IRT Lexington Avenue Line

IRT Lexington Avenue Line
Services that use the IRT Lexington Avenue Line have been colored green since 1979. The original IRT numbering system provided for 4, 5, and 6 on the line.
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	City of New York
Locale	Manhattan, New York City, NY
Termini	125th Street South Ferry
Stations	27 (23 in use)
Service
Type	Rapid transit line
System	New York City Subway
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
History
Opened	27 October 1904
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)

IRT Lexington Avenue Line
Jerome Avenue Line Pelham Line Lexington Tunnel (Harlem River) The Bronx Manhattan 125th Street 116th Street 110th Street 103rd Street 96th Street 86th Street 77th Street 68th Street–Hunter College 63rd Street Lines 59th Street Broadway Line Queens Boulevard Line 51st Street 42nd Street Shuttle Grand Central– 42nd Street (Flushing Line) 33rd Street 28th Street 23rd Street Broadway Line 18th Street (closed) Canarsie Line 14th Street–Union Square Astor Place Bleecker Street Sixth Avenue Line Spring Street Nassau Street Line Canal Street Broadway Line via Manhattan Bridge Broadway Line Worth Street (closed) Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall Nassau Street Line City Hall (closed) Fulton Street Brooklyn Branch Wall Street Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line Bowling Green Broadway Line South Ferry (closed) Joralemon Tunnel (East River) Manhattan Brooklyn Eastern Parkway Line
Legend
Express station Local station Closed station

The Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the East Side Line) is one of the lines of the IRT division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Downtown Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East Harlem. The portion in Lower and Midtown Manhattan was part of the city's first subway line. The line is served by the 4, ​5, ​6, and <6> trains.

The line is also known as the IRT East Side Line, as it is currently the only line in Manhattan to directly serve the Upper East Side and East Midtown; this four-track line is the most used rapid transit line in the United States. Its average of 1.3 million daily riders is "more than the combined ridership of San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston’s entire transit systems", and in part spurred the construction of the Second Avenue Subway starting in 2007.

Its ridership also exceeds that of the 798,456 daily trips on the entire Washington Metro and the 703,326 daily trips on the entire Chicago 'L' system. Construction has started on the IND Second Avenue Line to alleviate the severe overcrowding caused by the Lexington Avenue Line's high usage.

Several stations along this line have been abandoned. When platforms were lengthened to fit ten cars, it was deemed most beneficial to close these stations and open new entrances for adjacent stations. For example, 14th Street – Union Square has an entrance on 16th Street and 23rd Street has an entrance on 22nd Street, so the 18th Street station was abandoned because of the proximity to both 14th Street – Union Square and 23rd Street.

Extent and service

Services that use the Lexington Avenue Line are colored forest green. The following services use part or all of the Lexington Avenue Line:

	Time period			Section of line
	Rush hours and middays	Evenings and weekends	Late nights
Template:NYCS-bull-small	express		local	full line
Template:NYCS-bull-small			no service	full line (weekdays)
				north of Bowling Green (evenings & weekends)
Template:NYCS-bull-small	local			north of Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall
Template:NYCS-bull-small	local	no service

The Lexington Avenue Line begins in lower Manhattan at the inner loop of the abandoned South Ferry station. North of the station is a merge with the tracks of the Joralemon Street Tunnel from Brooklyn, which become the express tracks. These run north under Broadway and Park Row to Centre Street. At the south end of Centre Street, directly under New York City Hall, is the City Hall Loop and its abandoned station, which was the southern terminus of the original IRT subway line. The loop is still used to turn 6 and <6> service; the Lexington Avenue local tracks, which feed the loop, rise up to join the express tracks just south of Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall station.

From Brooklyn Bridge, the line continues northward in a four-across track layout under Centre Street, Lafayette Street, Fourth Avenue, and Park Avenue South until 42nd Street. At this point, the beginning of Metro-North Railroad's Park Avenue tunnel in Grand Central Terminal forces the Lexington Avenue Line to shift slightly eastward to Lexington Avenue; its Grand Central – 42nd Street station is located on the diagonal between Park and Lexington. Just south of Grand Central, a single non-revenue track connects the IRT 42nd Street Shuttle to the southbound local track; this was part of the original IRT subway alignment.

