The

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

is a rapid transit system that serves four of the five boroughs of New York City in the U.S. state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. Operated by the New York City Transit Authority under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York, the New York City Subway is the busiest rapid transit system in the United States and the seventh busiest in the world, with 5.225 million daily riders. The system's

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

qualifies it to have the largest number of rapid transit stations in the world. Three rapid transit companies merged in 1940 to create the present New York City Subway system: the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT), and the Independent Subway System (IND). All three former systems are present in Queens.

History and description

Until 1915 most rapid transit in Queens consisted of streetcars, primarily those owned by affiliates of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, but some included trolleys owned by the

Long Island Consolidated Electrical Companies Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

, a holding company co-owned by the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

and Interborough Rapid Transit Company. Some steam dummy lines also entered Queens from Brooklyn, most notably the Atlantic Avenue Rapid Transit lines along the Atlantic Branch and part of the

Main Line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

of the

. As far back as 1885, proposals existed for a tunnel between

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

and

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

designed to connect the

and the

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

with a trolley line. Construction hazards, economic despair, and the transfer of ownership of this project delayed completion of the tunnel. This tunnel would eventually be known as the

Steinway Tunnel The Steinway Tunnel is a pair of tubes carrying the IRT Flushing Line () of the New York City Subway under the East River between 42nd Street in Manhattan and 51st Avenue in Long Island City, Queens, in New York City. It was originally designed ...

. The oldest subway line in Queens is the

BMT Myrtle Avenue Line The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully elevated line of the New York City Subway as part of the BMT division. The line is the last surviving remnant of one of the original Brooklyn elevated railroads. The rem ...

which was extended from Brooklyn into

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and Middle Village, replacing a steam dummy line. This was followed by the IRT Flushing Line, which had only one station in Long Island City, until it was extended with Dual Contracts to Astoria in 1916, Corona on April 21, 1917, and Downtown Flushing on January 2, 1928. The BMT Fulton Street Line extended from the City Line section of Brooklyn into Ozone Park and Richmond Hill on September 25, 1915.'' New York Times''
New Elevated Line Opened for Queens
September 26, 1915, page 7 The same dual contracts project that brought about the extension of the IRT Flushing Line also lead to the opening of the

BMT Astoria Line The BMT Astoria Line (formerly the IRT Astoria Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, serving the Queens neighborhood of Astoria. It runs south from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria to 39th Avenue in Long Is ...

on February 1, 1917, as well as a connecting spur from the

IRT Second Avenue Line The IRT Second Avenue Line, also known as the Second Avenue Elevated or Second Avenue El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan, New York City, United States, from 1878 to 1942. It was operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company until 194 ...

over the

Queensboro Bridge The Queensboro Bridge, officially named the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City. Completed in 1909, it connects the neighborhood of Long Island City in the borough of Queens with the Upper East ...

on July 23, 1917. The Astoria Line was the northernmost line owned by the BMT. The BMT Broadway-Brooklyn Line entered Queens from the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn and ran through Woodhaven and Richmond Hill on May 28, 1917,* * * and finally towards Downtown Jamaica on July 3, 1918.* '' New York Times''
New Subway Line: Affords a Five-Cent Fare Between Manhattan and Jamaica, L.I.
July 7, 1918, page 30 * * * The city-owned Independent Subway System installed two lines in Queens on August 19, 1933; the IND Crosstown Line ran south from

Court Square Court Square in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, is a park and historic district in the heart of Springfield's urban Metro Center neighborhood. Court Square is the City of Springfield's only topographical constant since its founding ...

in Long Island City to Greenpoint in Brooklyn, and was expanded to Downtown Brooklyn on July 1, 1937. The

IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 s ...

entered from Manhattan and ran to Jackson Heights, then to Kew Gardens on December 31, 1936, then to 169th Street in Jamaica on April 24, 1937. One last station at 179th Street was built on December 10, 1950. From 1939 to 1940, IND installed a spur off the Queens Boulevard Line called the

IND World's Fair Line The IND World's Fair Line, officially the World's Fair Railroad, was a temporary branch of the Independent Subway System (IND) serving the 1939 New York World's Fair in Queens, New York City. It split from the IND Queens Boulevard Line at an ...

. The line was demolished after the closing of the

1939 World's Fair The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purcha ...

and the remnants can be found in the

Jamaica Yard The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betwee ...

. A devastating fire on the trestle of the Rockaway Beach Branch of the

Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, ...

in 1950 lead to the gradual closure of the branch, as well as part of the

Far Rockaway Branch The Far Rockaway Branch is an electrified rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch begins at Valley Interlocking, just east of Valley Stream station. From Valley Stream, th ...

and the replacement of both by the IND Rockaway Line by 1956, replacing many but not all former LIRR stations. One other station ( Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue) would be opened on February 21, 1958, and the LIRR replaced it with a new station three blocks east a month later. When the IND connected the

Fulton Street Subway The IND Fulton Street Line is a rapid transit line of the IND Division of the New York City Subway, running from the Cranberry Street Tunnel under the East River through all of central Brooklyn to a terminus in Ozone Park, Queens. The IND Rocka ...

to the BMT Fulton Street Elevated on April 29, 1956, the former segments of the line in Ozone Park and Richmond Hill was officially "recaptured" by the IND. The newest subway lines to be built were the Archer Avenue Lines, which opened on December 11, 1988,"New Subway Line Finally Rolling Through Queens", ''Newsday'', December 11, 1988, page 7. and replaced the demolished sections of the BMT Jamaica Line in Downtown Jamaica itself with an additional connecting spur to the

, and the 63rd Street Lines on October 29, 1989 from the Upper East Side and

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 85 ...

Lines and services

There are 81 New York City Subway stations in Queens, per the official count of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; of these, 10 are express-local stations. If the 2 station complexes are counted as one station each, the number of stations is 78. In the table below, lines with colors next to them indicate trunk lines, which determine the colors that are used for services' route bullets and diamonds. The opening date refers to the opening of the first section of track for the line. In the "division" column, the current division is followed by the original division in parentheses.

Stations

Permanently closed subway stations, including those that have been demolished, are not included in the list below. Numerically named stations that are attached with a geographic location before them ( Forest Hills–71st Avenue and Jamaica–179th Street) are listed under the geographic location name.

History and description

Lines and services

Stations

See also

Notes

References

Further reading