167-406: [REDACTED] The South Ferry/Whitehall Street station is a New York City Subway station complex in the Financial District neighborhood of Manhattan , under Battery Park . The complex is shared by the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and the BMT Broadway Line . It is served by the 1 and R trains at all times, the W train only on weekdays during the day, and the N train at night. It
334-475: A Finding of No Significant Impact on August 30, 2004. During planning, the FTA evaluated several alternatives, including extending the existing loop platform northward; building the terminal with an extra track and platform; building a two-track terminal underneath the loop; building a two-track terminal directly under Water Street, to the east; building a two-track terminal along the waterfront under South Street , to
501-532: A cross-platform interchange between local and express services. Some four-track lines with express service have two tracks each on two levels and use both island and side platforms. Since the majority of the system was built before 1990, the year the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went into effect, many New York City Subway stations were not designed to be accessible to all. Since then, elevators have been built in newly constructed stations to comply with
668-405: A $ 19.2 million contract to Tully Construction Company to reconstruct Peter Minuit Plaza , which reopened in 2011. On October 29, 2012, the new IRT station suffered extensive flood damage during Hurricane Sandy . The subway system had been flooded during the hurricane, and water ultimately collected in the lowest parts of the system, including the new South Ferry IRT station and many tunnels across
835-402: A 10-car train, but the rear five cars could not load or unload. In addition, spray nozzles were required to lubricate the track to reduce the friction caused by the tight curve, which slowed train operation and generates a loud metallic scraping noise. Because of the curve, gap fillers were required to bridge the gap between the platform and the doors. The gap fillers, which were automated when
1002-497: A Vignelli-style interactive subway map, "The Weekender", an online map that provides information about any planned work, from late Friday night to early Monday morning. In October 2020, the MTA launched a digital version of the map showing real-time service patterns and service changes, designed by Work & Co . Several privately produced schematics are available online or in printed form, such as those by Hagstrom Map . Out of
1169-628: A blast caused the tunnel to cave-in at the Battery, though no one died. A cave-in occurred in one of the tubes in August 1906, and two months later, another blast killed one worker. Another issue was the need to create a new ventilation shaft on the Brooklyn side after the construction shaft was sealed; the IRT unsuccessfully attempted to take property on Hicks and Furman Streets. By 1907, the IRT had bought
1336-591: A connection to the South Ferry–Whitehall Street complex in 2013. The new station allowed a free transfer to the BMT station, whereas neither of the loop station's platforms originally did. Despite being one of the newest New York City Subway stations, the South Ferry station cannot accommodate platform screen doors ; according to an internal study prepared for the MTA in 2020, the south end of the platform
1503-408: A depth of 50 feet (15 m), would contain a 600-by-25-foot (182.9 by 7.6 m) platform, a new mezzanine level, escalators, and an elevator. The station would also contain three exits, as well as a modern air-conditioning system, which most existing stations lacked. In late 2005, New York City authorities announced that builders working on the new station had found the remains of a stone wall from
1670-469: A house at 58 Joralemon Street to serve as the ventilation plant. Continuing with the excavations, the contractors found the remains of a ship under Joralemon Street in March 1905. By that August, the excavations had reached the midpoint of the riverbed. During this time, Parsons and his successor George S. Rice discovered that the ceilings of the tubes had flattened downward; trains could still run through
1837-944: A lease of 35 years, was executed between the commission and the Rapid Transit Construction Company on September 11, 1902. Construction on the Manhattan side began on March 4, 1903, and on the Brooklyn side on July 10, 1903. While the RTC had allocated $ 2 million to the tubes' construction (equivalent to $ 54 million in 2023 ), the project was estimated to cost $ 10 million (equivalent to $ 272 million in 2023 ) by November 1903. Construction shafts were dug at South Ferry and Joralemon Street. Six tunneling shields were driven: two proceeding east from Manhattan and two each proceeding west and east from Brooklyn. The tunneling shields were each 16.95 feet (5 m) in diameter and 9.5 feet (2.9 m) long, and were pushed at
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#17327653359062004-712: A letter or a number and "lines" have names. Trains display their route designation. There are 28 train services in the subway system, including three short shuttles . Each route has a color and a local or express designation representing the Manhattan trunk line of the service. New York City residents seldom refer to services by color (e.g., "blue line" or "green line") but out-of-towners and tourists often do. The 1 , C , G , L , M , R , and W trains are fully local and make all stops. The 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , A , B , D , E , F , N , and Q trains have portions of express and local service. J , Z , 6 , and 7 trains vary by direction, day, or time of day. The letter S
2171-692: A long-term weekend closure of the Clark Street Tunnel , which diverted weekend 2 trains to South Ferry for one year. The Whitehall Street station opened in 1918 as the southern terminal for Broadway Line local trains. The line was extended to Brooklyn when the Montague Street Tunnel opened on August 1, 1920. Broadway Line trains to Brooklyn could either use the tunnel, stopping at Whitehall Street and five other stations in Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn , or use
2338-542: A public authority presided by New York City, was created in 1953 to take over subway, bus, and streetcar operations from the city, and placed under control of the state-level Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1968. Organized in 1934 by transit workers of the BRT, IRT, and IND, the Transport Workers Union of America Local 100 remains the largest and most influential local of the labor unions. Since
2505-435: A rate of 5 to 12 feet (1.5 to 3.7 m) per day. All of the headings were driven within a pressurized environment. After the headings had been driven approximately 100 feet (30 m), two thick brick walls were constructed at each end, creating air locks . An upper lock gave workers access to the heading, while a lower lock allowed spoils to be extracted from the excavation and through the shafts on either side. The work
2672-457: A result of a decrease in the number of riders who benefited. All 1 trains were shifted from the outer loop to the new island-platform station in April 2009, though that station was closed in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy. The outer loop was used as a temporary terminal for 1 trains from April 2013 to June 2017, when the island platform reopened. The island platform's reopening coincided with the start of
2839-558: A route that would extend the subway from City Hall to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s Flatbush Avenue terminal station (now known as Atlantic Terminal) in Brooklyn, via a tunnel under the East River, then running under Joralemon Street, Fulton Street , and Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to Atlantic Terminal. It was estimated that this second route would cost $ 9 million (equivalent to $ 263 million in 2023 ), which
3006-530: A single fare to enter the subway system and may transfer between trains at no extra cost until they exit via station turnstiles; the fare is a flat rate regardless of how far or how long the rider travels. Thus, riders must swipe their MetroCard or tap a contactless payment card or smartphone on an OMNY reader upon entering the subway system, but not a second time upon leaving. Joralemon Street Tunnel The Joralemon Street Tunnel ( / dʒ ə ˈ r æ l ɛ m ə n / , ju- RAL -e-mun ), originally
3173-482: A station, passengers may use station booths (formerly known as token booths) or vending machines to buy their fare, which is currently stored in a MetroCard or OMNY card. Each station has at least one booth, typically located at the busiest entrance. After swiping the card at a turnstile, customers enter the fare-controlled area of the station and continue to the platforms. Inside fare control are "Off-Hours Waiting Areas", which consist of benches and are identified by
3340-431: A subway. The tunnel was never extended for political and financial reasons. Today, no part of this line remains as the tunnel was completely within the limits of the present-day City Hall station under Broadway. The Great Blizzard of 1888 helped demonstrate the benefits of an underground transportation system. A plan for the construction of the subway was approved in 1894, and construction began in 1900. Even though
