North America 2.0

New York City Subway 2.0

PATH and New York City Subway

The history of the New York City is complex, fascinating, and very hard to describe concisely. Knowledge of NYC Subway routes and services will be helpful to understand the following.

The goal of this exercise was to propose a plausible alternate history that provides rail service within a mile of everywhere in the City of New York. LIRR and Metro North service is mostly unaltered, so changes are primarily expansions of the subway system. I’ve utilized many of the expansion plans put out at various times, and have used most of the existing provisions for lines that were never constructed. The major changes require attitude shifts: the IND to be willing to focus more on route expansion than route competition, the city (and Robert Moses) to be willing to construct things into the 1960s, significant Program for Action construction in the 1970s, and there to be less opposition to construction.

1- This service remains unchanged.

2- The Nostrand Ave Line on the south end of the line is extended further into Flatbush, terminating at Avenue Y (opened 1924); otherwise, unchanged.

3- On the south end, the New Lots Avenue Line is extended one stop southeast to Livonia Avenue, with the station located within Livonia Yard. On the north side, the 3 is extended via a ramp constructed between the Lenox Avenue Yard and the 9^th Avenue El’s 145^th Street Yard in 1904. Connecting service was established in 1940, but through service did not begin until the 9^th Avenue El was strengthened in 1955. The Polo Grounds Shuttle operated between 167^th St on the Woodlawn Line and a temporary platform located within the former 145^th St Yard for cross-platform transfer to Lenox Avenue trains during the period between the abandoning of the 9^th Avenue El and start of through service. Some 3s run up the IRT Woodlawn Line during rush hour and when trains need to access Jerome Yard, but otherwise typically terminate at 167^th St.

4- This service remains largely unchanged in Manhattan and the Bronx. On the other end of the line, I have the service splitting off the IRT Eastern Parkway Line at Crown Heights-Utica Ave, and continuing down the Utica Avenue Line (opened 1921 to Clarendon Rd, and 1929 to Ralph Ave). A yard was built adjacent to the site of what is now the Flatbush Bus Depot, originally a streetcar shop.

5- On the north end, this service has been moved to the 3^rd Avenue El, via a Program for Action connection established at 153^rd St and St Ann’s Avenue using the space where the Manhattan Els connected to the White Plains Road Line. As part of this program, the elevated was strengthened. Some service continues past Gun Hill Road at rush hours to Nereid Ave. On the south end, service has been extended down the extended Nostrand Avenue Line (although some trains short turn at Bowling Green via that loop).

6- This service remains largely unchanged, with a short extension two stops north to Co-Op City (opened 1998).

7- The IRT Flushing Line extends east further into Queens, along a few roads in Flushing out to 211^th St-Bay Terrace (opened 1930).

S- 42^nd Ave Shuttle- this delightful service remains unchanged.

PATH Red Line- The Red Line runs from the World Trade Center Terminal to Newark’s EWR airport. The airport extension beyond Newark opened in 1982.

PATH Green Line- This service originates at WTC and swings north at Exchange Place. At the Hoboken Terminal station, the line takes an extension north through Hoboken to 17^th Street, where it emerges and climbs a ramp to a pair of portals on the side of the New Jersey Palisade. Near 18^th Street Station, the service turns north again in a cut-and-cover tunnel under Bergenline Avenue until its terminus in North Bergen at Palisades Park. This route was opened in 1929 to preemptively combat the Lincoln Tunnel and IND expansion farther into New Jersey, with some success.

PATH Yellow Line- This line begins at Grand Central Terminal, a long-planned but unbuilt extension of the H&M’s 33^rd Street Line (opened 1921). It terminates at Journal Square after travelling via Hoboken Terminal.

PATH Blue Line: Also originating at Grand Central, this service continues past Hoboken south of Newport Station to Communipaw Terminal. In 1991, after more than two decades of closure south of Exchange Place, the line was extended south to 8^th St (Bayonne), and then across the rebuilt Bayonne Bridge to Staten Island Mall in 2013 as a stimulus project.

