Times Square–42nd Street station
The Times Square–42nd Street station is a major New York City Subway station complex located under Times Square, at the intersection of 42nd Street, Seventh Avenue, and Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan. The complex allows free transfers between the IRT 42nd Street Shuttle, the BMT Broadway Line, the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and the IRT Flushing Line, as well as to the IND Eighth Avenue Line a block west at. The complex is served by the 1, 2, 3, 7, N and Q trains at all times, the W train during weekdays; the R and 42nd Street Shuttle trains at all times except late nights; and <7> trains during rush hours in the peak direction. A free passageway from the shuttle platform to the station, served by the, is open during the day from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m.
The present shuttle platforms were built for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company as a local station on the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. As part of the Dual Contracts between the IRT and the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line platforms opened in 1917, followed by the Broadway Line platforms in 1918 and the Flushing Line platforms in 1928. The original platforms were also reconfigured to serve the shuttle. The complex has been reconstructed numerous times over the years. The free transfer between the IRT and BMT opened in 1948, while the transfer to the IND station was placed within fare control in 1988. The complex was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. In the early 21st century, the shuttle station was reconfigured.
Excluding closed platforms, the Flushing Line and shuttle stations have one island platform and two tracks, while the Broadway Line and Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line have two island platforms and four tracks. All platforms and most of the station complex is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, except for the IND passageway, which has steep ramps at both ends. The Times Square–42nd Street complex, including the Eighth Avenue Line, is the busiest station complex in the system, serving 65,020,294 passengers in 2019.
History
The IRT platforms have been connected to each other as a transfer station as the lines opened: first between the 42nd Street Shuttle and the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line in 1917, then the transfer was incorporated with the Flushing Line in 1927. On December 24, 1932, a passageway was opened, connecting the IND Eighth Avenue Line's 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal station and the IRT platforms, with a new entrance at West 41st Street between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue. The passageway was located outside a fare control, and passengers had to pay an extra fare to transfer between the IND and the IRT station. The free transfer between the IRT and BMT was added on July 1, 1948. The block-long passageway that runs west to the 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal station was reopened within fare control on December 11, 1988.First subway
Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864. Development of what would become the city's first subway line started in 1894, when the New York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. It called for a subway line from New York City Hall in lower Manhattan to the Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into the Bronx. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, which called for the subway to run under several streets in lower Manhattan before running under Fourth Avenue, 42nd Street, and Broadway. A previous proposal had called for the entire length of the subway to use Broadway, but the "awkward alignment...along Forty-Second Street", as the commission put it, was necessitated by objections to using the southernmost section of Broadway. Legal challenges were resolved near the end of 1899. 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 the Interborough Rapid Transit Company in April 1902 to operate the subway.The present shuttle station at Times Square–42nd Street was constructed as part of the route segment underneath 42nd Street and Times Square, which extended from Park Avenue and 41st Street to Broadway and 47th Street. Construction on this section of the line began on February 25, 1901. Work for that section had been awarded to Degnon-McLean. By late 1903, the subway was nearly complete, but the IRT Powerhouse and the system's electrical substations were still under construction, delaying the system's opening. After the New York City Board of Aldermen renamed Longacre Square to Times Square, in April 1904, the Rapid Transit Commission agreed to rename the subway station at Broadway and 42nd Street as the "Times Station". As late as October 26, 1904, the day before the subway was scheduled to open, the walls and ceilings were incomplete.
The Times Square station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from City Hall to 145th Street on the West Side Branch. Prior to the subway station's opening, Times Square had been renamed from Long Acre Square to give the station a distinctive name. Within three years of the line's opening, the Times Square station was the city's third-busiest subway station, and its busiest local station, with 30,000 daily riders. After the first subway line was completed in 1908, the station was served by local trains along both the West Side and East Side. 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.
Expansion
To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the 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. In addition to $1.5 million spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. Platforms at local stations, such as the Times Square station, were lengthened by between. The northbound platform was extended to the north and south, while the southbound platform was lengthened to the south, necessitating a reconfiguration of the Knickerbocker Hotel entrance.Dual Contracts
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. As part of the Dual Contracts, the 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 an east–west shuttle under 42nd Street. This would form a roughly H-shaped system. The original alignment under 42nd Street would become a shuttle service, and a new set of platforms would be built for the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line.IRT "H" system
In December 1913, the PSC began soliciting bids for the construction of the Seventh Avenue Line tunnel between 42nd and 30th Streets, including two express stations at 34th and 42nd Streets. The new IRT line was to cross the original subway tunnel at a flat junction near 45th Street, necessitating that the new station be placed between 40th and 42nd Streets. The PSC awarded a $2.2 million contract to an IRT subsidiary, and the Board of Estimate approved the contract the next month.The next contract to be awarded was for the section between 42nd and 44th Streets. The Oscar Daniels Company submitted a low bid for the construction of that section, Despite protests from IRT officials, who said their bid was more expensive because it included additional safety measures, the commission refused to re-award the contract to the IRT. The construction of the new junction included rebuilding the roof, moving pillars, and demolishing part of the original subway tunnel's wall. The new tunnel had been excavated northward to the existing IRT line by June 1915, and workers were laying tracks for the new tunnel by 1916.
The Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line station opened on June 3, 1917, as part of an extension of the IRT to South Ferry. A shuttle service ran between Times Square and Penn Station until the rest of the extension opened a year later on July 1, 1918. Afterward, the shuttle ran from Times Square to South Ferry. On August 1, the Dual Contracts' "H system" was put into service, and the former main line platforms became part of the 42nd Street Shuttle. Initially, a temporary wooden platform was placed over track 2 of the original subway, and black bands were painted on the walls to guide passengers to the shuttle platforms.
The Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line station was the site of a 1928 wreck that killed 16 people, the second worst in New York City history.
BRT platforms
Also planned under the Dual Contracts was the Broadway Line of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. The Broadway Line station was planned as a local station, with the express station to be located between 47th and 49th Streets. Opponents of the plan said it would cause large amounts of confusion, as Times Square was a "natural" transfer point. In February 1914, the PSC ordered the BRT to make the Broadway Line's 42nd Street station an express station. The change was made at the insistence of Brooklynites who wanted an express station in the Theater District of Manhattan.The BRT station was to have two small mezzanines above the platforms, one each at 40th and 42nd Streets, but local civic group Broadway Association advocated for a connection between the two mezzanines. The PSC approved the construction of a large concourse above the BRT station in 1917. The concourse would only have cost an extra $1,400, but the station's general contractor refused to build the concourse because of a dispute over the price of cast-iron columns. A. W. King was hired to install finishes in the Times Square station in July 1917. The Broadway Line station opened on January 5, 1918, as the northern terminal of a shuttle service running south to Rector Street. Through service began operating in July 1919 when the line was extended northward.