The Uptown Hudson Tubes are a pair of

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

s that carry PATH trains between

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 ...

, to the east and

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

. On the Manhattan side, the tubes run mostly underneath

Christopher Street Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th Street west of Sixth Avenue. It is most notable for the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christopher St ...

and

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

, making four intermediate stops before terminating at 33rd Street station. The tubes do not enter Uptown Manhattan; the name reflects their location north of the

Downtown Hudson Tubes The Downtown Hudson Tubes (formerly the Cortlandt Street Tunnel) are a pair of tunnels that carry PATH trains under the Hudson River in the United States, between New York City to the east and Jersey City, New Jersey, to the west. The tunnel ...

that connect Jersey City and the World Trade Center.

Dewitt Clinton Haskin Col. Dewitt Clinton Haskin (circa 1824 – July 17, 1900) was an American engineer who developed the initial methods for construction of the first tunnels under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan. In the late 1860s, Haskin gained ...

first attempted to construct the Uptown Hudson Tubes in 1873. Work was delayed by five years by a lawsuit, and was further disrupted by an 1880 accident that killed twenty workers. The project was canceled in 1883 due to a lack of money. A British company attempted to complete the tunnels in 1888, but also ran out of money by 1892, by which point the tunnels were nearly half-finished. In 1901, a company formed by

William Gibbs McAdoo William Gibbs McAdoo Jr.McAdoo is variously differentiated from family members of the same name: * Dr. William Gibbs McAdoo (1820–1894) – sometimes called "I" or "Senior" * William Gibbs McAdoo (1863–1941) – sometimes called "II" or "Ju ...

resumed work on the tubes, and by 1907, the tunnels were fully bored. The Uptown Hudson Tubes opened to passenger service in 1908 as part of the

Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned ...

(H&M) and were completed by 1910. After the Uptown Hudson Tubes' opening, the H&M proposed extending them northward to

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 ...

, as well as creating a crosstown spur line that would run under Ninth Street in Manhattan. However, neither extension was ultimately constructed. In the 1930s, parts of the tubes under Sixth Avenue were rebuilt due to the construction of the

Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND or ISS), formerly known as the Independent City-Owned Subway System (ICOSS) or the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad (ICORTR), was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of th ...

(IND)'s Sixth Avenue Line. The Uptown Hudson Tubes contained seven original stations; two stations at 19th and 28th streets were later closed and the 33rd Street terminal was rebuilt. The

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

took over the H&M and the tunnels in 1962, rebranding the H&M as part of the PATH system. The

Hoboken–33rd Street Hoboken–33rd Street is a rapid transit service operated by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). It is colored blue on the PATH service map and trains on this service display blue marker lights. This service operates from the Hoboken Terminal ...

and

Journal Square–33rd Street Journal Square–33rd Street is a rapid transit service operated by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH). It is colored yellow on the PATH service map and trains on this service display yellow marker lights. This service operates from Journal S ...

services operate through the tubes on weekdays, while the

Journal Square–33rd Street (via Hoboken) Journal Square–33rd Street (via Hoboken) (JSQ-33 via HOB) is a rapid transit service operated by the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) railroad. It is colored yellow and blue on the PATH service map, and trains on this service display both ye ...

service operates on weekends, nights, and holidays.

Description

Route

The Uptown Hudson Tubes travel roughly east–west beneath the Hudson River, connecting

in the east and

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. At Greenwich Street, the tubes curve sharply north for two blocks, then turn sharply east below

. The curve, which follows the streets above it, was made to avoid demolishing basements during construction. The tubes do not enter

Upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park (110th Street), ...

; their name reflects their location north of the

that connect Jersey City and the World Trade Center. As well, they were built when today's

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 Buildi ...

was considered "uptown" and the true northernmost reaches of the island were not as densely developed. The name "Uptown Hudson Tubes" also applies to the section of the subway under Christopher Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. The first PATH stop in New York is at the Christopher Street station; service continues uptown to the 33rd Street terminal, making intermediate stops at 9th Street, 14th Street, and 23rd Street. Two stations formerly existed at 19th Street and 28th Street. The ornately-designed stations in Manhattan featured straight platforms, each long and able to accommodate 8-car consists. The stations underneath Sixth Avenue (14th, 19th, 23rd, and 28th streets, and the original 33rd Street Terminal) contain round columns with scrolls and the station name near the ceilings. The exposed steel rings of the tunnel's structure can be seen at Christopher and Ninth streets. On the Jersey City side, the tunnels leave the riverbank approximately parallel to 15th Street and enter a

flying junction A flying junction or flyover is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements. A more technical term is " g ...

where trains can turn to

Hoboken Terminal Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by nine NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, one Metr ...

to the north or Erie Terminal (now the Newport station) to the south. The junction also allows trains to travel between Hoboken and Newport. Each end of the junction is within one of three double-deck concrete

caissons Caisson (French for "box") may refer to: * Caisson (Asian architecture), a spider web ceiling * Caisson (engineering), a sealed underwater structure * Caisson (lock gate), a gate for a dock or lock, constructed as a floating caisson * Caisson (p ...