3507-481: A track that was being repaired, but again, no one was killed or seriously injured. The Joralemon Street Tunnel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. It was one of seven East River subway tunnels flooded on October 29, 2012, as Hurricane Sandy 's storm surge inundated Lower Manhattan. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) prioritized draining and restoring service to
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#17327653359063674-400: A train opened there; however, the "R"-type cars could not open only their middle doors. As a result, Lexington Avenue trains were rerouted to the outer loop. The Bowling Green–South Ferry shuttle, which ran weekdays and at first also late nights, continued to use the inner loop, running to the west platform at Bowling Green. Specially modified R12 cars were used starting in the late 1960s until
3841-593: A two-car Bowling Green–South Ferry shuttle train providing service to South Ferry during those times. The IRT's original line was divided into an H-shaped system in 1918. The first part of the "H" system to open was the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, which was extended down to South Ferry on July 1, 1918. Initially, a shuttle service ran along the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line from Times Square to South Ferry. The Lexington Avenue Line opened north of Grand Central–42nd Street on August 1, 1918, thereby dividing
4008-494: A waterproof membrane and operated pumps continuously to prevent the loop from being inundated by water from New York Harbor . Battery Park was only 5 to 7 feet (1.5 to 2.1 m) above mean high water, while the South Ferry station, 23 feet (7.0 m) below, was as much as 17 feet (5.2 m) beneath mean high water. Because Battery Park had been created largely through land reclamation , workers found skulls, copper coins, logs, and remnants of brick piers when they were excavating
4175-497: A yellow sign. A typical subway station has waiting platforms ranging from 480 to 600 feet (150 to 180 m) long. Some are longer. Platforms of former commuter rail stations—such as those on the IND Rockaway Line , are even longer. With the many different lines in the system, one platform often serves more than one service. Passengers need to look at the overhead signs to see which trains stop there and when, and at
4342-489: Is approximately 8 feet 9 inches (2.67 m) wide and 51 feet 4 inches (15.65 m) long, whereas B Division equipment is about 10 feet (3.05 m) wide and either 60 feet 6 inches (18.44 m) or 75 feet (22.86 m) long. The different lengths for the B Division fleet are necessary because 75-foot cars can not be used over the BMT Eastern Division . Cars purchased by
4509-406: Is no nightly system shutdown for maintenance, tracks and stations must be maintained while the system is operating. This work sometimes necessitates service changes during midday, overnight hours, and weekends. When parts of lines are temporarily shut down for construction purposes, the transit authority can substitute free shuttle buses (using MTA Regional Bus Operations bus fleet ) to replace
4676-427: Is smaller than the peak of the system. In addition to the demolition of former elevated lines, which collectively have resulted in the demolition of over a hundred stations, other closed stations and unused portions of existing stations remain in parts of the system. Many stations in the subway system have mezzanines . Mezzanines allow for passengers to enter from multiple locations at an intersection and proceed to
4843-605: Is the southern terminal for all 1 and W trains and the northern terminal for late night R trains. The complex originally consisted of three separate stations. In 1905, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) opened a balloon loop at South Ferry, serving the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue and IRT Lexington Avenue Lines . The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) opened its station at Whitehall Street in 1918. The same year,
5010-540: Is too narrow to fit a set of platform doors. New York City Subway July 3, 1868 ; 156 years ago ( 1868-07-03 ) (first elevated, rapid transit operation) [REDACTED] The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the boroughs of Manhattan , Brooklyn , Queens , and the Bronx . It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to
5177-418: Is used for the old South Ferry platforms, while the newer platforms are called New South Ferry. The newer island platform station was first used by the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line's 1 service from 2009 to 2012 until it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy, and was again placed into use in 2017. The outer loop platform was reopened on April 4, 2013, to provide temporary replacement service, and closed again in 2017 when
South Ferry/Whitehall Street station - Misplaced Pages Continue
5344-554: Is used for three shuttle services: Franklin Avenue Shuttle , Rockaway Park Shuttle , and 42nd Street Shuttle . Though the subway system operates on a 24-hour basis , during late night hours some of the designated routes do not run, run as a shorter route (often referred to as the "shuttle train" version of its full-length counterpart) or run with a different stopping pattern. These are usually indicated by smaller, secondary route signage on station platforms. Because there
5511-532: The 1 , the Broadway Avenue route to Lenox Avenue became the 3 , and the Lexington Avenue express became the 5 . After 1959, all 1 trains became local, while 3 trains stopped serving the station, instead making express stops on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and using the Clark Street Tunnel south of Chambers Street . Because of the sharp curve of the inner loop, only the center doors of
5678-577: The 142nd Street and Myrtle Avenue junctions, whose tracks intersect at the same level, as well as the same-direction pairs of tracks on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line at Rogers Junction . The 7,700 workers who built the original subway lines were mostly immigrants living in Manhattan. More recent projects use tunnel boring machines , which increase the cost. However, they minimize disruption at street level and avoid already existing utilities. Examples of such projects include
5845-672: The 472 stations , 470 are served 24 hours a day. Underground stations in the New York City Subway are typically accessed by staircases going down from street level. Many of these staircases are painted in a common shade of green, with slight or significant variations in design. Other stations have unique entrances reflective of their location or date of construction. Several station entrance stairs, for example, are built into adjacent buildings. Nearly all station entrances feature color-coded globe or square lamps signifying their status as an entrance. The current number of stations
6012-548: The 63rd Street Lines , opened in 1989. The new South Ferry station was built and connected to the existing Whitehall Street–South Ferry station in 2009. The one-stop 7 Subway Extension to the west side of Manhattan, consisting of the 34th Street–Hudson Yards station, was opened in 2015, and three stations on the Second Avenue Subway in the Upper East Side were opened as part of Phase 1 of
6179-501: The Bowling Green station in Manhattan to the IRT Eastern Parkway Line in Brooklyn. The tubes were constructed using the shield method and are each 6,550 feet (2,000 m) long and 15.5 feet (4.7 m) wide. The interiors are lined with cast-iron "rings" formed with concrete. The tubes descend 91 to 95 feet (28 to 29 m) below the mean high water level of the East River, with a maximum gradient of 3.1 percent. During
6346-791: The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel , is a pair of tubes carrying the IRT Lexington Avenue Line ( 4 and 5 trains) of the New York City Subway under the East River between Bowling Green Park in Manhattan and Brooklyn Heights in Brooklyn , New York City . The Joralemon Street Tunnel was an extension of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s first subway line from
6513-706: The Chicago "L" plans all stations to be accessible in the 2030s, the Toronto subway will be fully accessible by 2025, and Montreal Metro plans all stations to be accessible by 2038. Both the Boston and Chicago systems are as old or older than the New York City Subway, though all of these systems have fewer stations than the New York City Subway. Newer systems like the Washington Metro and Bay Area Rapid Transit have been fully accessible from their opening in
6680-527: The East River . The station was flooded in up to 80 feet (24 m) of salt water, submerging it from the track level to the mezzanine. As a result, the IRT section of the complex was closed until further notice, and riders had to either use the Whitehall Street station or walk several blocks north to catch a 1 train at Rector Street . The MTA estimated that repairs would cost $ 600 million and would continue until 2016. The Whitehall Street BMT station
6847-549: The IND Sixth Avenue Line was completed in 1940, the city went into great debt , and only 33 new stations have been added to the system since, nineteen of which were part of defunct railways that already existed. Five stations were on the abandoned New York, Westchester and Boston Railway , which was incorporated into the system in 1941 as the IRT Dyre Avenue Line . Fourteen more stations were on
South Ferry/Whitehall Street station - Misplaced Pages Continue
