UrbanRail.Net > America > USA > New York > NEW YORK CITY Subway & Path

Lines and Routes

The entire network consists of 22 lines plus 3 shuttle services. Total length is 368 km (219 km underground) with 468 stations (153 elevated, 38 at gradeor in an open cutting and 277 underground). The deepest station on the network is 191 St (Lines 1/9) which lies 60 m below street level. 171 of the network is 4-track (2 separate tracks for express services) and 95 km are 3-track. The New York City subway operates around the clock, about every 4 min during rush hours (6:30-9:30 and 15:30-20:00) and every 20 min after midnight, it carries 4.7 million passengers on an average workday (Sept. 2000).

For better orientation, lines are bundled and shown in different colours on maps:

		7th Avenue Lines 1 - Van Cortlandt Park-242 St (Bronx) <> South Ferry (Manhattan) 2 - Wakefield (Bronx) <> Brooklyn College-Flatbush Av (Brooklyn) 3 - Harlem-48 St (Manhattan) <>Van Siclen Av (Brooklyn)
		Lexington Avenue Lines 4 - Woodlawn (Bronx) <> Crown Hts-Utica Av (Brooklyn) 5 - Eastchester-Dyre Av (Bronx) <> Bowling Green (Manhattan) 6 - Pelham Bay Park (Bronx) <> Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall (Manhattan)
		Flushing Line 7 - Times Sq-42 St (Manhattan) <> Flushing Main St
		8th Avenue Lines A - Inwood-207 St (Manhattan) <> Ozone Park-Lefferts Blvd or Far Rockaway-Mott Av (Queens) C - Washington Hts-168 St (Manhattan) <> Euclid Av (Brooklyn) E - Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer (Queens) <> World Trade Center (Manhattan)
		6th Avenue Lines B - [Beford Park Blvd. ( Bronx)] - 145 St (Manhattan) <> Coney Island Stillwell Av (Brooklyn) D - Norwood-205 St ( Bronx) <> Coney Island Stillwell Av (Brooklyn) F - Jamaica-179 St (Queens) <> Coney Island-Stillwell Av (Brooklyn) via 63 St Connector and Jay St-Borough Hall (Brooklyn) V Forest Hills-71 Av (Queens) <> Lower East Side/2 Av via Queens Plaza and Fifth Av-53 St.
		Broadway Lines N - Astoria-Ditmars Blvd (Queens) <> Coney Island-Stillwell Av (Brooklyn) via Pacific St (Brooklyn) R - Forest Hills-71 Av (Queens) <> Bay Ridge-95 St (Brooklyn) via Pacific St (Brooklyn) Q - 57 Street/7th Avenue (Manhattan) <> Coney Island-Stillwell Av (Brooklyn) W - Astoria-Ditmars Blvd (Queens) <> Whitehall St (Manhattan)
		Nassau Street Lines J - Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer (Queens) <> Chambers St (Manhattan) or Broad St (Manhattan) Z - Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer (Queens) <> Broad St (Manhattan) M - Middle Village-Metropolitan Av (Queens) <> Chambers St (Manhattan)
		Brooklyn-Queens Crosstown Line G - Court Sq (Queens) <> Smith-9 Sts (Brooklyn)
		14th St - Canarsie Local Line L - 14 St (Manhattan) <> Canarsie-Rockaway Pkwy (Brooklyn)
		Shuttle Services S - Grand Central <> Times Sq-42 St (Manhattan) S - Franklin Av <> Prospect Park (Brooklyn) S - Broad Channel <> Rockaway Park-Beach 116 St (Queens)

All pictures by kind permission © Chao-Hwa Chen

More photos here and here

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HISTORY & PROJECTS

To read anything about the history of the New York Subway go to the History section at NYC Subway Resources. Also check out the other links below!

1) For many decades a new route has been planned along 2nd Avenue. In spring 2007, the first phase of construction was started:

from the present Q terminus at 57th St (Broadway Line) to 96th St on 2nd Avenue. The tunnel between 57th Street and Lexington Av/63 St stations already exists, so the new construction actually only includes the section between Lexington Av/63 St and 96th Street. The first phase is scheduled for competion in 2013, and it will be served by an extended Q service.

In a second stage, the northern extension to the hub at 125th Street will be built.

Find details here.