. The Uptown Hudson Tubes enter caisson 1 at the eastern end of the junction, which carries trains to Hoboken or Newport on the upper level and trains from Hoboken or Newport on the lower level. Caisson 2 at the northern end carries trains to and from Hoboken, while caisson 3 at the southern end carries trains to and from Newport.

Dimensions

The Uptown Hudson Tubes measure , or between shafts. The tubes descend as far as below mean river level. In both the uptown and

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

tubes, each track is located in its own tunnel. When a train passes through the tunnel, it pushes out the air in front of it towards the closest ventilation shaft. At the same time, it pulls air into the rail tunnel from the closest ventilation shaft behind it. This enables the

piston effect Piston effect refers to the forced-air flow inside a tunnel or shaft caused by moving vehicles. It is one of numerous phenomena that engineers and designers must consider when developing a range of structures. Cause In open air, when a vehicl ...

, which results in better

ventilation Ventilation may refer to: * Ventilation (physiology), the movement of air between the environment and the lungs via inhalation and exhalation ** Mechanical ventilation, in medicine, using artificial methods to assist breathing *** Ventilator, a m ...

. On the Jersey City side, there is a construction shaft at 15th Street, measuring wide. When the tunnels were completed, the construction shaft was converted into a ventilation shaft. Additional ventilation shafts are located in Manhattan at Morton Street; Christopher and Greenwich streets; and Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue. The diameter of the Uptown Tubes' southern tunnel is , while the more northerly tunnel is slightly larger with a diameter of , because that tube had been constructed first. The tunnels are composed of built-up concentric steel rings measuring wide. On one side of each tube is a concrete bench wall, which measures high above the track bed. The bench walls contain ducts with wiring. At Sixth Avenue and Christopher Street, the tunnels enter an arched cavern measuring wide, then curve north under Sixth Avenue. The cavern was built to accommodate a junction with a never-built spur extending eastward under Ninth Street. Shield tunneling was used only between the Uptown Hudson Tubes' western end in Jersey City and 12th Street in Manhattan. North of 12th Street, the circular tubes become two rectangular tunnels, which measure high by wide and carry one track each. Initial plans called for the 33rd Street station to be constructed as a four-track station, with two tracks for terminating trains and two tracks for trains running along an unbuilt northern extension of the line. As built, the 33rd Street station contained three tracks.

Service

PATH operates two services through the Uptown Tubes on weekdays:

and

. On late nights, weekends, and holidays, they are combined into the

service.

Construction

Haskin attempt

Plans for a fixed crossing of the Hudson River date to the 1850s. No action was taken on the proposal until 1873, when engineer

formed the Hudson Tunnel Company to construct a tunnel under the Hudson River. The company was incorporated in New York on May 22 of that year and was incorporated in New Jersey four days later, on May 26; the companies initially had a $7 million

capital stock A corporation's share capital, commonly referred to as capital stock in the United States, is the portion of a corporation's equity that has been derived by the issue of shares in the corporation to a shareholder, usually for cash. "Share capi ...

authorization. Haskin intended for the tube to run from 15th Street in Jersey City to Morton Street in Manhattan, a distance of . At the time, constructing a tunnel under the mile-wide river was considered less expensive than trying to build a bridge over it. Trenor W. Park was hired as the president of the new company. Haskin subsequently sought $10 million in funding to pay for the tunnel. An initial attempt to construct the Hudson River tunnel began in November 1874 from the Jersey City side. Had this original tunnel effort been completed, it would have been long and consisted of a single tube wide by high. Trains from five railroad companies on the New Jersey side would have been hauled by special

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s that would be able to emit very little steam. The engines would have continued through the tube to Manhattan, terminating at a railroad hub in

Washington Square Park Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. ...

. This tunnel project was known as the Morton Street Tunnel. Work had progressed for only one month when it was stopped by a court

injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in p ...

submitted by the

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

, who owned the property at the tunnel's New Jersey portal. The construction shaft had been built to a depth of when work was paused. As a result of the lawsuit, work on the tunnel was delayed until September 1879, when the judge ruled in favor of the builders and the injunction was dissolved. The plans were also changed to a pair of tunnels wide by high. The construction method used at the time did not employ a

tunneling shield A tunnelling shield is a protective structure used during the excavation of large, man-made tunnels. When excavating through ground that is soft, liquid, or otherwise unstable, there is a potential health and safety hazard to workers and the proj ...