PATH Purple Line- This line originates at WTC, turns south at Exchange Place, and heads past Communipaw Terminal to West Side Ave in the CNJ right of way, opened in 1991. Outside of rush hours, it typically only operates as a shuttle to Communipaw Ave.

A- The A largely remains unchanged, originating at Inwood-207^th Street and terminating at Far Rockaway (or, for a few rush hour trains, at Rockaway Park), but with some minor changes in Brooklyn. The chief history-changing item was the 1926-1929 construction of the BMT Myrtle Avenue and Ann Street subways in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. The original intent had been to construct the Ashland Place connection to connect the BMT Fulton Line to the BMT subway at DeKalb Avenue, but that would have generated prohibitive levels of congestion in downtown Brooklyn. Accordingly, it was decided to build a tunnel which would allow the Myrtle Avenue and Fulton elevated trains to enter Manhattan via an alternative routing. This coincided with the extension of the Fulton Elevated out to Jamaica. To handle the increased service, the Fulton Elevated was strengthened and four-tracked between East New York (Broadway Junction) and the new junction between the old elevated line and new subway at Fulton Street and Elliott Place, as part of the Dual Contracts program.

The BMT’s plans did not include the IND, however, which was eager to expand eastward into Brooklyn, and did so by ‘recapturing’ the Fulton Street Line east of Elliott Place in 1934, as the Dual Contracts agreement had made possible. (The BMT connection to the Myrtle Avenue subway remained in use by Franklin Ave trains.) West of Elliott Place, a new portal was constructed to make the connection with the IND, and a new subway was constructed between Hinsdale Avenue and Euclid Avenue as the three-track elevated in this section was not suitable for heavier steel subway cars.

(The track arrangement east of East New York/Broadway Junction is worth noting here; after all four Fulton tracks leave Broadway Junction they curve south alongside the Canarsie Line, briefly forming a six-track line split with four tracks above Van Sinderen Ave and two above Snediker Ave. The Canarsie Line tracks split at Pitkin Ave, where the inbound track jogs one blog east onto Snediker Ave, joining the Fulton Line’s uptown local track. From east to west, the order is Manhattan-bound Fulton local and Manhattan-bound Canarsie track over Snediker Ave, and then the Manhattan-bound Fulton express, Rockaway-bound Fulton express, Jamaica-bound Fulton local, and Canarsie-bound Canarsie Line track over Van Sinderen Ave. Complicated, as it was in history.)

After Euclid Avenue, trains that don’t short turn continue a couple of blocks east under Pitkin Ave on the trackways that may or may not lead to 76^th St, before splitting off into an open cut through the median of Conduit Boulevard. This extension, opened in 1956, was designed to more cheaply get service to the Rockaways while not overloading the remaining portion of the BMT Fulton Line, which was now being asked to carry increased numbers of trains to Jamaica. Trains then join the former LIRR Rockaway Line to Far Rockaway.

C- The C’s eastern terminus has moved to Jamaica on a 1929 extension of the BMT Fulton Line beyond Ozone Park. On the western end, after transiting the BMT and IND Fulton Lines and the IND 8^th Avenue Line, the C splits off after 168^th Street and heads past 174^th St Yard and over the George Washington Bridge. Shortly thereafter, it turns south alongside a Public Service of New Jersey streetcar line in an open cut, and terminates in Cliffside Park. This line, completed in 1934, resulted in a jurisdictional battle that ended further construction into New Jersey.

E- The western end of this service has been moved to Elm Park on Staten Island. The construction of the Staten Island Tunnel, completed in 1933, was intended to tie Staten Island Railway service into the BMT (who’d signed an agreement with the B&O as part of tunnel construction, which included a lower-level freight tunnel), but the IND wanted this service for its own. So, the IND ‘recaptured’ it while under construction, and built its own subway underneath Forest Avenue, reaching Broadway in 1934 and Maple Parkway in 1935. On the other end of the tunnel, the IND continued to build south of Church Street on the IND Culver Line, with the new IND Fort Hamilton Parkway Line reaching 60^th-St – Fort Hamilton Parkway in 1935. There, the express tracks were built under the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch and the uptown BMT Sea Beach Line track, emerging in place of the Sea Beach Line’s express tracks, which were severed at Fort Hamilton Parkway. After passing through the old Sea Beach Line tunnel towards the former ferry terminal under 4^th Avenue, the line curves underneath the LIRR yard to join the Staten Island Tunnel via an underground junction.

