In this colorized image, they are working on the cable car lines, one of the earlier public transit options.
Digging up Union Square to lay cable car lines, 1891. Source: (New York Public Library/colorized).
The modern subway got its start from elevated and excursion railroads over major avenues, although there was an underground railroad, the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel, as early as 1844. It had no underground stops, only existing to create a right of way for the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad. It led to South Ferry, where passengers could take a ferry to Manhattan. In 1869, Alfred Ely Beach and his Beach Pneumatic Transit Company started to construct the first real subway under Broadway. It took 58 days to finish, ran from Murray to Warren, and since Beach failed to get permission to expand it until 1873, it closed shortly after.
Challenges To Creating The Subway
Digging up Union Square to lay cable car lines, 1891. Source: (New York Public Library).
On May 22, 1894, the New York State Legislature authorized the Rapid Transit Act. This act created the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners, which set the routes, with the consent of property owners and local authorities, and organized the construction of the rail lines. The early work was done using a system called “cut-and-cover,” which was open excavation. With open excavation, the excavated area was covered with a flat roof, although the construction was not uniform, in part because of the number of subcontractors who worked on it. However, the construction was not without challenges, as they had to contend with ground water, rocks, the canal (which Canal Street is named for), rerouting sewers, water, gas mains, steam pipes, electric conduits, and pneumatic tubes the Postal Service used. They had to be careful that the foundations of tall buildings were stable and they sometimes ran into problems with underground rooms, such as vaults. And they also had to contend with people’s concerns that it wasn’t safe to be underground.
Opening The First Station
New York City Subway construction. Source: (Wikipedia/colorized).
On October 27, 1904, the subway opened, and riders paid five cents for a ride, with the City Hall Station opening first as a showcase of what would come. This first line ran from City Hall to 145th St. in Harlem, a total of nine miles, which it claimed to complete in 15 minutes. The City Hall station was a showpiece, and included vaulted ceilings and a curved platform; the platform design led to the closing of the station in 1945 because longer trains could no longer fit. Early on, the BMT used the wooden cars that had been used on the elevated trains, but when a train crashed in 1918, killing 93 passengers, that came to an end.
The Subway Becomes Popular
New York City Subway Construction. Source: (Wikipedia).
From 1904-1908, the system was expanded to cover 23.5 miles. In 1910, the system was leased by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company as well as the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, (after bankruptcy, it was reorganized into the BMT) and the city continued to build lines. The subways were so successful they had become overcrowded and in 1921, the New York Transit Commission was formed to resolve the problems in the subway.
Early Plans For Expansion
The newly completed subway tunnel before the inaugural ride. Source: (Library of Congress/Colorized-enhanced).
John F. Hylan, mayor from 1918-1925, proposed a plan to alleviate the problems. He suggested they “capture” the nearly 100 miles of extant lines from the BMT and IRT and build over 100 additional miles of lines; the construction would be complete by December 31, 1925. He also proposed that passengers should be able to ride from end to end paying a single fare. However, there was no movement on his proposal. In 1924, he once again proposed plans, and once a compromise was reached, the old lines would be under the Transit Commission and a Board of Transportation was established to monitor the new city-owned and operated lines. These new lines would co-exist with the BMT and IRT. At the end of 1924, the Board of Transportation suggested its route plan, which differed from Hylan’s original proposals. They proposed a line under 8th and 6th, tearing down the 6th Ave. El. Construction began on March 14, 1925. In 1929, there were more plans for expansion, adding 100 route miles. The plans included extending lines in the Boroughs.
Unification And More Changes
One of the first subways in the City Hall station. Source: (Library of Congress/colorized).
By 1932, the city opened the Independent Subway System to compete with private companies and to expand the system. Within a few years, the city bought back the leased systems, combining all of the subways into one extensive system. As of 1937, the 6th Avenue line still remained unfinished because of obstacles in its way: an aqueduct it would have to tunnel under or over, the Hudson tubes (now called the PATH), the LIRR and Pennsylvania Railroad, the IRT Flushing Line and the 6th Avenue El. They finally figured out the logistics and began construction on March 15, 1936 and opened the line on December 15, 1940. Twenty-eight years later, full express service began on the line. In June of 1940, the unification of the subway lines which Hylan had imagined, was complete, as the IRT was bankrupt and the BMT had declined. With the unification came the closing of the 2nd Avenue El north of 59th Street and the 9th Avenue El in Manhattan. Sadly, the 9th Avenue El had been the first elevated rapid transit line in the world. The final operation was called “The New York City Transit System,” and the subway lines were separated into the BMT Division, the IRT Division and the IND Division. During the 1970s and ‘80s, the New York City Transit Authority attempted to get rid of the separate identities, and they were dropped from maps and no longer used in station announcements. However, there are still references to the divisions on signs at the rear of every station to provide emergency personnel with that information. Other remnants of this history exists in the width of the cars: letter trains are wider than number trains, a remnant of the original design of the tunnels, as the IRT trains were narrower.
Continued Improvements
Second Avenue Subway community information center. Source: (Wikipedia).
Although there had been other big plans for expansions, they had been derailed by circumstances. The MTA released its “Program for Action” on February 28, 1968. Divided into two parts, it actually began. Although it had been proposed 43 years earlier, construction on the 2nd Avenue Subway began on October 27, 1972. However, it was not completed, due to the city’s fiscal crisis in 1975 coupled with the need to maintain the existing infrastructure, and parts of the tunnel were filled back in. Unfortunately, years of deferred maintenance led to an increased risk of derailment, subway cars were covered with graffiti, and failures were at a high in the 1970s. Crime in the Subway had also increased, and by 1978, Grand Central Station had become the worst station in terms of condition and crime. However, the MTA began to address the problems and to work on rehabilitation in the 1980s and they have continued to work to make it better. In 1993, they introduced the MetroCard. Work has started once again on the 2nd Avenue line, and the first phase was complete in 2017.