7014-719: The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line , which ran directly underneath the World Trade Center . Sections of the tunnel, as well as the Cortlandt Street station, which was directly underneath the Twin Towers, were severely damaged. Rebuilding required the suspension of service on that line south of Chambers Street. Ten other nearby stations were closed for cleanup. By March 2002, seven of those stations had reopened. Except for Cortlandt Street,
7181-518: The IRT Lexington Avenue Line . North of Bowling Green, the subway runs under Broadway to connect to the original subway line. The Brooklyn end is at Joralemon and Clinton Streets in Brooklyn, where a cut-and-cover tunnel connects to the Borough Hall station of the IRT Eastern Parkway Line . Two construction shafts were built for the tunnel: one in Manhattan at South Ferry, and the other in Brooklyn at Henry and Joralemon Streets. Each shaft
7348-720: The IRT subway debuted in 1904, the typical tunnel construction method was cut-and-cover . The street was torn up to dig the tunnel below before being rebuilt from above. Traffic on the street above would be interrupted due to the digging up of the street. Temporary steel and wooden bridges carried surface traffic above the construction. Contractors in this type of construction faced many obstacles, both natural and human made. They had to deal with rock formations and groundwater, which required pumps. Twelve miles of sewers, as well as water and gas mains, electric conduits, and steam pipes had to be rerouted. Street railways had to be torn up to allow
7515-564: The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway. Several days after Contract 1 was signed, the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners instructed Parsons to evaluate the feasibility of extending the subway south to South Ferry , and then to Brooklyn . On January 24, 1901, the Board adopted a route that would extend the subway from City Hall to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s Flatbush Avenue terminal station (now known as Atlantic Terminal) in Brooklyn, via
7682-481: The Joralemon Street Tunnel under the East River . Contract 2, giving a lease of 35 years, was executed between the commission and the Rapid Transit Construction Company on September 11, 1902. Construction began at State Street in Manhattan on November 8, 1902. The South Ferry loop was built as part of subsection 2 of Contract 2 and was largely constructed as an open trench. Contractors installed
7849-677: The Manhattan Bridge , which skipped all of these stations. Initially, Whitehall Street was served by Fourth Avenue Line local trains (labeled as the BMT 2 ), Brighton Beach Line express trains (the BMT 1 ), and some rush-hour West End Line trains (the BMT 3 ). Brighton express trains were later rerouted to the Manhattan Bridge, while Brighton locals started using the tunnel. After the BMT Nassau Street Line
8016-538: The New York City Transit Authority , an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 27, 1904, the New York City Subway is one of the world's oldest public transit systems, one of the most-used, and the one with the most stations, with 472 stations in operation (423, if stations connected by transfers are counted as single stations). The system has operated 24/7 service every day of
8183-612: The R142 , R142A , R143 , R160 , R179 and R188 were placed into service. These cars are collectively known as New Technology Trains (NTTs) due to modern innovations such as LED and LCD route signs and information screens, as well as recorded train announcements and the ability to facilitate Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) . As part of the 2017–2020 MTA Financial Plan, 600 subway cars will have electronic display signs installed to improve customer experience. Riders pay
8350-492: The Self Winding Clock Company . Evidence of the now-demolished ticket booth is a Beaux Arts design engraved on the ceiling. The platform also features station tiling by Heins & LaFarge , who designed the station plaque in a sans-serif font. The walls are made of small white rectangular tiles, except for the bottom 3 feet (0.91 m), which is marble. There are also fifteen ceramic plaques toward
8517-537: The Upper West Side , where two branches would lead north into the Bronx . A plan was formally adopted in 1897. The Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company (RTSCC), organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr. , signed Contract 1 with the RTC in February 1900, in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. Belmont incorporated
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#17327653359068684-577: The World Trade Center 's reconstruction. Initially, neighborhood groups opposed the station's construction because of the high cost and low perceived time savings. The MTA contemplated extending the existing outer loop to fit 10-car trains. Community leaders acquiesced after being told that some of the money was going to be used to renovate Battery Park, and the South Ferry Terminal Project was allowed to proceed. New York State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver expressed opposition to
8851-644: The extension of the IRT Flushing Line and the IND Second Avenue Line . Since the opening of the original New York City Subway line in 1904, multiple official and planning agencies have proposed numerous extensions to the subway system. One of the more expansive proposals was the " IND Second System", part of a plan to construct new subway lines in addition to taking over existing subway lines and railroad rights-of-way. The most grandiose IND Second Subway plan, conceived in 1929,
9018-447: The 1 train; the next stop to the north is Rector Street . The new station was built as a two-track, 10-car-long island platform on a less severe curve, permitting the operation of a typical terminal station . The platform can fit a full-length train without significant platform gaps or gap fillers. The two tracks end at bumper blocks at the south end of the platform. The loop station was relegated to being used for turn-arounds once
9185-410: The 1970s. In November 2016, the New York City Subway had 6712 cars on the roster. A typical New York City Subway train consists of 8 to 11 cars, although shuttles can have as few as two, and the train can range from 150 to 600 feet (46 to 183 m) in length. The system maintains two separate fleets of cars, one for the A Division routes and another for the B Division routes. A Division equipment
9352-450: The 1980s, make the current fleet of subway cars graffiti-free, as well as order 1,775 new subway cars. By the early 1990s, conditions had improved significantly, although maintenance backlogs accumulated during those 20 years are still being fixed today. Entering the 21st century, progress continued despite several disasters. The September 11 attacks resulted in service disruptions on lines running through Lower Manhattan, particularly
9519-419: The 2004 Finding Of No Significant Impact for the station, it was determined that the station was eligible for National Register of Historic Places status. The South Ferry loop station proved to be a service bottleneck . Operationally, the loop station functioned an intermediate station rather than as a true terminal, as trains would simply proceed back to Rector Street without the motorman needing to go to
9686-415: The 2020–2024 Capital Program. This would allow one of every two to four stations on every line to be accessible, so that all non-accessible stops would be a maximum of two stops from an accessible station. In 2022, the MTA agreed in a settlement to make 95 percent of subway and Staten Island Railway stations accessible by 2055. By comparison, all but one of Boston's MBTA subway stations are accessible,
9853-524: The ADA. (Most grade-level stations required little modification to meet ADA standards.) Many accessible stations have AutoGate access. In addition, the MTA identified "key stations", high-traffic and/or geographically important stations, which must conform to the ADA when they are extensively renovated. Under plans from the MTA in 2016, the number of ADA accessible stations would go up to 144 by 2020. As of May 2024 , there were 145 ADA-accessible stations. Over
10020-618: The BRT. As part of the Dual Contracts, the IRT extended the Lexington Avenue Line north of Grand Central–42nd Street , dividing the original IRT line into an H-shaped system. The "H" system opened in 1918, and all Joralemon Street Tunnel services were sent via the Lexington Avenue Line. The following year, the Clark Street Tunnel opened north of the Joralemon Street Tunnel, providing service from
10187-704: The Battery and the other running east to Brooklyn via the Clark Street Tunnel . In order for the line to continue down Varick Street and West Broadway, these streets needed to be widened, and two new streets were built, the Seventh Avenue Extension and the Varick Street Extension. It was predicted that the subway extension would lead to the growth of the Lower West Side, and to neighborhoods such as Chelsea and Greenwich Village . The entire line, consisting of eight sections,
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#173276533590610354-566: The British colonial era, during the late 17th or 18th century. After archaeological analysis, it was widely reported to be the oldest man-made structure still in place in Manhattan. Workers subsequently found another wall under the site. Four walls and over 250,000 individual artifacts were found in the excavation of the subway station. A portion of one wall was exhibited at the nearby Castle Clinton in 2006. The work involved excavating over 60,000 cubic yards (46,000 m) of rock, almost all of which