Between Fort Hamilton Parkway and Bergen Street, the E runs express. Before 1974, service continued through the Cranberry Street Tunnel, but to enable additional service, reduce congestion and provide better service to the new World Trade Center, trains were rerouted through Lower Manhattan. As part of the Program for Action 2^nd Avenue Subway and WTC projects, the new IND Atlantic Avenue Line was constructed, connecting to the IND Culver Line at Atlantic Avenue. On the other side of the East River, another connection was dug to the unused BMT Broadway Line bellmouths in the Montague Street tunnel near Whitehall Street. At Cortlandt Street Station, a connection from the BMT Broadway Line was made to the IND 8^th Avenue Line, where the tracks had previously dead ended at the formerly-named Hudson Terminal platforms (which were taken out of use in favor of having E service move to the Cortland Street platforms). Service runs express to 42^nd Street and then through the 53^rd Street Tunnel onto the IND Queens Boulevard Line (where the Woodhaven Boulevard Station has been converted to express configuration).

On the east end of the line, things also look a bit different. As part of the 1956 IND expansion, the bellmouths east of 63^rd Dr – Rego Park were used to connect E service to the Rockaway Beach Branch of the LIRR, to provide quick Rockaway service to Midtown. (Initially, E trains went to Rockaway Park, and A trains to Far Rockaway). In 1993, service was diverted along the new Rockaway Boulevard Subway to JFK Airport, with shuttle service to Rockaway Park from Liberty Blvd – Rockaway Ave.

S- This shuttle operates from Liberty Ave-Rockaway Blvd (with E, C and R service) to Rockaway Park.

O- Launched in 2012, the O was designed to expand service into Queens. O service, along with the V, begins at 59^th Street in Queens in a 3-track subway under the Long Island Expressway (finished in 1959 as part of expressway construction). At Woodhaven Boulevard, the line diverges from the V and LIE into a 2012-built, two-track cut-and-cover subway under Seabury Street. The line then aligns with Queens Boulevard at the end of the street (the original Queens Boulevard Line diverges north under Broadway just east of here).

Service continues along Queens Boulevard with transfers to the M at Queens Blvd-76^th St and the 7 at 46^th St and 33^rd St (no station at 40^th St), then dives under Sunnyside Yard and into the 61st Street Tunnel. Under Central Park, the O service connects to the IND 6^th Avenue Line, before swinging west under 53^rd Street and onto the lower level of the IND 8^th Ave Line, which is why the line is colored dark blue.

At Worth Street, the line diverges onto the IND Worth Street Line, and the V rejoins the O (though going the opposite way) at Columbia Street, both continuing under the East River onto the 1959 IND 4^th Street Line. Intended to be the heart of the IND second system, due to limited funds this was the only major part built, with the route dictated by its inclusion in the Long Island Expressway project, Flushing Avenue upgrades, and ramming through of 4^th Street in Williamsburg by Robert Moses. (Broadway-South 4^th Street was the initial O terminus until the line was extended in 2015). The O and V then swing north, pass the L at Thames St with an in-fare connection, and split at Metropolitan Ave, where the V continues on the 1959-built line.

The O, however, continues east to join the W at Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue, and continues along the Metropolitan Avenue Line (2015) and Union Turnpike Line (2018) to terminate at Bell Blvd. (The official split between the lines is just east of Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike where a connection to the expanded Jamaica Yard splits off.)