2) Line 7 will be extended by 2.4 km from its current terminus at Times Square/7th Avenue, westward under 41st St and south under to 11th Avenue to a new terminus at 34th Street in the new development zone of the Hudson Yards. An intermediate station may be built later at 41 St/10 Av. Groundbreaking took place in Dec. 2007.

All pictures unless otherwise stated © Chao-Hwa Chen

Photos © Jan Bartelsen

More photos here and here

PATH

PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) links central Manhattan to Jersey City and Newark in New Jersey, a flat fare of $ 1.50 (2001) applies (they also offer discounts up to $1.20 if you buy a 20 or 40 trip FareCard) and the lines run like a metro (every few minutes during rush hours), 24 hours a day. Opened in 1908, total length of the network is 22.2 km with 11.9 km underground (including two tunnels under the Hudson river). The PATH system is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. More
After 11 Sept. 2001 service was interrupted between NYC and New Jersey. Service to Exchange Place station was resumed on 29 June 2003, and from 23 Nov 2003 trains have been back to a provisional World Trade Center station.

PATH System map

OTHER RAIL TRANSIT IN THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN AREA

Staten Island Railway

This railway line runs along the eastern side of New York's fifth borough. At St. George in the north it connects to the ferry from Manhattan (near South Ferry station). Subway MetroCards and tokens are valid on this line.

Metro North

This commuter railway operates from Grand Central station and serves the areas north of New York City with one branch reaching as far as New Haven in Connecticut. There is a major interchange with subway lines at 125 St and 12 stations lie in the Bronx. MetroCards are not valid and fares are according to distance.

LIRR (Long Island Railroad)

The Long Island Railraod serves almost any part of Long Island with various branches spreading out east from Jamaica station in Queens. From this station some trains run west to the Flatbush Av. terminus in downtown Brooklyn, some terminate in Long Island City in Queens and some run through to Manhattan's Penn Station. MetroCards are not valid and fares are according to distance.

AirTrain

This 13 km long automatic peoplemover system opened at JFK Airport in Queens on 17 Dec. 2003. It links the Howard Beach - JFK Airport station (line A) in Queens to all air terminals, a branch leads north to Jamaica LIRR and Sutphin Blvd-Archer Av subway station (lines E, J, Z). Find out more here!

NJ Transit (New Jersey Transit Railways)

NJT operates some commuter lines from its Hoboken Terminal in Jersey City, which can be reached from Manhattan by PATH. Some services run through to Penn Station in Manhattan.

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail

A new light rail line, opened in 2000, runs south from Exchange Place on the WTC leg of the PATH subway. From Sept. 2002 it continues north to NJ Transit's Hoboken Terminal. More

Newark City Subway

From Newark's Penn Station (PATH and NJ Transit) an old light rail line runs north through the city. More

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LINKS

MTA - Metropolitan Transportation Authority Homepage Official Page

PATH (NJ Transit Site)

PATH (Port Authority Site)

NJ Transit

AIRTRAIN - The Transit System at JFK Airport

NYC SUBWAY RESOURCES has everything you might be looking for on the New York City Subway

The SubwayNut by Jeremiah Cox incl. 100s of station photos

PATH / Hudson & Manhattan RR

UrbanRail across the Hudson River by Edgar Millard

Hudson Tubes (PATH) by Bob Klapouchy

Joe KorNer - New York City Subway System

UrbanRail.Net NYC Subway Gallery 1 (Werner Huber) and Gallery 2 (Bob Barrows)

Great map (235K) including all rail services in New York and adjacent New Jersey by Joseph Brennan

Great BOOKS on the NY Subway

New York Transit Museum: Subway Style: 100 Years of Architecture & Design in the New York City Subway. - Oct. 2004, 252 p., 12' x 9', Stuart, Tabori and Chang; ISBN 158479349X

Gene Sansone: New York Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars, 1867-2004. - Nov. 2004, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr; ISBN: 0801879221

Lorraine B. Diehl: Subways: The Tracks That Built New York City. - Sept. 2004, Clarkson Potter; ISBN: 1400052270

Stan Fischler: The Subway and the City. - July 2004, 568 p., Frank Merriwell Inc., ISBN 0837395518

David Weitzman: A Subway for New York. - June 2004, 40 p., Crown Books for Young Readers; ISBN: 0375925376