10521-490: The Broadway Line, including the Whitehall Street station, to accommodate eight-car trains. Edwards & Flood submitted a low bid of $ 101,775 for the project. The platform-lengthening project was completed in 1927, bringing the length of the platforms to 535 feet (163 m). The city government took over the BMT's operations on June 1, 1940. On January 6, 1994, Automated Fare Collection turnstiles went into service at
10688-593: The City of New York since the inception of the IND and the other divisions beginning in 1948 are identified by the letter "R" followed by a number; e.g.: R32 . This number is the contract number under which the cars were purchased. Cars with nearby contract numbers (e.g.: R1 through R9 , or R26 through R29 , or R143 through R179 ) may be relatively identical, despite being purchased under different contracts and possibly built by different manufacturers. From 1999 to 2019,
10855-627: The Dual Contracts was the Broadway Line of the BRT (which later became the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation , or BMT). Contractors started constructing the tunnel under Whitehall Street in 1914. The first section of the Broadway Line, between 14th Street–Union Square and Canal Street , opened in 1917. Although the line was extended north to Times Square–42nd Street and south to Rector Street in January 1918,
11022-670: The Dual Contracts were finalized, the IRT revised the plans so the Seventh Avenue Line instead connected with the existing line's outer loop. The tunnel slightly underpinned a structure owned by the Chesebrough Manufacturing Company , which in July 1914 sued to prevent the tunnel from being built. During the line's construction, the contractor discovered an ancient cannon and two cannon balls under Battery Park. The Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line extension
11189-661: The Dual Contracts, the New York City Public Service Commission planned to split the original IRT system into three segments: two north–south lines, carrying through trains over the Lexington Avenue and Broadway–Seventh Avenue Lines, and a west–east shuttle under 42nd Street . This would form a roughly H-shaped system. Construction started on a southward extension of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line in 1914. South of Chambers Street , there were to be two branches: one running south to
11356-487: The Eastern Parkway Line, became express services. In the latter half of the 20th century, several derailments occurred in the Joralemon Street Tunnel. A Brooklyn-bound train derailed during the morning rush hour of January 1, 1965, blocking service for half a day, although no one was harmed. During the evening rush hour of March 17, 1984, another train derailed with 1,500 passengers while traveling over
11523-612: The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line runs underneath Battery Park and State Street , between Pearl Street to the north and the Whitehall Terminal to the south. The Whitehall Street station on the BMT Broadway Line runs under Whitehall Street, between Stone Street to the north and a point just past Water Street to the south. The two sections are connected via a shared fare control area near
11690-495: The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line's loop and the BMT Broadway Line's platforms. The newer terminal reopened in June 2017 following extensive renovations and waterproofing work. This station complex is the third on the site to bear the name South Ferry . The first was an elevated station located nearby, which was open from 1877 to 1950 and served the former IRT Ninth , Sixth , Third , and Second Avenue elevated lines. The second
11857-469: The IRT in April 1902 to operate the subway. A subway under the southernmost section of Broadway between the Battery and City Hall was not included in Contract 1. Several days after Contract 1 was signed, the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners instructed Parsons to evaluate the feasibility of extending the subway south to South Ferry and then to Brooklyn. On January 24, 1901, the Board adopted
12024-541: The IRT opened a second loop for the IRT Lexington Avenue Line on the inside of the existing loop; the two loop stations were not connected to each other nor to the BMT station. Despite their proximity, the stations remained separate for 91 years. In the early 2000s, as part of the recovery effort from the September 11, 2001, attacks , a new South Ferry terminal for the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
12191-454: The Joralemon Street Tunnel opened in 1908, some trains continued to terminate at South Ferry during rush hours , while others went to Brooklyn. This service pattern was soon found to be inadequate for the high volume of Brooklyn riders. As a result, a third track and second platform were added at the Bowling Green station , the next stop north. Once the new track and platform were completed in 1909, all rush-hour trains were sent to Brooklyn, with
12358-534: The Joralemon Street Tunnel, as well as the completion of the Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan Bridge to the north, relieved traffic from the Brooklyn Bridge and from East River ferries, which previously had provided the only passenger service between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Dual Contracts were formalized in early 1913, specifying new lines or expansions to be built by the IRT and
12525-520: The Kapsee rocks. The site of the South Ferry station is covered with 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) of fill, below which is bedrock. Entrances and exits are located at the following places: There are two separate stations on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, which are individually named the South Ferry station due to their connection to Manhattan's South Ferry . The name "South Ferry loops"
12692-458: The MTA confirmed that the outer loop would be reopened. The 1 train's terminal was moved back to Rector Street until the old loop station could be put back into service. The outer loop reopened on April 4, 2013, and a new connection was built between the outer loop and the Broadway Line platforms. This connection necessitated the temporary removal of a 20-foot (6.1 m) section of the artwork See it split, see it change , which had been installed at
12859-400: The R train began serving the station at all times except late nights, while the N train only served the station at night. In addition, weekday W trains to Ditmars Boulevard used the Whitehall Street station as their southern terminus until that route was discontinued in June 2010. When the Montague Street Tunnel closed for repairs in August 2013, weekday R service was divided into two segments;
13026-507: The RTC could not yet fully fund. However, the RTC expected that there would be competition for the route, which connected two large business districts and the city's two most populous boroughs. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company , which monopolized surface and elevated transit in Brooklyn, would be obliged to bid to maintain its monopoly. The Board also knew that Belmont would submit a low bid to retain control of underground rapid transit for himself and his construction company. Contract 2, giving
13193-514: The Rapid Transit Commission. The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr. , signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900, in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations. Belmont incorporated
13360-699: The Whitehall Street BMT station and at the Wall Street station. On September 11, 2001, a terrorist attack destroyed the World Trade Center , located slightly to the north of South Ferry and the Battery. The segment of the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line that ran through the WTC, including the Cortlandt Street station two stops north of South Ferry, was also destroyed; the line reopened in September 2002, bypassing Cortlandt Street. Concurrent with
13527-558: The Whitehall Street station was the southern terminus of the Manhattan-Queens segment. The R train did not serve the station on weekends, and the N train did not stop there at all, until regular service resumed in September 2014. The W train was restored in 2016, and late-night R trains to Brooklyn began using the Whitehall Street station as their northern terminal. The complex is composed of two formerly separate stations: South Ferry and Whitehall Street. The South Ferry station on
13694-615: The abandoned LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch (now the IND Rockaway Line ), which opened in 1955. Two stations ( 57th Street and Grand Street ) were part of the Chrystie Street Connection , and opened in 1968; the Harlem–148th Street terminal opened that same year in an unrelated project. Six were built as part of a 1968 plan : three on the Archer Avenue Lines , opened in 1988, and three on
13861-526: The arriving train to identify it. There are several common platform configurations. On a double track line, a station may have one center island platform used for trains in both directions, or two side platforms , one for each direction. For lines with three or four tracks with express service, local stops will have side platforms and the middle one or two tracks will not stop at the station. On these lines, express stations typically have two island platforms, one for each direction. Each island platform provides