B- The B’s northern terminus has been moved to a 1973 Program for Action expansion to 233^rd Street in the Bronx. After a bridge over Bronx Park, the service rejoins the earlier tunnels just east of Norwood-205^th St on the Concourse Line. It then runs unchanged south onto the 6^th Avenue Line, through the Chrystie Street Connection, and then across the north tracks on the Manhattan Bridge into DeKalb Avenue before running express on the Brighton Line to Brighton Beach.

D- The D remains largely unchanged outside of the Bronx, where trains originate at Herring Ave-Morris Park, a 1979 extension built to coincide with the 2^nd Avenue Subway. This northern terminus changed several times, however; at first, D trains turned at 145^th Street in Manhattan, before being extended to Prospect Avenue on the IND Boston Road Line in 1948, and Lawton Avenue on the IND Lafayette Avenue Line in 1951 when those lines opened. In 1979, with the opening of the 2^nd Avenue Subway and the IND Morris Park Line, the Q took over Lafayette Avenue service, displacing the B to the new terminus at Herring Ave-Morris Park.

At 161^st St-Yankee Stadium the service joins the Concourse Line, and continues as is, express service on the IND 8^th and 6^th Avenue Lines and on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line, and local service on the BMT West End Line into Coney Island.

F- The F generally remains unaltered. It starts off at Coney Island, runs local (with rush hour express) up the BMT/IND Culver Line, switches to the IND 6^th Avenue Line, and transits the full length of the IND 63^rd Street Line (1975) before running express on the IND Queens Boulevard Line. The only difference is that the F continues to run express from Forest Hills-71 Ave out past Jamaica-179 St to Queens Village – Springfield Boulevard, the originally intended terminus (built in 1963, the R runs local out to there as well).

H- This is another Staten Island service, originating in the median of the Staten Island Expressway in Graniteville. The line was built with the expressway as part of a federal grant for the project, and it opened officially in 1964 after the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge was completed and tracks connected to the end of two of the 1936 Fort Hamilton Parkway Line’s layup tracks under Dyker Beach Park.

The H follows the same routing as the E after 60^th St-Fort Hamilton Parkway Station on the IND Fort Hamilton Parkway and Culver Lines, before continuing north past Bergen Street and through the Rutgers Avenue tunnel onto the 6^th Avenue Line. At 47-50 Streets-Rockefeller Center, service turns east underneath 53^rd Street and onto the Queens Boulevard Line before running local out to Jamaica Station via the IND Archer Avenue Line.

G- This service remains similar, running the length of the IND Culver Line and IND Crosstown Line as the only service that doesn’t enter the borough of Manhattan. However, here it starts in Bay Ridge, at 7^th Ave, before running local up the Fort Hamilton Parkway Line to Church Ave. After traversing the IND Culver and Crosstown Lines, the service reaches the IND Queens Boulevard Line and enters the lower level between Court Square and Queen’s Plaza. Constructed in 1968 to solve a persistent congestion problem, this lower level consists of two tracks with new platforms at Queens Plaza and 36^th Street Station, where the tracks rise up again to meet the Queens Boulevard express tracks at the same level after the local tracks diverge on Steinway Street. A four-track subway then continues to Broadway, where the outside tracks again dive further underground underneath both local and express tracks as those sets rejoin before continuing north as the 1938 IND Northern Boulevard Line. Originally, Northern Boulevard trains joined either the express tracks here, or the local tracks west of the Queens Boulevard Line’s Northern Boulevard – Broadway Station platforms, but this connection to the local tracks is now not normally used in revenue service, and passengers for 46^th Street or Steinway Street must switch trains at Northern Boulevard-Broadway.  East of 126^th St-Corona Meadows, the G turns north on the IND Whitestone Line over the former LIRR branch before terminating at 166^th St – Whitestone.