Michael W. Brooks: Subway City: Riding the Trains, Reading New York . - Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1997, 252 p, bw, ISBN 0813523966 - Great history of the subway illustrated with many historical cartoons and photos

Randy Kennedy: SUBWAYLAND: Adventures in the World Beneath New York. - Feb. 2004, 240 p., Griffin Trade Paperback; ISBN 0312324340

New York Transit Museum: New York City Subway Trains: 12 Classic Punch and Build Trains. - Dec. 2003, 48 p., Gibbs Smith Publisher; ISBN 1586853244

Brian J. Cudahy: A Century of Subways: Celebrating 100 Years of New York's Underground Railways. - Oct. 2003, 360 pages, Fordham University Press, ISBN 0823222926

Gene Sansone, Clifton Hood: Evolution of New York City Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars, 1867-1997. - March 2002, 424 p., Johns Hopkins Univ Pr; ISBN 0801868866

Martin W. Sandler: Straphanging in the U.S.A: Trolleys and Subways in American Life (Transportation in America). - June 2003, 48 pages, 8.50' x 10.25', Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195132297

Tim McNeese: THE NEW YORK SUBWAY SYSTEM. - Building History Series, Lucent Books, San Diego, 1997, 96 p, bw, ISBN 1560064277 - An illustrated concise history of the NY subway

Brian J. Cudahy, George M. Smerk: How We Got to Coney Island: The Development of Mass Transportation in Brooklyn and Kings County. - Dec 2002, 320 pages, Fordham University Press, ISBN 082322208X

William D. Middleton: Metropolitan Railways: Rapid Transit in America (Railroads Past and Present). - January 2003, 400 pages, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253341795

Sr Range Tom: New York City Subway (Postcard History). - 128 p., 0.33 x 9.22 x 6.60 inches, Arcadia, 2002 ISBN 0738510866

Christopher Payne: New York's Forgotten Substations: The Power Behind the Subway. - 2002, Princeton Architectural Press, ISBN 1568983557

Brian J. Cudahy: Rails Under the Mighty Hudson: The Story of the Hudson Tubes, the Pennsylvania Tunnels and Manhattan Transfer (Hudson Valley Heritage, 2). - June 2002, 112 p., Fordham Univ Pr; ISBN 0823221903

Kurt C. Schlichting: Grand Central Terminal: Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City. - April 2001, 208 pages, Johns Hopkins Univ Pr; ISBN 0801865107

James Clifford Greller: New York City Subway Cars. - 166 p., XplorerPress.com, ISBN 0946576503

Derrick, Peter: TUNNELING TO THE FUTURE: The Story of the Great Subway Expansion That Saved New York. (Jan 2001)

Frattini, Dave: THE UNDERGROUND GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY SUBWAYS. April 2000, 352 pages

Hood, Clifton: 722 MILES : The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York Simon & Schuster, NY, 1993. Rather a novel, with only a few photographs.

Cudahy, Brian J.: UNDER THE SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK : The Story of the Greatest Subway System in the World Fordham University press, 1995.

SUBWAY LIVES : 24 Hours in the Life of the New York City Subway

Cudahy, Brian J.: Cash, Tokens and Transfers. A History of Urban Mass Transport in North America. - Fordham University Press, NY, 1990. - Also deals with tramways and buses and includes a lot of black & white subway photographs of different US cities.

Fischler, Stan: The Subway : A Trip Through Time on New York's Rapid Transit. - ISBN 1882608194

Robert J. Ravelli: CAR-FREE IN NEW YORK. - The Regional Public Transit Guide.- Camino Books, 1994, Philadelphia, 175p, many maps. - A perfect introduction to all public transport in and around NYC

Robert W. Snyder, Pete Hamill: Transit Talk : New York's Bus and Subway Workers Tell Their Stories. - 1998. 192 p., Rutgers University Press; ISBN 0813525772

Tickets and Fares

In April 2003 the legendary subway token was withdrawn and eventually replaced my the MetroCard. A basic fare of $ 2.00 applies for any trip on the subway, although with the MetroCard there are certain discounts.

Other interesting tickets for visitors (2008):

1-Day Fun Pass: $ 7.50 - unlimited travel on subway and local buses

7-Day MetroCard: $ 25.00 - unlimited travel on subway and local buses

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THE VIDEO: Great Metros of the World: Toronto and New York (PAL colour system)

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