S 42nd Street Shuttle (New York City Subway service)

(Redirected from 42nd Street Shuttle Line)

SHUTTLE

Current bullet

1967–1968 and 1968–1977 bullets (in a circle)

The 42nd Street Shuttle (also Grand Central-Times Square Shuttle) is a line and service of the IRT division of the New York City Subway. It runs at all times but late nights, connecting Times Square to Grand Central Terminal under 42nd Street. It is the shortest regular service in the system, running .8 mile (1.3 km) in officially one minute.

The subway through which the shuttle runs was opened on October 27, 1904, the first day of subway service in Manhattan. It served as part of the IRT's main line until August 1, 1918, when the "H system" was put into service, with through trains over the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line, and only shuttle trains under 42nd Street.

The southbound express track on the four-track line was closed and new platforms were built, as the old station at Times Square had been local-only. However, the new arrangement turned out to be inadequate, and the shuttle was closed on midnight between August 3 and August 4 for expansion of the platforms. The shuttle reopened on September 28, with improved passageways and platforms. On the walls of the stations, black bands (at Times Square) and green bands (at Grand Central) were painted to guide passengers to the shuttle platforms.

The shuttle ran at all times until September 10, 1995, after which it no longer ran during late nights. The 7 provides replacement service.

At the present time, there is no connection between the southbound local track (which connects to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line's southbound local track) and the northbound local track (which connects to the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line's northbound local track). The northbound express track is connected to the southbound local track by a crossover at the south end.

The shuttle uses One Person Train Operation (OPTO). The operator and conductor swap jobs when the train gets to one end, to provide for quick turnaround time; the operator is always in the front and the conductor in back. Prior to OPTO, a full-time conductor was also present.

Station listing

Station	Opened	Transfers and notes
Grand Central-42nd Street	October 27, 1904	4 5 ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ <5> ^(1a) 6 <6> ⁽¹²⁾ (IRT Lexington Avenue Line) 7 <7> ^(1a2a3b) (IRT Flushing Line) transfer to Metro-North Railroad at Grand Central Terminal
Times Square-42nd Street	October 27, 1904	N Q R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ W ^(123a) (BMT Broadway Line) 1 2 3 ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ (IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line) A C ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ E (IND Eighth Avenue Line) 7 <7> ^(1a2a3b) (IRT Flushing Line) transfer to Port Authority Bus Terminal

External links

nycsubway.org – IRT Grand Central/Times Square Shuttle
Abandoned Stations – proposed Grand Central shuttle platform (includes a track diagram)

References

Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph, New York Times August 2, 1918 page 1
Drop Shuttle Plan as Subway Crush Becomes a Peril, New York Times August 3, 1918 page 1
Subway Shuttle Resumes Today, New York Times September 28, 1918 page 17
A Subway Station is Shuttered, the First in 33 Years, New York Times September 11, 1995 [the article is about Dean Street on the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, and the headline refers to the 1962 closing of Worth Street; several old-style elevated railways were closed since then, as well as the Culver Shuttle which hosted both elevated and subway service at one time]

edit New York City Subway (official site)
Services	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 A B C D E F G J L M N Q R V W Z
Shuttles (S)	42nd Street – Franklin Avenue – Rockaway Park
Unused/defunct	8 10 11 12 13 H K P T U X Y JFK Express BMT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Divisions	IRT – BMT – IND (Second System)
Lists	Lines – Services – Stations – Terminals – Inter-division connections – Inter-division transfers – Yards
Miscellaneous	Accessibility – Dual Contracts – Chaining – History – Nomenclature – Rolling stock – Straphanger
Other transit in NYC	Amtrak – LIRR – Metro-North – NJ Transit – PATH – Staten Island Railway – AirTrain – Roosevelt Island Tramway

edit New York City Subway Lines
IRT	West side trunk: Broadway-7 Av – Lenox Av – White Plains Rd – Dyre Av – Brooklyn Branch East side trunk: Lexington Av – Jerome Av – White Plains Rd – Dyre Av – Pelham Brooklyn/Queens/other: Eastern Pkwy – Nostrand Av – Flushing – 42 St Shuttle Former: 2 Av – 3 Av – 6 Av – 9 Av
BMT	Manhattan trunk: Broadway – Astoria – Manhattan Bridge Nassau Street trunk: Nassau St – Jamaica – Archer Av – Myrtle Av West Brooklyn trunks: 4th Av – Brighton – Culver – Sea Beach – West End Other: Canarsie – Franklin Av Shuttle – 63 St Former: Brooklyn Bridge – 3 Av – 5 Av – Fulton St – Lexington Av
IND	Bronx/Manhattan trunks: 6 Av – 8 Av – Concourse Brooklyn/Queens: Queens Blvd – Archer Av – 63 St – Fulton St – Culver – Rockaway – Crosstown Former: World's Fair
Connections	Chrystie St – 60 St

Categories: New York City Subway services