IRT Lexington Avenue Line
New York City Subway line / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about IRT Lexington Avenue Line?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the IRT East Side Line and the IRT Lexington–Fourth Avenue Line) is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East Harlem. The line is served by the 4, 5, 6, and <6> trains.
IRT Lexington Avenue Line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Status | Operational | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Owner | City of New York | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Manhattan, New York City, NY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Termini | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stations | 23 in use (4 abandoned) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Type | Rapid transit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
System | New York City Subway | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator(s) | New York City Transit Authority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Daily ridership | 497,727 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Opened | 1904–1918 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Line length | 8.3 mi (13.4 km) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of tracks | 2–4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Character | Underground | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrification | 600V DC third rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The line was constructed in two main portions by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), a private operator. The first portion, from City Hall north to 42nd Street, was opened between 1904 and 1908, and is part of the first subway line in the city. The original subway turned west across 42nd Street at the Grand Central station, then went north at Broadway, serving the present-day IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. The second portion of the line, north of 42nd Street, was constructed as part of the Dual Contracts, which were signed between the IRT; the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, via a subsidiary; and the City of New York.
For decades, the Lexington Avenue Line was the only line in Manhattan that directly served 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 total riderships of the transit systems of Chicago (772,900 weekday passengers), Boston (569,200 weekday passengers), and San Francisco (452,600 weekday passengers). The line spurred the construction of the parallel Second Avenue Subway, which opened in 2017, to relieve congestion on the Lexington Avenue line.[2]
Four 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. The 18th Street station was abandoned because of the proximity to both 14th Street–Union Square and 23rd Street.[3] In addition, the City Hall and Worth Street stations were both very close to the Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall station's Brooklyn Bridge and Duane Street exits, respectively, so both were abandoned.[4][5] Finally, South Ferry is within walking distance of Bowling Green, and is right next to the corresponding station on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue line.[6]
Services that use the Lexington Avenue Line are colored forest green.[7] The following services use part or all of the line:[8]
Time period | Section of line | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rush hours and middays |
Evenings | Weekends | Late nights | ||
express | local | full line | |||
express | no service | full line (weekdays till 8:45 p.m.) north of Bowling Green (late evenings and weekends) | |||
local | north of Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall | ||||
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.[4] 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.[9]
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.[9]
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. This is because Lexington Avenue is too narrow to have a four-across layout.[9][10]
North of this, the line crosses under the Harlem River into the Bronx via the four-track Lexington Avenue Tunnel, where the line splits into the IRT Jerome Avenue Line on the western two tracks (4 and 5 trains) and the IRT Pelham Line on the eastern two tracks (6 and <6> trains).[11]