14028-586: The cleaning up of the station. The project included the installation of retractable floodgates at the complex's exits and entrances. These improvements necessitated the closure of the station complex's main entrance for nine months starting in October 2015. The signage and lighting fixtures were also modified, and the "South Ferry" signs on the trackside walls were enlarged. The renovation cost $ 345 million. The station reopened on June 27, 2017, four years and eight months after Hurricane Sandy. The South Ferry outer loop
14195-410: The complexity of the system (Manhattan being the smallest borough, but having the most services), but they do show major city streets as an aid to navigation. The newest edition took effect on June 27, 2010, and makes Manhattan bigger and Staten Island smaller, with minor tweaks happening to the map when more permanent changes occur. Earlier diagrams of the subway, the first being produced in 1958, had
14362-496: The contractor for the defective tube ceilings, stating that the New York Tunnel Company had allowed the quicksand above the tubes to settle, although the contractor denied responsibility. The two sections of the northern tube were holed-through on December 15, 1906, followed by the southern tube on March 1, 1907. Starting in mid-1907, some 1,957 feet (596 m) of the north tube and 962 feet (293 m) of
14529-425: The correct platform without having to cross the street before entering. Inside mezzanines are fare control areas, where passengers physically pay their fare to enter the subway system. In many older stations, the fare control area is at platform level with no mezzanine crossovers. Many elevated stations also have platform-level fare control with no common station house between directions of service. Upon entering
14696-490: The east. Completed in 1908 for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), it was the first subway tunnel between the two boroughs, and was built as part of Contract 2 of the first New York City Subway line . The tubes extend between South Ferry in Lower Manhattan and Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights , Brooklyn, with the route of the tunnel curving at either bank of the river. The primary engineer for
14863-520: The end doors of each car of a five-car train could platform at the station, because of the large gap between the middle doors and the platform, owing to the severe curve of the station. This problem was remedied in January 1959 when gap fillers were installed. On February 10, 1959, the New York City Transit Authority approved a $ 185,000 project to renovate the station. The project would take a year to be completed. The project would remove change booths and turnstiles from platform level to provide more space on
15030-584: The exceptions being the G train, the Franklin Avenue Shuttle , and the Rockaway Park Shuttle . Large portions of the subway outside Manhattan are elevated, on embankments , or in open cuts , and a few stretches of track run at ground level; 40% of track is above ground. Many lines and stations have both express and local services. These lines have three or four tracks. Normally, the outer two are used by local trains, while
15197-482: The five-cent fare of the time, or 10¢ ($ 3 in 2023 dollars ). In 1940, the city bought the two private systems. Some elevated lines ceased service immediately while others closed soon after. Integration was slow, but several connections were built between the IND and BMT. These now operate as one division, called the B Division . Since the former IRT tunnels are narrower, have sharper curves, and shorter station platforms, they cannot accommodate B Division cars, and
15364-400: The former IRT remains its own division, the A Division . Many passenger transfers between stations of all three former companies have been created, allowing the entire network to be treated as a single unit. During the late 1940s, the system recorded high ridership, and on December 23, 1946, the system-wide record of 8,872,249 fares was set. The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA),
15531-638: The gap fillers). Any trains that went out of passenger service at the station could have caused major delays along the rest of the line. Finally, trains could only proceed through the station at slow speeds, adding 30 to 60 seconds to travel time compared to a "regular" terminal station with two tracks and a full-length platform. This ensured that 1 trains were delayed at the Chambers Street station, three stops north, for up to two minutes in both directions. The inner platform opened for IRT Lexington Avenue Line passengers on July 1, 1918, to serve trains on
15698-559: The hurricane included the restoration of the new South Ferry station from 2012 to 2017; the full closure of the Montague Street Tunnel from 2013 to 2014; and the partial 14th Street Tunnel shutdown from 2019 to 2020. Annual ridership on the New York City Subway system, which totaled nearly 1.7 billion in 2019, declined dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and did not surpass one billion again until 2022. When
15865-431: The implementation of a skip-stop service: the 9 train. When skip-stop service started in 1989, it was only implemented north of 137th Street–City College on weekdays, and South Ferry was served by both the 1 and the 9. The station was closed from September 2001 and September 2002, as the section of the line south of Chambers Street was impassable after the September 11 attacks. Skip-stop service ended on May 27, 2005, as
16032-533: The inner loop platform. The entire loop measures about 2,050 feet (620 m) long and originally included a storage track (the inner loop) measuring about 2,000 feet (610 m) long. The tunnel is constructed of concrete, with brick waterproofing on the walls and floors, as well as asphalt waterproofing on the roof. Within the station, columns were placed between the tracks at intervals of 5 feet (1.5 m); these columns supported 12.5-foot-wide (3.8 m) roof girders, which spanned either track. The outer platform
16199-705: The inner one or two are used by express trains. As of 2018 , the New York City Subway's budgetary burden for expenditures was $ 8.7 billion, supported by collection of fares, bridge tolls, and earmarked regional taxes and fees, as well as direct funding from state and local governments. Alfred Ely Beach built the first demonstration for an underground transit system in New York City in 1869 and opened it in February 1870. His Beach Pneumatic Transit only extended 312 feet (95 m) under Broadway in Lower Manhattan operating from Warren Street to Murray Street and exhibited his idea for an atmospheric railway as
16366-463: The line at the beginning of 2017. 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 City, routings change often, for various reasons. Within the nomenclature of the subway , the "line" describes the physical railroad track or series of tracks that a train "route" uses on its way from one terminal to another. "Routes" (also called "services") are distinguished by
16533-403: The lines and leased them to the companies. The first line of the city-owned and operated Independent Subway System (IND) opened in 1932. This system was intended to compete with the private systems and allow some of the elevated railways to be torn down but stayed within the core of the city due to its small startup capital. This required it to be run 'at cost', necessitating fares up to double
16700-511: The loop station. The successor station is fully accessible (although its transfer to the BMT Broadway Line is not), with the main entrance located across from the Staten Island Ferry terminal building's entrance. The new station offers three street entrances, with the main entrance located across from the Staten Island Ferry terminal; the loop station originally had only one entrance within the terminal itself before it reopened with
16867-422: The new South Ferry station, prompting U.S. representative Vito Fossella to announce that he would block funding for the Second Avenue Subway (which Silver supported) unless Silver dropped his opposition to the new terminal. Silver eventually agreed to drop his opposition if funding was provided for Battery Park's renovation, and federal, state, and city officials reached an agreement in June 2004. The FTA issued
17034-450: The new station opened. Unlike the loop station, this station is accessible only by IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line local trains and does not connect with the Lexington Avenue Line. The MTA stated that the new station saved four to six minutes of a passenger's trip time and increased the peak capacity of the 1 service to 24 trains per hour (or one every 2 minutes 30 seconds), as opposed to 16 to 17 trains per hour (or one every 4 minutes) with
17201-407: The new station, which would be located below three existing subway lines (the loop platform, the IRT Lexington Avenue Line 's Joralemon Street Tunnel , and the BMT Broadway Line's Montague Street Tunnel ). The two new approach tunnels would be single-track tunnels connecting to a cavern where a double crossover switch would be installed. The new 76,820-square-foot (7,137 m) station, located at
17368-466: The newer station reopened. Dashed lines cross below solid lines [REDACTED] South Ferry platform is directly above [REDACTED] [REDACTED] tracks The South Ferry loops consist of two side platforms on curved balloon loop tracks. Passengers had to leave the station to transfer between platforms. Generally, IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line trains stopped on the outer loop platform, and IRT Lexington Avenue Line trains used
