The Grand Central station was the terminal for some trains of the IRT Third Avenue Line, also known as the Third Avenue El, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. This station originally had one

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

and two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

s, all connected at the west end (later converted to three tracks and two island platforms). The tracks ended just east of the

Park Avenue Viaduct The Park Avenue Viaduct, also known as the Pershing Square Viaduct, is a roadway in Manhattan in New York City. It carries vehicular traffic on Park Avenue from 40th to 46th Streets around Grand Central Terminal and the MetLife Building, th ...

ramp over Pershing Square. It opened August 26, 1878, and served not only

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

but also its two predecessors, Grand Central Station (1899-1913) and Grand Central Depot (1871-1899). When the El opened north of 42nd Street in September 1878, this segment was reduced to a shuttle, which connected to the mainline at the 42nd Street station, at Third Avenue. In 1904, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company opened the Grand Central station as part of its first subway line. Platforms for the IRT Flushing Line opened in 1915, followed by those for the IRT Lexington Avenue Line in 1918; after the Lexington Avenue Line platforms opened, the original platforms at the station were converted for use by the

42nd Street Shuttle The 42nd Street Shuttle is a New York City Subway shuttle train service that operates in Manhattan. The shuttle is sometimes referred to as the Grand Central/Times Square Shuttle, since these are the only two stations it serves. The shuttle runs ...

. By this time, the El station had become obsolete and it was closed on December 6, 1923.

References

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External links

Grand Central Branch of the Third Avenue El (NYCSubway.org)
IRT Third Avenue Line stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1878 Railway stations closed in 1923 1878 establishments in New York (state) 1923 disestablishments in New York (state) Former elevated and subway stations in Manhattan Grand Central Terminal {{Manhattan-railstation-stub