split to Brooklyn Branch (2  3 ); Local tracks continue as Main line (1 )
		Cortlandt Street	local		July 1, 1918	Closed since September 11, 2001 Connection to PATH at World Trade Center
		Rector Street	local	1	July 1, 1918
	Split between Main line and Outer loop at South Ferry loops
		South Ferry (Loop Platform)	outer loop only	1	July 1, 1918[33]	Closed on March 16, 2009 with the opening of the new terminal Reopened on April 4, 2013 as temporary station and terminal for the 1 train
		South Ferry (New Platform)	local		March 16, 2009[24]	Closed November 2012 due to damage caused by Hurricane Sandy; pending reconstruction BMT Broadway Line (N  R ) M15 Select Bus Service Staten Island Ferry at South Ferry
Main line terminates (1 )
Brooklyn Branch (2  3 )
Financial District		Park Place	express	2  3	August 1, 1918	IND Eighth Avenue Line (A  C ) at Chambers Street IND Eighth Avenue Line (E ) at World Trade Center Connection to PATH at World Trade Center
		Fulton Street	express	2  3	August 1, 1918	IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4  5 ) IND Eighth Avenue Line (A  C ) BMT Nassau Street Line (J  Z ) Connection to BMT Broadway Line (N  R ) at Cortlandt Street via Dey Street Passageway
		Wall Street	express	2  3	August 1, 1918
Clark Street Tunnel
Brooklyn Heights		Clark Street	express	2  3	April 15, 1919
Downtown Brooklyn		Borough Hall	express	2  3	April 15, 1919	IRT Eastern Parkway Line (4  5 ) BMT Fourth Avenue Line (N  R ) at Court Street
becomes the local tracks of the IRT Eastern Parkway Line (2  3 )

References

1. MTA. "Average weekday subway ridership". Retrieved 21 August 2012.
2. MTA Capital Construction - South Ferry Terminal Project, Environmental Assessment and Section 4(f) Evaluation, Chapter 5-13: Archaeological and Historic Resources PDF (198 KiB)
3. Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Proposed Program of Projects, Federal Fiscal Year 2007 PDF (362 KiB)
4. MTA Capital Construction, Status Report On the Programmatic Agreement regarding the Fulton Street Transit Center Project In New York City, New York PDF (838 KiB)
5. MTA Capital Construction, Second Avenue Subway, Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Chapter 5B: Transportation—Subway and Commuter Rail PDF (317 KiB)
6. New York Times, Agency Lists Its 69 Most Deteriorated Subway Stations, June 11, 1981, section B, page 5
7. New York Times, New Subway Expresses, November 18, 1906, page 3
8. "New Subway Service Between Brooklyn and Manhattan Boroughs". The New York Times. April 13, 1919. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
9. "Work Begins on New Tubes Under River". The New York Times. October 11, 1914. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
10. Aronson, Michael (June 15, 1999). "The Digger Clifford Holland". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 2010-07-02.
11. "Under-River Tunnel Headings Meet". nycsubway.org. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
12. McFadden, Robert D. (December 29, 1990). "2 Subway Riders Die After Blast". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
13. Commerce and Industry Association of New York, Pocket Guide to New York, 1906, pp. 19–26
14. The New York Times, Bronx to Montauk; One Change of Cars, April 30, 1908, page 4
15. Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac, 1916
16. "Disaster at Rush Hour. Lays Work in New Tunnel from 23d to 25th St. in Tangled Ruin. Bursting Gas and Water Mains Impede Scores in Cavity Aiding the Wounded. Horrified Crowds Look On. Two Passengers Killed in Panic Among Struggling Victims in Wrecked Trolley. Gas or Free Dynamite May Be the Cause. Chief of Blasters Is Sought by the Police". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-19. Seven persons were killed and eighty-five injured shortly before 8 o'clock yesterday morning when a blast of dynamite in the excavation for the new Seventh Avenue subway carried away all the plank thoroughfare between Twenty-third and Twenty-fifth Streets, sweeping down into the great hole a crowded trolley car and a brewery automobile truck.
17. The New York Times, Three New Links of the Dual Subway System Opened, June 3, 1917, page 33
18. The New York Times, Open New Subway to Regular Traffic, July 2, 1918, page 11
19. The New York Times, Open New Subway Lines to Traffic, August 2, 1918, page 1
20. New York Times, Open Clark Street Line, April 16, 1919, page 18
21. "The New York City Transit Authority in the 1980s". nycsubway.org. External link in |work= (help)
22. Chan, Sewell (January 12, 2005). "MTA Proposes Dropping No. 9 Train". New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
23. Lueck, Thomas J. (September 15, 2002). "Old Service, Old Stops Restored on West Side". New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
24. MTA Opens New South Ferry Station Retrieved March 16, 2009
25. New York Times, Our First Subway Completed at Last, August 2, 1908, page 10
26. New York Times, Farthest North in Town by the Interborough, January 14, 1907, page 18
27. New York Times, Trains to Ship Canal, March 13, 1906, page 16
28. New York Times, untitled, January 22, 1911, page X11
29. New York Times, New Subway Station Open, April 15, 1906, page 1
30. 157th Street station
31. New York Times, Our Subway Open: 150,000 Try It, October 28, 1904
32. New York Times, Three New Links of the Dual Subway System Opened, June 3, 1917, page 33
33. New York Times, Open New Subway to Regular Traffic, July 2, 1918, page 11

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

• nycsubway.org — IRT West Side Line