IRT Lexington Avenue Line

IRT Lexington Avenue Line
The 4, 5, 6, and 6 Express, which use the line through Midtown Manhattan, are colored green.
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	City of New York
Locale	Manhattan, New York City, NY
Termini	125th Street Bowling Green
Stations	23 in use (4 abandoned)
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	New York City Subway
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Daily ridership	497,727 [1]
History
Opened	1904–1918
Technical
Line length	8.3 mi (13.4 km)
Number of tracks	2–4
Character	Underground
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification	600V DC third rail
Route map Legend Jerome Avenue Line Pelham Line Lexington Tunnel (Harlem River) The Bronx Manhattan 125th Street 116th Street 110th Street 103rd Street 96th Street 86th Street 77th Street 68th Street–Hunter College 63rd Street Lines 59th Street Broadway Line Queens Boulevard Line 51st Street 42nd Street Shuttle Grand Central– 42nd Street (Flushing Line) 33rd Street 28th Street 23rd Street Broadway Line 18th Street (closed) Canarsie Line 14th Street–Union Square Astor Place Bleecker Street Sixth Avenue Line Spring Street Nassau Street Line Canal Street Broadway Line via Manhattan Bridge Broadway Line Worth Street (closed) Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall Nassau Street Line City Hall (closed) Fulton Street Brooklyn Branch Wall Street Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line Bowling Green Broadway Line South Ferry (closed) Joralemon Tunnel (East River) Manhattan Brooklyn Eastern Parkway Line Legend Express station Local station Closed station This diagram: view talk edit

The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the IRT East Side Line and the IRT Lexington–Fourth Avenue Line) is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East Harlem. The line is served by the 4, ​5, ​6, and <6> trains.

The line was constructed in two main portions by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), a private operator. The first portion, from City Hall north to 42nd Street, was opened between 1904 and 1908, and is part of the first subway line in the city. The original subway turned west across 42nd Street at the Grand Central station, then went north at Broadway, serving the present-day IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. The second portion of the line, north of 42nd Street, was constructed as part of the Dual Contracts, which were signed between the IRT; the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, via a subsidiary; and the City of New York.

For decades, the Lexington Avenue Line was the only line in Manhattan that directly served the Upper East Side and East Midtown; this four-track line is the most used rapid transit line in the United States. Its average of 1.3 million daily riders is more than the total riderships of the transit systems of Chicago (772,900 weekday passengers), Boston (569,200 weekday passengers), and San Francisco (452,600 weekday passengers). The line spurred the construction of the parallel Second Avenue Subway, which opened in 2017, to relieve congestion on the Lexington Avenue line.^[2]

Four stations along this line have been abandoned. When platforms were lengthened to fit ten cars, it was deemed most beneficial to close these stations and open new entrances for adjacent stations. The 18th Street station was abandoned because of the proximity to both 14th Street–Union Square and 23rd Street.^[3] In addition, the City Hall and Worth Street stations were both very close to the Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall station's Brooklyn Bridge and Duane Street exits, respectively, so both were abandoned.^[4][5] Finally, South Ferry is within walking distance of Bowling Green, and is right next to the corresponding station on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue line.^[6]