IRT Lexington Avenue Line
Encyclopedia : I : IR : IRT : IRT Lexington Avenue Line
The Lexington Avenue Line (sometimes called the Lex, the 4-5-6 or the IRT East Side Line) is one of the major IRT lines in the New York City Subway. A large segment of it used to be part of the first subway line in New York. The line is the system's most crowded, being the only line in Manhattan to directly serve the Upper East Side and East Midtown. The Second Avenue Line has been proposed to fix this problem.
Several stations along this line have been abandoned. When platforms were lengthened to fit 10 cars, new entrances were built for adjacent stations, making the abandoned ones redundant. For example, 14th Street-Union Square has an entrance on 16th, and 23rd Street has an entrance on 20th, so 18th Street station was abandoned.
Extent and service
Services that use the Lexington Avenue Line are colored green. The following services use part or all of the Lexington Avenue Line:| current service | section of line | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | express (local late nights) | full line |
| 5 | express (no late night service) | north of Bowling Green (full line rush hours) |
| 6 | local | north of Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall |
The Lexington Avenue Line begins at the inner loop at South Ferry station, which is currently used to turn 5 trains at all times except rush hours. 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 Center Street, directly under New York City Hall, is the abandoned City Hall loop and station, which was the southern terminus of the original IRT subway line. The loop is still used to turn 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 42nd Street-Grand Central 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 stations. 125th Street station maintains this two-over-two layout, although here the upper level is used by northbound trains (both local and express) and the lower level by southbound trains (again, both local and express). North of 125th Street, a flying junction marks the end of the line, where it splits into the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (4 and 5) and the IRT Pelham Line (6 and <6>).
History
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.[link]
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 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.
Station listing
| Station | Tracks | Services | Opened | Transfers and notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| begins as a merge of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (4 always, 5 all but late nights) and the IRT Pelham Line (6 always, <6> rush hours in peak direction) | |||||
| 125th Street | all | 4 always, 5 all but late nights, 6 always, <6> rush hours in peak direction | July 17, 1918 | transfer to Metro-North Railroad at Harlem-125th Street | |
| 116th Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | July 17, 1918 | ||
| 110th Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | July 17, 1918 | ||
| 103rd Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | July 17, 1918 | ||
| 96th Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | July 17, 1918 | ||
| 86th Street | all | 4 always, 5 all but late nights, 6 always, <6> rush hours in peak direction | July 17, 1918 | ||
| 77th Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | July 17, 1918 | ||
| 68th Street–Hunter College | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | July 17, 1918 | ||
| 59th Street | all | 4 always, 5 all but late nights, 6 always, <6> rush hours in peak direction | July 17, 1918 | free transfer to N R (1234) W (123a) (BMT Broadway Line) free MetroCard transfer to (IND 63rd Street Line) Roosevelt Island Tramway | |
| 51st Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | July 17, 1918 | free transfer to E V (123) (IND Queens Boulevard Line) | |
| 42nd Street–Grand Central | all | 4 always, 5 all but late nights, 6 always, <6> rush hours in peak direction | July 17, 1918 | free transfer to 7 <7> (1a2a3c) (IRT Flushing Line) free transfer to S (1234) (Times Square-Grand Central Shuttle) transfer to Metro-North Railroad at Grand Central Terminal originally Grand Central Station | |
| merge on southbound local track from IRT 42nd Street Shuttle (S) | |||||
| 33rd Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | October 27, 1904 | ||
| 28th Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | October 27, 1904 | ||
| 23rd Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | October 27, 1904 | ||
| 18th Street | October 27, 1904 | closed November 7, 1948 | |||
| 14th Street–Union Square | all | 4 always, 5 all but late nights, 6 always, <6> rush hours in peak direction | October 27, 1904 | free transfer to L (BMT Canarsie Line) free transfer to N Q R (1234) W (123a) (BMT Broadway Line) originally 14th Street | |
| Astor Place–Cooper Union | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | October 27, 1904 | ||
| Bleecker Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | October 27, 1904 | free transfer between downtown platform and B (123a) D F V (123) (Sixth Avenue Line) | |
| Spring Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | October 27, 1904 | ||
| Canal Street | local | 4 late nights, 6 always | October 27, 1904 | free transfer to N Q R (1234) W (123a) (BMT Broadway main line) free transfer to N (1234) Q (Manhattan Bridge) free transfer to J M (12) Z (1a) (BMT Nassau Street Line) | |
| Worth Street | October 27, 1904 | closed September 1, 1962 | |||
| Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall | all | 4 always, 5 all but late nights, 6 always, <6> rush hours in peak direction | October 27, 1904 | free transfer to J M (12) Z (1a) (BMT Nassau Street Line) originally Brooklyn Bridge, then Brooklyn Bridge-Worth Street | |
| City Hall | October 27, 1904 | closed December 31, 1945 | |||
| Fulton Street | express | 4 always, 5 all but late nights | January 16, 1905 | free transfer to A C (IND Eighth Avenue Line) free transfer to J (1235a) M (1) Z (1a) (BMT Nassau Street Line) free transfer to (IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line) | |
| Wall Street | express | 4 always, 5 all but late nights | June 12, 1905 | ||
| Bowling Green | express | 4 always, 5 all but late nights | July 10, 1905 | ||
| South Ferry | July 1, 1918 | Inner platform closed February 12, 1977 Lexington Avenue Line trains used the outer platform from July 10, 1905 to July 1, 1918 and from 1950 to February 12, 1977 | |||
| continues as the Joralemon Street Tunnel (4 always, 5 rush hours) | |||||
External links
References
- "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
[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] New York City Subway Lines
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| IRT | Manhattan: 42nd St Shuttle • Broadway-7th Av • Lenox Av • Lexington Av Bronx: Dyre Av • Jerome Av • Pelham • White Plains Rd Brooklyn/Queens: Eastern Pkwy • Flushing • Nostrand Av Former: 2nd Av • 3rd Av • 6th Av • 9th Av |
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| IND | Manhattan/Bronx trunks: 6th Av • 8th Av • Concourse Brooklyn/Queens: 63rd St • Archer Av • Crosstown • Culver • Fulton St • Rockaway • Queens Blvd Former: World's Fair |
| Connections | Chrystie St • 60th St |
| Future | 2nd Av |
[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] New York City Subway ([official site])
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| Services | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A B C D E F G J L M N Q R V W Z |
| Shuttles (S) | 42nd Street • Franklin Avenue • Rockaway Park |
| Unused/defunct | 8 9 10 11 12 13 H K NX P T U X Y • JFK Express BMT: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Shuttles: 63rd Street • Bowling Green • Culver • Grand Street • Other |
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