Under Lexington Avenue, the line assumes a two-over-two track configuration, with the local tracks running on the upper level and the express on the lower, although it briefly returns to a four-across layout between 96th Street and 116th Street. 125th Street returns to this two-over-two layout, although here the upper level is used by all northbound trains and the lower level by southbound trains.

North of this, the line crosses under the Harlem River into the Bronx via the Lexington Avenue Tunnel and a flying junction marks its end, where it splits into the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (4 and 5) and the IRT Pelham Line (6 and <6>).

History

First earth from Lexington Avenue subway line in 1913

Construction started on the first IRT line in 1900. A 1902 explosion during construction seriously damaged properties just above the line. The part of the line from City Hall to just south of 42nd Street was part of the original IRT line, opened on October 27, 1904. An extension to Fulton Street opened at 12:01 a.m. on January 16, 1905. The next station, Wall Street, was opened on June 12, 1905.

The first revenue train on the South Ferry extension left South Ferry at 11:59 p.m. on July 9, 1905; the extension of the IRT White Plains Road Line to West Farms opened just after. The first train ran through the Joralemon Street Tunnel to Brooklyn about 12:45 a.m. on January 9, 1908.

The original plan for what became the extension north of 42nd Street was to continue it south through Irving Place and into what is now the BMT Broadway Line at Ninth Street and Broadway. Contracts awarded on July 21, 1911 included Section 6 between 26th Street and 40th Street; at the time, the IRT had withdrawn from the talks, and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was to operate on Lexington Avenue. The IRT submitted an offer for what became its portion of the Dual Contracts on February 27, 1912, and construction was soon halted on Section 6.

The rest of the line, north to 125th Street, opened on July 17, 1918. However, until the evening of August 1, 1918, it ran as a shuttle on the local tracks only, terminating at 42nd Street and at 167th Street on the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (where the connection from the elevated IRT Ninth Avenue Line merged). On August 1, service patterns were changed, and the Lexington Avenue Line became a through route. The IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line also switched from shuttle operation at that time, and the IRT 42nd Street Shuttle was formed along the old connection between the sides. Due to the shape of the system, it was referred to as the "H system". Also on August 1, the first section of the IRT Pelham Line opened to Third Avenue – 138th Street.

On August 28, 1991, an accident with a 4 train on the express track just north of the 14th Street – Union Square station killed five riders and injured 215 others in the worst accident on the system since the 1928 Times Square derailment. As a result of the crash, new safety protocols were put in place and there was a partial implementation of automation of the New York City Subway.

Station listing

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops late nights only
	Stops weekdays during the day
	Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction
	Stops rush hours only
	Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Time period details
	Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act
↑	Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act in the indicated direction only
↓
	Elevator access to mezzanine only