17535-400: The newly extended Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to the IRT's Brooklyn line. Another tunnel, the Montague Street Tunnel , was built north of the Joralemon Street Tunnel as part of the Dual Contracts, opening in 1920 as part of the BRT system. Also in 1920, the Eastern Parkway Line was extended east of Atlantic Avenue; the Joralemon Street Tunnel services, which had previously served all stops on
17702-530: The newly opened Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. This platform has an even sharper curve than the outer platform, and only the center doors opened here, with special arched openings in a wall between the platform and track at the locations of the doors. No regular service has been at the inner loop station since 1977, although the inner track is still used as a turning loop for 5 trains when they terminate at Bowling Green on weekday evenings and weekends. Passengers had to pay another fare when transferring from one loop to
17869-493: The next year. To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening platforms at stations along the original IRT subway. As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts, made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. The South Ferry station was not lengthened, but
18036-524: The opening to be postponed by several weeks. Other delays were attributed to leaks in the station, which were caused by the station's high water table . The station opened on March 16, 2009, a year after it was originally set to open. At $ 530 million, the new South Ferry station ended up being $ 130 million over budget. It was the first new subway station completed since 1989 when the IND 63rd Street Line stations opened. In April 2009, MTA Capital Construction awarded
18203-451: The original line into an H-shaped system. Lexington Avenue express trains and Bowling Green shuttles typically used the inner loop, while Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line trains could only use the outer loop. The IRT routes at the station were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock , which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service. The Broadway route to 242nd Street became known as
18370-409: The other. Some older maps would depict the two loops as a single station complex, but later maps including the 1958 George Salomon design and the 1972 Massimo Vignelli design depicted each loop as distinct stations. The South Ferry station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line is the only IRT platform in use and is served by 1 trains at all times. The station is the southern terminus of
18537-404: The perception of being more geographically inaccurate than the diagrams today. The design of the subway map by Massimo Vignelli , published by the MTA between 1972 and 1979, has become a modern classic but the MTA deemed the map flawed due to its placement of geographical elements. A late night-only version of the map was introduced on January 30, 2012. On September 16, 2011, the MTA introduced
18704-420: The platform and reduce congestion. They would be relocated to a new street-level station house that would be built out of terra cotta, aluminum, glass, and stainless steel. The doors of the new entrance would be connected with the ferry house ramp with a wide stairway. The structure would be designed to fit in with the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Work got underway on the project later in 1959. Also planned under
18871-661: The platforms at other stations were extended, and six-car local trains began operating in October 1910. On January 23, 1911, ten-car express trains began running on the Lenox Avenue Line, and the following day, ten-car express trains were inaugurated on the West Side Line. The Dual Contracts were formalized in March 1913, specifying new lines or expansions to be built by the IRT and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT). As part of
19038-473: The radial arm would lift and orient a plate into position. Three workers would bolt the plates to the already assembled lining, while a fourth would operate the device. Afterward, a compressed-air grouting machine would squeeze grout into small holes within the lining, filling the spaces between the rock and the cast-iron rings. The holes in the lining were then plugged. Some of the cast-iron plates were cracked while they were placed, but Parsons maintained that
19205-406: The rebuilding of that section of the line, MTA officials recognized the need to build a more efficient terminal for the 1 and 9 trains at South Ferry, since it was anticipated that the line would be heavily used in the long-term aftermath of the attacks. This also coincided with the renovation of Battery Park. The new station would also allow easier transfers for travelers to the Staten Island Ferry or
19372-437: The record, over 6.2 million, was set on October 29, 2015. The system is also one of the world's longest. Overall, the system contains 248 miles (399 km) of routes, translating into 665 miles (1,070 km) of revenue track and a total of 850 miles (1,370 km) including non-revenue trackage . Of the system's 28 routes or "services" (which usually share track or "lines" with other services), 25 pass through Manhattan,
19539-447: The rest reopened in September 2002, along with service south of Chambers Street. Cortlandt Street reopened in September 2018. In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded several underwater tunnels and other facilities near New York Harbor , as well as trackage over Jamaica Bay . The immediate damage was fixed within six months, but long-term resiliency and rehabilitation projects continued for several years. The recovery projects after
19706-426: The reverse end of the train. Additionally, unlike most terminal stations in the system, there were neither layup tracks nor an additional track to store terminating trains, and there were no additional layup tracks along the line until at least 34th Street–Penn Station . This meant that trains could not dwell at the station for longer for 90 seconds (including the 5 to 10 seconds each that it took to extend and retract
19873-408: The riverbed. After the rings were placed, they were covered with concrete, and bench walls with cable ducts were placed aside each tube. Piping and drainage systems were also installed. Pilings were sunk for additional reinforcement. When the tubes opened, there were 18 signals, which divided the tubes into fixed blocks ; only one train at a time could occupy each block. Trains traveled through
20040-477: The routes proposed over the decades have never seen construction, discussion remains strong to develop some of these lines, to alleviate existing subway capacity constraints and overcrowding, the most notable being the proposals for the Second Avenue Subway . Plans for new lines date back to the early 1910s, and expansion plans have been proposed during many years of the system's existence. After
20207-403: The routes that would normally run on these lines. The Transit Authority announces planned service changes through its website, via placards that are posted on station and interior subway-car walls, and through its Twitter page. Current official transit maps of the New York City Subway are based on a 1979 design by Michael Hertz Associates . The maps are not geographically accurate due to
20374-408: The sections under the river being 4,500 feet (1,400 m) long. The tunnels have an outside diameter of 16.67 feet (5.1 m) and an inside diameter of 15.5 feet (4.7 m). The centers of the tubes were placed about 28 feet (8.5 m) apart, except under Joralemon Street, where that distance is 26 feet (7.9 m). Both tubes have a maximum gradient of 3.1 percent. The lowest points on
20541-481: The service ended. These cars had two different door controls; the first opened the outer two sets of doors while the second opened the center set of doors only. The inner loop closed permanently on February 13, 1977, but the inner loop track is still used by 5 trains that terminate at Bowling Green during off-peak hours. In April 1988, the NYCTA unveiled plans to speed up service on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line through
20708-412: The short extension from Rector Street to Whitehall Street was delayed by several months. The BRT attributed the delays to "inadequate turnback facilities" at Whitehall Street and, in August 1918, announced that they would revise the track configuration of the station. When the Whitehall Street station opened on September 20, 1918, it was the southern terminal of the Broadway Line. An additional entrance at
20875-484: The south end of the station, which is accessed via stairs in Peter Minuit Plaza and on the eastern side of Whitehall Street. The Whitehall Street portion of the complex is underneath the original portion of Manhattan Island before Lower Manhattan was expanded . The South Ferry portion of the complex is under Battery Park, which is almost entirely built atop reclaimed land ; this site historically contained
21042-483: The south tube were reconstructed, with the lower half of each cast-iron ring being replaced with an elliptical section. The New York Tunnel Company became insolvent that May, and a receiver was appointed to oversee the completion of the tunnel. By that July, the city's Public Service Commission ordered that additional shifts of workers be hired for the Joralemon project so that test trains could start running through