K- Constructed in 1972 as part of the Program for Action, the K largely runs in the Bay Ridge Cut connecting lines throughout Brooklyn. It begins at Broadway Junction (in the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch tunnel, with a connection to East New York Yard) and runs along the Bay Ridge Branch (using the original Atlantic Avenue platform) under the Canarsie Line to New Lots Avenue, where it turns away from the Canarsie Line above and heads along the Bay Ridge Branch. At Ralph Avenue, K trains join the M on the original Brooklyn and Flatbush Railway route. The K keeps following the Bay Ridge Branch past the Brighton Line, until diverging onto the Culver Line at 18^th Ave. At Ditmas Ave, the service continues over the rebuilt BMT Culver Line to 9^th Ave (though as part of the rebuild the 13^th Ave Station was removed). Service terminates on the lower level of 9^th Avenue.

J- On the eastern end, the J begins on the IND Archer Avenue Line (1988) as extended further into Jamaica onto the LIRR Atlantic Branch. At Jamaica Center, the service continues (though it is four tracks on the same level, as opposed to a double deck arrangement), later passing onto the BMT Jamaica Line and then the Nassau Street Line. At Broad Street, the service continues through the Montague Street Tunnel, before running local down the BMT 4^th Avenue Line to Bay Ridge-95^th Street.

As part of the joint B&O-PRR-City of New York Staten Island Tunnel project (finished 1929), the B&O quadruple tracked the Staten Island North Shore line, and as part of the agreement turning over passenger service, the railroad sold the two water-side tracks to the city in 1953. To relieve congestion in the Staten Island Tunnel, during the construction of the Verazzano Narrows Bridge, connection was made to the south end of the BMT 4^th Avenue Line in Brooklyn, and the Staten Island Railway’s South Beach Branch, which had spent several years abandoned before the bridge was completed.

Some Bay Ridge trains were then routed over the bridge and to Arlington on the North Shore Branch. Most passengers alight at St George for ferry or E or T service due to this awkward routing, but this connection gave North Shore riders the one-seat ride to Manhattan they’d been promised when they authorized bonds for the B&O purchase.

Z- The Z remains unchanged, operating rush hours from Jamaica Center via the IND Archer Avenue Line and BMT Jamaica Line into Broad Street on the BMT Nassau Street Line, though they run express all the way (with alternating skip stops with the J east of Broadway Junction). Trains lay up on stub tracks just before the Montague Street Tunnel, and the tail tracks at Canal Street that used to connect to the Manhattan Bridge.

M- The M sees a lot of changes in this alternate history. It begins at the never-finished Roosevelt Avenue Terminal above the Queens Boulevard Line, then transits a 1996-built extension south in a tunnel under 76^th St until emerging and turning into a widened LIRR Bay Ridge Branch cut before reaching what’s in reality the end of the Myrtle Avenue Line. At Myrtle Avenue, the M takes the connection onto the BMT Jamaica Line, taking it and the Nassau Line into downtown Manhattan. At Chambers St, the line curves off onto the 1929 Ann Street Line, before transiting the line to Ashland Place, exiting a tunnel in Fort Greene Park and joining the BMT Fulton Line. At Franklin Ave, the service turns south to join the BMT Brighton Line. At Avenue H, the service heads down into a burrowing junction similar to the abandoned one to the Sheepshead Bay Race Track, before heading east along the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch, on the BMT Flatbush Line (originally the steam-powered Brooklyn and Flatbush Railway) to Canarsie Landing.

L- The L remains the same, except for the line being extended on an el out to its original terminus at Canarsie Landing (1928), and into the west side of Manhattan (1999) to better replace the 9^th Ave El. The old track arrangement at Atlantic Avenue is preserved, however.

N- This service remains largely unchanged, running up the BMT Sea Beach Line and Fourth Avenue Line, over the south tracks on the Manhattan Bridge, and on the BMT Broadway Line. After passing through the 60^th Street Tunnel, the N continues down the Astoria Line to LGA by elevated (1964), a well-needed change in this service.