Neighborhood (approximate)		Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
Begins as a merge of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (4  ​5 ) and IRT Pelham Line (6  <6> ​)
Lexington Avenue Tunnel
East Harlem		125th Street	all	4  ​5  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918	Connection to Metro-North Railroad at Harlem – 125th Street M60 Select Bus Service to LaGuardia Airport
		116th Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918
		110th Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918
		103rd Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918
Upper East Side		96th Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918
		86th Street	all	4  ​5  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918
		77th Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918
		68th Street – Hunter College	local	4  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918
Midtown Manhattan		59th Street	all	4  ​5  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918 (1962, express)	N  ​R  ​W  (BMT Broadway Line at Lexington Avenue / 59th Street) MetroCard-only transfer to F  <F> (IND 63rd Street Line at Lexington Avenue – 63rd Street) Roosevelt Island Tramway This station was originally a local station. The lower level for express trains was opened in 1962.
		51st Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918	E  ​M  (IND Queens Boulevard Line at Lexington Avenue – 53rd Street)
		Grand Central – 42nd Street	all	4  ​5  ​6  <6>	July 17, 1918	7  <7> ​ (IRT Flushing Line) S  (42nd Street Shuttle) Connection to Metro-North Railroad at Grand Central Terminal
	merge on southbound local track to IRT 42nd Street Shuttle (no regular service)
Murray Hill		33rd Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904	M34 / M34A Select Bus Service
Rose Hill		28th Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904
Gramercy		23rd Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904
		18th Street	local		October 27, 1904	closed November 7, 1948
Union Square		14th Street – Union Square	all	4  ​5  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904	L  (BMT Canarsie Line) N  ​Q  ​R  ​W  (BMT Broadway Line) originally 14th Street
East Village		Astor Place	local	4  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904
NoHo		Bleecker Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904	B  ​D  ​F  <F> ​M  (IND Sixth Avenue Line at Broadway – Lafayette Street)
SoHo		Spring Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904	Abandoned trackway exists between express tracks with a signal room on top of it
Chinatown		Canal Street	local	4  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904	N  ​R  ​W  (BMT Broadway – Main line) N  ​Q  (BMT Broadway – Manhattan Bridge line) J  ​Z  (BMT Nassau Street Line)
Civic Center		Worth Street	local		October 27, 1904	closed September 1, 1962
		Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall	all	4  ​5  ​6  <6>	October 27, 1904	J  ​Z  (BMT Nassau Street Line at Chambers Street) originally Brooklyn Bridge, then Brooklyn Bridge–Worth Street There were two side platforms that accommodated 5 car local trains. Also, there are closed platform extensions to the south.
	local tracks leave the alignment of the express tracks; local trains short turn (6  <6> ​) via the loop
		City Hall	loop		October 27, 1904	Closed December 31, 1945; currently used for local trains to short turn with no station stop. Lexington Avenue Line local trains stopped at station from 1904 to 1945 except late nights, when trains continued to South Ferry.
	express trains continue (4  ​5 )
Financial District		Fulton Street	express	4  ​5	January 16, 1905	A  ​C  (IND Eighth Avenue Line) J  ​Z  (BMT Nassau Street Line) 2  ​3  (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line) Connection to N  ​R  ​W  at Cortlandt Street via Dey Street Passageway
		Wall Street	express	4  ​5	June 12, 1905
		Bowling Green	express	4  ​5	July 10, 1905	M15 Select Bus Service Staten Island Ferry at South Ferry
Splits to Brooklyn via the Joralemon Street Tunnel (4  ​5 ) to become the IRT Eastern Parkway Line Express tracks
Financial District	express train short turn (5 ) via both loops
		South Ferry	both loops		July 10, 1905	Inner platform closed February 12, 1977; currently used for express trains to short turn with no station stop. Lexington Avenue Line trains used the outer platform from July 10, 1905 to July 1, 1918 and from 1950 to February 12, 1977. The outer platform closed on March 16, 2009; which allows Lexington Avenue Line trains to again use both loop tracks.

Further reading

• "Fulton St. Trains Monday," New York Times, January 14, 1905, p. 5
• "Subway at Fulton Street Busy," New York Times, January 17, 1905, p. 9
• "Subway Trains Run Again This Morning," New York Times, June 13, 1905, p. 1
• "Subway Trains Running from Bronx to Battery," New York Times, July 10, 1905, p. 1
• "Subway to Brooklyn Opened for Traffic," New York Times, January 9, 1908, p. 1
• "Lexington Av. Line to be Opened Today," New York Times, July 7, 1918, p. 13
• "Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph," New York Times, August 2, 1918, p. 1
• "Old City Hall Station of IRT to Close Monday," New York Times, December 27, 1945, p. 24
• "IRT Station to be Closed," New York Times, November 6, 1948, p. 29
• "New Platform for IRT Locals at Brooklyn Bridge to End Jams," New York Times, September 1, 1962, p. 42
• "M.T.A. Expected to Save Franklin Avenue Shuttle, Once an Austerity Target," New York Times, February 10, 1977, p. 27

External links

• nycsubway.org — IRT East Side Line