IRT Lenox Avenue Line

The Lenox Avenue Line is a line of the New York City Subway, part of the A Division, mostly built as part of the first subway line. Located in Manhattan, New York City, it consists of six stations between and , all of which are situated within the neighborhood of Harlem in Upper Manhattan.

Extent and service

The following services use part or all of the IRT Lenox Avenue Line:

{|class="wikitable"

!Time period

!Section of line

|all times

|south of 145th Street

|all times

|full line

The Lenox Avenue Line begins at the Harlem–148th Street station, which was formerly known as 148th Street–Lenox Terminal. The entire line was built under the western side of Lenox Avenue because, at the time of the line's construction in 1904, there were streetcar tracks on the eastern side of the avenue, which had conduits embedded in the street. 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. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and legal challenges were resolved near the end of 1899. in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. The excavation was relatively easy because the subway was under one side of Lenox Avenue and, as such, there were no street railway tracks to work around. North of the junction, the line would have continued to the 33-track Lenox Yard; this segment was part of Section 9A. McMullan & McBean began work on Section 9A on September 10, 1901. The 142nd Street Junction was built under soft soil due to its proximity to the shoreline of the Harlem River. As such, the contractors could not build a flying junction; instead, the tracks from the yard were to cross over the revenue-service tracks at a level junction. There originally would not have been any stations between the junction and the yard, but a station at 145th Street was added to the plan in 1903. The first train ran from the line onto the IRT White Plains Road Line (known as the West Farms Branch or the West Farms Extension) just after midnight on July 10, 1905. Soon after the line opened, it was speculated that it would bring prosperity to Harlem. The line ran across the path of the Harlem Creek, a creek that had once been located above ground but had been buried by the first decade of the 20th century. The creek's presence caused flooding in the line's early years, especially around 116th Street. In April 1907, IRT officials decided to create a concrete drain beneath the Lenox Avenue Line tunnel, during which time trains in both directions ran on the southbound track during late nights. In Fiscal Year 1910, the bottom of the tunnel at the south end of the 116th Street station was rebuilt to prevent leaking.

Later history

The line has always carried trains of two service patterns. Initially, the station was served by both local and express trains. Local trains operated only to 145th Street, while express trains ran to either 145th Street or West Farms (180th Street). Express trains to 145th Street were eliminated in 1906. 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. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. On January 23, 1911, ten-car express trains began running on the East Side Line.

In 1918, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south of Times Square–42nd Street, thereby dividing the original line into an H-shaped system. The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940. The IRT routes were given numbered designations with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock; the route to White Plains Road, formerly the route to West Farms, became known as the 2, while the route to Lenox Avenue–145th Street became the 3. Prior to February 6, 1959, 3 trains switched to the local on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line north of 96th Street. Afterwards, all trains running from the Lenox Avenue Line ran express. The Harlem–148th Street station was opened on May 13, 1968, on land that had been part of the Lenox Yard; the station was originally called Lenox Terminal–148th Street.

Starting on March 2, 1998, the tunnel was reconstructed along with the cracked invert (tunnel floor). This was done to correct a major water problem that had existed for many years due to the continued presence of the Harlem Creek and other underground streams, which caused extensive flooding, water damage, and seepage problems that occasionally contributed to severe service disruptions. The project cost $82 million and was finished on October 12, 1998. During the reconstruction, many trains were rerouted via the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, while the trains were rerouted to the 137th Street–City College station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Each of the two Lenox Avenue Line tracks were alternately taken out of service, the 116th Street station was closed, and supplemental shuttle bus service connecting to other lines in the area were provided for much of this time.

From 1995 until 2008, the line's two northernmost stations, Harlem–148th Street and 145th Street, were served by shuttle buses during the late-night hours. Full-time service was restored on July 27, 2008.

On March 27, 2020, a northbound 2 train caught fire while approaching Central Park North–110th Street, the southernmost station on the line. The fire killed the train's motorman and injured 16. Subway service on the Lenox Avenue Line resumed on March 30, bypassing the Central Park North station until it reopened on April 6.

Station listing

The entire line is located in Harlem.

{| class="wikitable"

!Station

!Services

!Opened

!Notes

|May 13, 1968

|Formerly 148th Street–Lenox Terminal

!colspan=5 style="background-color: silver;"|connecting track to Lenox Yard

|November 23, 1904

|Only first 5 cars open their doors<br />No northbound entrance

!colspan=5 style="background-color: silver;"|Merge from IRT White Plains Road Line at 142nd Street Junction ()

|November 23, 1904

|M60 Select Bus Service to LaGuardia Airport

|November 23, 1904

!colspan=5 style="background-color: silver;"|Tracks continue as the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line express tracks ()

References

External links

nycsubway.org — nycsubway.org – IRT Lenox/White Plains Line