21209-407: The southeast; building a three-track terminal below the BMT Broadway Line's Whitehall Street station, under the namesake street ; and building the terminal diagonally under Peter Minuit Plaza. Of these seven options, the last one was chosen because any other alternative would have been either too expensive or logistically infeasible. Construction of the station commenced in February 2005. The project
21376-618: The southern end of the station opened in November 1919, providing a direct connection to the Whitehall Terminal of the Staten Island Ferry. The line was extended south in 1920 when the Montague Street Tunnel opened. The station's platforms originally could only fit six 67-foot-long (20 m) cars. In 1926, the New York City Board of Transportation received bids for the lengthening of platforms at nine stations on
21543-514: The station closed in 2017, previously required manual operation, with a foreman and at least two train crew, all of whom could directly see each other. The train crew had to give a signal to the foreman, who pulled a 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 m) tall wooden lever to manually extend and retract the gap fillers. The gap fillers were also unreliable, as they needed an average of 15 days of maintenance for every 6 months in service. The platform featured an oak ticket booth and an oak-cased clock from
21710-447: The station in 2009. The outer loop was the first permanently-closed subway station in the MTA's history to have been reopened. The new IRT station underwent renovations, signal room relocations, and extensive waterproofing work. The $ 194 million contract was awarded in November 2014 to Judlau Contracting , and the new IRT station underwent extensive reconstruction, including the sealing of vents, manholes, hatches, conduits, and ducts, and
21877-442: The station's site. A temporary trestle was built to allow workers to remove dirt onto barges. On July 10, 1905, the outer South Ferry platform opened; the inner track existed when the station was built, but only as a storage track. There was as yet no IRT service to Brooklyn, and all trains terminated at South Ferry's outer-loop platform. The Joralemon Street Tunnel opened in 1908, and all rush-hour trains started operating to Brooklyn
22044-508: The subway system runs on surface or elevated tracks, including steel or cast-iron elevated structures , concrete viaducts , embankments , open cuts and surface routes. As of 2019 , there are 168 miles (270 km) of elevated tracks. All of these construction methods are completely grade-separated from road and pedestrian crossings, and most crossings of two subway tracks are grade-separated with flying junctions . The sole exceptions of at-grade junctions of two lines in regular service are
22211-490: The top of the platform wall, all of which depict a sloop in the New York Harbor to signify the station's location and use. The top of the wall also includes festooned garlands and station monograms , in addition to ceramic trim where the wall intersects the ceiling. The station artwork on the original exit's landing is a 1990 mural, "South Sails", by former MTA Arts & Design director Sandra Bloodworth. During
22378-406: The tour ferries to Liberty and Ellis islands. New York governor George Pataki presented plans in February 2003 for a $ 400 million South Ferry terminal with three tracks and two platforms. Money was allocated for the new station's construction in 2003. The station was originally budgeted at $ 400 million, most of which came from a Federal Transit Administration grant that had been earmarked for
22545-487: The tubes are about 91 to 95 feet (28 to 29 m) below the mean high water level of the East River. About 700 feet (210 m) of the tunnel in Brooklyn is above the water level of the river. While the Manhattan end of the tunnels was constructed through solid rock, the Brooklyn end was constructed through sandy ground. The steelwork for Contract 2 tunnels, including the Joralemon Street Tubes,
22712-467: The tubes were safe. The excavations caused shifting of sandy soil, which damaged some buildings in Brooklyn along the tunnel's route, including the house of the Brooklyn borough president. In June 1904, the RTC said the city was not responsible for repairs to the houses, although contractors were digging another shaft to relieve air pressure in the excavation. The shafts at Garden Place and at Henry Street were sealed, and new shafts at Furman Street on
22879-426: The tunnel at up to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), requiring blocks of up to 2,400 feet (730 m). The placement of each signal was determined by the grade of each tube. Trains could run through either tube in both directions if the other tube was closed for maintenance. The signal apparatuses were powered by batteries at either end of the tunnel. The Manhattan end of the tunnel is the Bowling Green station of
23046-408: The tunnel to be rebuilt. The first train ran through the Joralemon Street Tunnel in November 1907, and the tunnel opened for passenger service on January 9, 1908. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. The Joralemon Street Tunnel, consisting of two parallel tubes, crosses the East River , connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan in the west and Brooklyn in
23213-481: The tunnel was William Barclay Parsons , who designed most of the early IRT system, while Clifford Milburn Holland served as the assistant engineer. The New York Tunnel Company was the primary contractor. When completed, it was known as the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, a name subsequently used for a vehicular tunnel slightly to the south. Each tube is approximately 6,550 feet (2,000 m) long, with
23380-725: The tunnel was served by express trains along both the West Side (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street ) and East Side (now the Lenox Avenue Line ). The express trains, running to Atlantic Avenue, had their northern terminus at 242nd Street or West Farms ( 180th Street ). Lenox local trains to 145th Street served the tunnel during late nights. In Brooklyn, service proceeded beneath Joralemon, Fulton, and Willoughby Streets, originally terminating at Atlantic Avenue. The opening of
23547-501: The tunnel's construction, a house at 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn was converted into a ventilation building and emergency exit. The Joralemon Street Tunnel was the first underwater subway tunnel connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn. It was built by the IRT as part of Contract 2, which the IRT signed with the Rapid Transit Commission in 1902. Construction commenced in 1903 and the tubes were completed by 1907, despite various construction accidents and engineering errors that required part of
23714-477: The tunnels within three months. The first test train, carrying officials, reporters, and construction engineers, ran through the Joralemon Street Tunnel to Brooklyn at 12:40 p.m. on November 27, 1907. The Joralemon Street Tunnel and the Borough Hall station opened to the public on January 9, 1908, with ceremonies, firecrackers, and a musical performance on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall . Initially,
23881-448: The tunnels, but the roofs would be scraped at high speeds. Less urgently, the tunnels in Brooklyn had descended beneath the specified gradient, which if uncorrected would result in an uneven grade. These difficulties had come to the attention of mayor George B. McClellan Jr. by mid-1906. To prevent further delays, contractor New York Tunnel Company chose to proceed, with plans to rebuild the defective tunnel sections later. Parsons blamed
24048-625: The underground portions of the subway had yet to be built, several above-ground segments of the modern-day New York City Subway system were already in service by then. The oldest structure still in use opened in 1885 as part of the BMT Lexington Avenue Line in Brooklyn and is now part of the BMT Jamaica Line . The oldest right-of-way, which is part of the BMT West End Line near Coney Island Creek ,
24215-490: The union's founding, there have been three union strikes over contract disputes with the MTA: 12 days in 1966 , 11 days in 1980 , and three days in 2005 . By the 1970s and 1980s, the New York City Subway was at an all-time low. Ridership had dropped to 1910s levels, and graffiti and crime were rampant. Maintenance was poor, and delays and track problems were common. Still, the NYCTA managed to open six new subway stations in
24382-400: The waterfront were being constructed, by the end of 1904. The property damage led the New York City government to pay out monetary compensation starting in mid-1906. Numerous other accidents occurred during the course of construction. In March 1905, one of the tubes suddenly lost pressure in a "blowout", propelling a worker through the mud and into the air, although he survived. That December,
24549-721: The work. The foundations of tall buildings often ran near the subway construction, and in some cases needed underpinning to ensure stability. This method worked well for digging soft dirt and gravel near the street surface. Tunnelling shields were required for deeper sections, such as the Harlem and East River tunnels, which used cast-iron tubes. Rock or concrete-lined tunnels were used on segments from 33rd to 42nd streets under Park Avenue ; 116th to 120th Streets under Broadway ; 145th to Dyckman Streets (Fort George) under Broadway and St. Nicholas Avenue ; and 96th Street and Broadway to Central Park North and Lenox Avenue . About 40% of