R- This route changes dramatically, with the R running further into Queens. The service begins at Springfield Boulevard, and runs local on the Queens Boulevard Line until traversing the 11^th Street Cut, though instead of heading directly onto the BMT in Queens, it takes a further connection to the congestion-reliving 2012-built 61^st Street Tunnel just east of the now normally disused connection to the 60^th Street Tunnel. Just north of 57^th Street, the R enters the BMT Broadway Line local tracks using the outer ramps built as provisions for BMT expansion to the Upper West Side.  The R continues south past Canal Street and takes the Montague Street Tunnels into Brooklyn, then takes a 1974 tunnel connection (built as part of the 2^nd Avenue Line project) just east of the BMT Court Street Station to the approach tracks east of the IND Court Square Station, now the NYC Transit Museum. The line serves the outer platforms at Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets before running express on the BMT/IND Fulton Line out to Euclid Avenue, where it climbs out on to the former BMT el. At Rockaway Blvd, the line diverges onto the Rockaway Boulevard Line, where it runs to the JFK Airport Station.

Q- The Q begins at Coney Island, where it runs local up the Brighton Line, eventually finding its way over the south tracks of the Manhattan Bridge and up the BMT Broadway Line. At 57^th Street, the line takes the IND 63^rd Avenue Line (1975), stopping at Lexington Ave-63^rd St before running up the IND 2nd Avenue Line (1979) into the Bronx. At 161st St, the route splits off onto the 1948 Boston Road Line, before switching at Longfellow Ave to the three-track IND Lafayette Line to its terminus at Layton Ave.

W- The W is greatly altered in this alternate history. Originally, the line began at the Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue stop on the Myrtle Avenue Line, but service was extended via the IND Metropolitan Avenue Line (2015) and IND Union Turnpike Line (2018) to originate at Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike and then Bell Blvd. The W continues down the BMT Myrtle Avenue El past the junction with the Jamaica Line (the line was strengthened in 1929 when the Ann Street Line was built). Just before Navy Street, the line enters a ramp and portal in Fort Greene Park onto the Myrtle Street Subway (the elevated is abandoned and torn down west of this point). At the other end of the Ann Street Line, the W enters the lower level of City Hall on the BMT Broadway Line, before traversing the Broadway and Astoria Lines to LGA.

V- The V, like the K, is a reuse of a no-longer-used letter, and travels part of the IND 2^nd Avenue trunk line. It starts, along with the O, on the IND Harding Avenue Line under the Long Island Expressway (1959), before continuing down the original line at Woodhaven Boulevard past where the O splits off. Near Cypress Ave, the 2012 IND Metropolitan Avenue Line connects, and O trains once again join V trains, though going the opposite timetable direction. At Columbia Street in the Lower East Side, the line curves north onto the 2012 IND Houston Street Line connector, stopping at 2 Ave for cross-platform transfer to the F before turning north onto the two-track 2^nd Avenue Line via a 1979-built junction. At 55th St, the V turns east into the 63rd St Tunnels and connects via the lower level of the Queens Boulevard Line to the IND Northern Boulevard Line. After 126^th St-Corona Meadows, the line continues straight along Northern Boulevard out to Bell Blvd-Bayside in a modern bored tunnel (it initially operated out to Whitestone; the G terminated at 106^th St-Corona Meadows until the Northern Boulevard Line was extended in 1991 and service swapped).

T- The T service begins at the southern tip of Staten Island at Tottenville on the IND Staten Island Line. After agreement with the B&O was signed in 1953, service transiting the Staten Island Tunnel (1929) began via ramps completed in 1954, and upon reaching Brooklyn, the T runs express on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line. Just west of Jay Street-Metrotech, the service transitions onto the 1974 IND Atlantic Avenue Line and then after passing under the East River, onto 2^nd Avenue Subway (1979) in Lower Manhattan. The line then heads north into the Bronx. At 161^st St-Park Ave, the line joins the IND Boston Road Line. North of 173^rd St, the service enters the tracks of the former New York, Westchester and Boston Railway (Dyre Avenue Line). The NYW&B was purchased by the B&O for terminal access in 1929, with the outer two tracks sold to the IND in 1937 after passenger service ceased (the inner two tracks were retained for freight service). Initially, elevated cars ran as a shuttle, before A Division service to Manhattan began in 1957. With the completion of the 2^nd Avenue Subway, the T took over this service from 180^th Street.