The History of the Second Avenue Subway

I couldn’t imagine a six track subway running along Second Avenue and the amount of branches it had was insane

Indeed, I actually would like to learn more about the R11. Anyways, Here's my idea for the Second Avenue Line. Once Phase 2 is completed, they should extend the line along 125th Street to Broadway, then add two branches into the Bronx: one along Third Avenue and Webster Avenue to Gun Hill Road, and the other along 163rd Street Lafayette Avenue to Throgs Neck. While Phase 3 is being constructed, they should connect it to the Queens Blvd Line (via 63rd Street) and the Astoria Line (via 59th Street), build it with four tracks, and connect the two inner tracks to the existing Grand Street Station. A lower level should then be built at the Grand Street Station for Phase 4. Phase 4 should also continue past Hanover Square and connect with the Fulton Street Line via the old Court Street Station, where the NY Transit Museum is. The museum should stay, but the old trains should be moved to the lower level at the City Hall Station on the BMT Broadway Line, which should then be converted into another museum that can be viewed by the public.

I think they needs to be a pt. 2 to this video as to how the lines would have look like in different scenarios because the amount of BS the MTA have said to push this project back from since the 1920s and now looking how long it has token them just to finish the 1st phase. I would love to see the many versions they envisioned would have happened

The 2nd Ave. line has so much potential to be good, but I have a feeling after Phase 2 they’ll stop and say this is good enough.

It’s really not understandable that it took this long to build the Second Avenue Subway. The groundbreaking took place in 1972. Between then and now, NYC built 1.5 miles of subway and 3 stations. In the same time period, the DC Metro built 128 miles of subway and 97 stations. WMATA has had way worse troubles than the Subway, including having no dedicated source of funding and having its initial funding held up by Natcher. The saga of the 2nd Avenue Subway is down to nothing but corruption and sheer, unadulterated incompetence.

The 2nd Ave Line is a line that should’ve been up and running decades ago. Truth be told, the 2nd & 3rd Ave El’s should’ve never been torn down until a 2nd Ave Line was up and running. Thinking about this line is a reminder of what incompetency looks like and how forgotten Transit is until something comes up and it can’t be ignored anymore. I don’t even like how it’s being “phased”. It’s a setup for this thing to never be built. And it’s dead wrong that this line doesn’t go into The Bronx. Just having it go to 3rd Ave - 149th St would be massive. This line has the potential to be amazing and the 3 new stations built have done a tremendous job with travel down the East Side but so much needs to be done. It would be nice if it all would happen in my lifetime but I’m not holding my breath on that. Here’s hoping Phase 2 gets done and done on time.

Have you heard of the possible hidden track underneath Owl's Head Park in Brooklyn? It was supposed to connect Brooklyn to Staten Island by subway, but ran out of funding before abandoning the project. That subway would have been a game changer for sure.

Fantastic thorough history of the 2nd Ave subway. In the 1970s R11s were being used on the Franklin Ave shuttle. I used to love seeing them at the Prospect Park station when riding the D train into Manhattan.

The ind conversion of the Pelham line sounded like a terrible idea due to cutting back the 6.

I just came up with my own fantasy expansion plan that mostly revolves around the Second Avenue Subway. Based on what we currently have, I would have express tracks built under the current tracks of Phase 1. 72nd street station would become an express station by receiving a new lower level platform for express trains. In phase 2, the 106th Street station should be built in the typical express station layout with 2 Island platforms and 4 tracks all on the same level; this allows for a cross platform interchange between local and express service. The N and Q trains from Broadway would handle local service while the T train and a new V train would handle express service. At 116th Street, the line would split into two branches: the N train serves the 125th Street-Crosstown subway, while the Q, T and V trains continue into the Bronx via Third Avenue. There would be three branches in the Bronx: the Q line would diverge at 163rd Street and run to Throgs Neck via Lafayette Avenue; the T train would run along Boston Rd to E 180 Street, where it would take over the Dyre Avenue line (currently the 5 train) to Eastchester-Dyre Avenue, and the V train would continue along Third Avenue and the Metro-North Railroad right-of-way to Gun Hill Road, roughly following the former route of the Third Avenue Elevated. Going back to Manhattan, the T and V trains would meet up with a new Z train at 55th Street. This new Z train would run from Springfield Blvd in Queens and along the Long Island Expressway until Main Street, where it would turn onto Main Street and connect with the 7 Train. It would then turn onto Northern Blvd and run local while an extended L train handles express service; they would run into Manhattan through a new 57th Street tunnel. The Z train would turn south at Second Avenue to meet up with the T and V trains and the L train would continue along 57th Street to 10th Avenue (for more information on this 10th Avenue-57th Street line, see the comment I made on Mystic’s L train extension video). This new Z train would handle local service south of 55th Street while the T and V trains handle express service. At Houston street, the local tracks should be connected to the existing Chrystie Street connection tracks that the M train uses to run into Williamsburg. This allows Second Avenue trains to run across the Williamsburg Bridge to Metropolitan Avenue. Sending a branch of the Second Avenue Subway to Metropolitan Avenue frees up the M train, which can now be lengthened to 10 cars and handle daytime express service along the Culver line to Church Avenue. This would also play a big role in a Queens Blvd deinterlining plan (or in terms of less wonky language, redesign). With F and M trains having a longer route length, they would run express while the E train and a new K train handle local service. All Broadway Local service would run to Astoria, so all W trains become R trains under this plan. To prevent Queens Blvd from being cut off from Broadway, an in-system connection would be made between Queens Plaza and Queensboro Plaza and 36th Street would be converted into an express station. The E and K trains would run local to 179th street, allowing the F train to run full express in Queens, and the M train would run to Jamaica Center. Returning to Manhattan yet again, the E and K trains handle local service on 8th Avenue. This allows the C train to run express; the B and D trains would handle local service north of 59th Street. The B and C lines would swap northern terminals with the B train running to 168th street and the C train running to 205th Street; the D would be cut back to Bedford Park Blvd. South of Houston Street, phase 4 of the Second Avenue Line would be built as planned. The T and V lines would be extended into Brooklyn past Hanover Square, via a new tunnel that connects to the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets station. The IND Court Street station (currently the Transit Museum) can either be converted to service, or new tracks and platforms can be built below the existing ones if the museum is kept. With the T and V trains handling local service along Fulton Street to Euclid Avenue, the C train will, again, be able to run express out to Lefferts Blvd. This, in turn, allows all A trains to run into the Rockaways and greatly improve service down there. Feel free to share your thoughts on this by replying!

They should have built the six track version. The street is so wide that it wouldn't have been that tough to put so many tracks underground with cut and cover. The superexpress service would have been great to connect Harlem to Lower Manhattan, and the other branches would have provided great connectivity to other boroughs and neighborhoods.

Thanks for making a video on the past, as we're feeling out of luck for this line in the present. But, what we really need to see is the future.

Very well done. Yes. Do one on the R-11

we sure do LOVE 2nd ave

This is just a side comment to your excellent video, but it honestly speaks to your professionalism that your ad read for Masterworks actually felt like a researched, balanced, and well supported recommendation for the service.

The one constant throughout the video was, "Hey! The Lexington Avenue line is horribly overcrowded! Let's do something about it." Decades go by.

Gonna be excited for my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandkids to see this subway open for the first time

Great video, thanks! I'm interested in a video on the R11's. :)

I'd love to see a video on the R11 subway cars

Keep up the good work dude.