24716-533: The year throughout most of its history, barring emergencies and disasters. By annual ridership, the New York City Subway is the busiest rapid transit system in both the Western Hemisphere and the Western world , as well as the eleventh-busiest rapid transit rail system in the world. The subway carried 2,027,286,000 unlinked, non-unique riders in 2023. Daily ridership has been calculated since 1985;
24883-538: The years, the MTA has been involved in a number of lawsuits over the lack of accessibility in its stations. The Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association filed what may have been the first of these suits in 1979, based on state law. The lawsuits have relied on a number of different legal bases, but most have centered around the MTA's failure to include accessibility as a part of its plans for remodeling various stations. As of January 2022 , ADA-accessibility projects are expected to be started or completed at 51 stations as part of
25050-493: Was absorbed into the N in 1976, and N trains alternately began running to Whitehall Street or to Brooklyn. After the Manhattan Bridge was closed for repairs in 1986, all off-peak N trains began running through the Montague Street Tunnel, stopping at Whitehall Street. Starting in December 1988, N and R trains ran through the tunnel and the Whitehall Street station at all times. When the Manhattan Bridge reopened in February 2004,
25217-582: Was an actual house, built in 1847, but was purchased by the IRT in 1907 and gutted. Planning for the city's first subway line dates to the Rapid Transit Act, authorized by the New York State Legislature in 1894. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, chief engineer of the Rapid Transit Commission (RTC). It called for a subway line from New York City Hall in lower Manhattan to
25384-468: Was built with dimensions of about 14 by 45 feet (4.3 by 13.7 m). The South Ferry construction shaft became a ventilation shaft and consists of a 10-foot-high (3.0 m) enclosure inside the Battery. However, the Henry Street construction shaft was infilled. A ventilation and emergency exit shaft was built inside a row house at 58 Joralemon Street , near Willow Street. 58 Joralemon Street
25551-618: Was completed in 1931, West End trains via the Montague Street Tunnel started using the Nassau Street Line instead. The opening of the Chrystie Street Connection in 1967 resulted in drastic changes to the services that stopped at the Whitehall Street station. The EE train (later the N ) began running from Forest Hills–71st Avenue to Whitehall Street, while the RR (later the R ) operated from Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard to Bay Ridge–95th Street , running via Whitehall Street. The EE route
25718-552: Was expected to cost $ 14,793,419. Before the Dual Contracts were signed, the Public Service Commission had tentatively planned a subway line under Seventh Avenue. Because the route had not yet been assigned to the IRT, the plans for the Seventh Avenue subway had called for a second loop under Battery Park, stretching under Pier A and Castle Clinton , as well as a subway yard beneath Battery Park. When
25885-875: Was in use in 1864 as a steam railroad called the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road . The first underground line of the subway opened on October 27, 1904, almost 36 years after the opening of the first elevated line in New York City (which became the IRT Ninth Avenue Line ). The 9.1-mile (14.6 km) subway line, then called the "Manhattan Main Line", ran from City Hall station northward under Lafayette Street (then named Elm Street) and Park Avenue (then named Fourth Avenue) before turning westward at 42nd Street . It then curved northward again at Times Square , continuing under Broadway before terminating at 145th Street station in Harlem . Its operation
26052-412: Was leased to the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), and over 150,000 passengers paid the 5-cent fare ($ 2 in 2023 dollars ) to ride it on the first day of operation. By the late 1900s and early 1910s, the lines had been consolidated into two privately owned systems, the IRT and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT, later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation , BMT). The city built most of
26219-432: Was less severely damaged, and full service to that station was restored by December 2012. The MTA initially did not consider reopening the old IRT outer loop, saying that it no longer owned the station, that the platform was inaccessible, and that the only exits had been "halved to allow for an employee facility". After advocacy from Staten Island residents, the MTA indicated it would reopen the old outer loop. In March 2013,
26386-562: Was manufactured by the American Bridge Company . The tubes are lined with "rings" 22 inches (560 mm) wide, each of which is made of "plates" that form a perfect circle. Each ring has a minimum thickness of 1.125 inches (28.6 mm) and has flanges that are 7 to 7.5 inches (180 to 190 mm) deep. The rings within the rocky sections, and within the segments of the tunnel above mean high water, generally weigh less than those placed within sandy ground or underneath
26553-430: Was nearly complete by late 1917, but the line did not have signals or electricity because of World War I-related delays. The Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line was extended to South Ferry on July 1, 1918. The inner-loop platform opened the same year, serving trains on the Lexington Avenue Line. The IRT operated the South Ferry station until June 12, 1940, when the city government took over the IRT's operations. Originally, only
26720-432: Was performed by three groups of men, each working eight-hour shifts. After the shields were driven, temporary wooden beams were placed to reinforce the excavations until the cast-iron tubes were assembled. The cast iron lining was assembled via a hydraulically powered, traveling device with a "radial arm"; the device was supported on brackets that ran along the completed section of the lining. Once it had been positioned,
26887-412: Was proposed. That station opened in 2009, replacing the loop station and providing a connection between the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line's 1 train and the Broadway Line's N, R, and W trains. The new terminal for the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line was severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the MTA temporarily re-opened the loop station between 2013 and 2017, adding a temporary connection between
27054-482: Was smaller than most others in the system, having only 16,800 square feet (1,560 m) of surface area, and it was originally served from two stairs leading from the Staten Island Ferry 's Whitehall Terminal . The radius of the curve is only 190 feet (58 m), meaning that the platform curves approximately 77.5 degrees between its front and back ends. The platform accommodated the first five cars of
27221-423: Was split up into three parts: construction of bellmouths , a fan plant, and track junctions from the existing line; approach tunnels to the station; and a new deep-level station. The bellmouths' construction would require that 270 feet (82 m) of the original tunnel would have to be rebuilt to accommodate the new junction. The fan plant, located to the east of the existing line, would facilitate ventilation from
27388-691: Was the first to open. When it was completed in 1905, the outer loop was served by local and express trains along both the West Side (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street ) and East Side (now the Lenox Avenue Line ). West Side local trains had their southern terminus at City Hall during rush hours and South Ferry at other times, and had their northern terminus at 242nd Street. East Side local trains ran from City Hall to Lenox Avenue (145th Street) . Express trains had their southern terminus at South Ferry or Atlantic Avenue and had their northern terminus at 242nd Street, Lenox Avenue (145th Street), or West Farms ( 180th Street ). After
27555-421: Was the old South Ferry loop station, located above the existing station complex. Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864. However, development of what would become the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature authorized the Rapid Transit Act. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons , chief engineer of
27722-452: Was then recycled. By September 2007, MTA Capital Construction president Mysore Nagaraja predicted that the station would be completed by the following August. In December 2008, news sources reported that the new station was essentially finished. The following month, MTA officials found that the tracks were too far from the edge of the platform to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 . The error cost $ 200,000 to fix, forcing
27889-410: Was to be part of the city-operated IND, and was to comprise almost 1 ⁄ 3 of the current subway system. By 1939, with unification planned, all three systems were included within the plan, which was ultimately never carried out. Many different plans were proposed over the years of the subway's existence, but expansion of the subway system mostly stopped during World War II . Though most of
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