; rather,

air compressor An air compressor is a pneumatic device that converts power (using an electric motor, diesel or gasoline engine, etc.) into potential energy stored in pressurized air (i.e., compressed air). By one of several methods, an air compressor forces m ...

s maintained pressure against the water-laden silt that was being tunneled through. Haskin believed the river silt was strong enough to maintain the tunnel's form—with the help of compressed air—until a brick lining could be constructed. Haskin's plan was to excavate the tunnel, then fill it with compressed air to expel the water and to hold the iron plate lining in place. However, the amount of pressure needed to hold back the water at the bottom of the tube was much greater than the pressure needed to hold back the water at the top. On July 21, 1880, an overpressure blowout at the tube's top caused an accident that resulted in an

air lock An air lock is a restriction of, or complete stoppage of liquid flow caused by vapour trapped in a high point of a liquid-filled pipe system. The gas, being less dense than the liquid, rises to any high points. This phenomenon is known as vapor lo ...

jam, trapping several workers and killing 20. It took six months to retrieve the corpses of the workers. A memorial for one of the workers killed was later erected in Jersey City. The tunnel's construction was taken over by a new company called the Hudson River Tunnel Company in March 1881. This company drove a shaft on Morton Street in Manhattan and extended the tunnel from the Jersey City side. The liabilities incurred as a result of the 1880 accident halted tunneling work on November 5, 1882, due to insufficient funds. At that time, water was allowed to fill the unfinished tunnel. On March 20, 1883, the air compressors were turned back on and the tunnel was drained with the resumption of work. This continued for the next four months until July 20, 1883, when it was stopped once again due to a lack of funds. By that time, about of the northern tube and about of the southern tube had been constructed.

British attempt

In 1888, an unnamed British company attempted to finish the Morton Street Tunnel; it employed

James Henry Greathead James Henry Greathead (6 August 1844 – 21 October 1896) was a mechanical and civil engineer renowned for his work on the London Underground railways, Winchester Cathedral, and Liverpool overhead railway, as well as being one of the earliest p ...

as a consulting engineer and S. Pearson & Son as principal contractors. S. Pearson & Son subsequently acquired the project's construction contract from Haskin's company. The unnamed British company advertised bonds in England in 1889 to raise money for construction. Following another blowout in 1890, the company turned to shield tunneling. The firm used a new device developed by Greathead, a pneumatic shield called the "Greathead Shield", to extend the tunnel by . With a concentration of rock directly underneath the clay riverbed, the tube was aligned to pass directly above it, with very little clearance. To maintain sufficient air pressure inside, S. Pearson & Son decided to place a silt layer of at least above the tube. The silt layer was then removed after the tubes were finished, allowing each tube to maintain its own air pressure. S. Pearson & Son were unable to finish the tubes because they had also run out of funds by 1891. Work stopped completely in 1892 after the company had completed another of digging. By this point, the pair of tubes had been dug from both sides of the river. The northern tube extended from the New Jersey shore and from the New York shore, with a gap of between the two ends of the tube. The southern tube had only been excavated from the New Jersey shore and from the New York shore. The construction company was foreclosed upon during 1898, and the bondholders took possession of the tunnel.

McAdoo attempt

In 1901, lawyer and future statesman

casually mentioned the idea of a Hudson River tunnel to a fellow lawyer, John Randolph Dos Passos, who had invested in the original tunneling project. From this conversation, McAdoo learned about the unfinished Morton Street Tunnel effort. He went on to explore it with Charles M. Jacobs, an engineer who helped build New York City's first underwater tunnel in 1894 under the East River, and who had also worked on the unfinished tunnel. McAdoo and consulting engineer J. Vipond Davies both believed that the existing work was still salvageable. McAdoo formed the New York and Jersey Tunnel Company in 1902, raising $8.5 million in capital

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a compan ...

for the company. Unlike the

North River Tunnels The North River Tunnels are a pair of rail tunnels that carry Amtrak and New Jersey Transit passenger lines under the Hudson River between Weehawken, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Built between 1904 ...

upstream, which would carry intercity and commuter trains when they opened in 1910, the Morton Street Tunnel was intended to carry only trolleys or rapid transit, which used smaller trains. This, in turn, allowed the Morton Street Tunnel to be smaller and less expensive. Originally, McAdoo only intended to complete the northern tube, which was further along in the construction process. Afterward, he would operate a

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struct ...

with two small carriages going back and forth within that single tube. However, amid worsening ferry congestion at

Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot was the main ferry terminal of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the West Shore Railroad on the North River (Hudson River) in lower Manhattan. The railroads operated ferries to their terminal stations on the Hudson River ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

, McAdoo ultimately devised a plan for a network of train lines connecting New Jersey and New York City. The Morton Street Tunnel became known as the Uptown Hudson Tubes, complementing a pair of downtown tunnels that McAdoo had planned to connect

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark. The idea for the downtown tunnels was actually conceived by another company, the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Corporation (H&M), in 1903, but McAdoo's New York and Jersey Railroad Company was interested in the H&M's plans as well.

The new effort to complete the Uptown Hudson Tubes, led by chief engineer Charles M. Jacobs, employed a different method of tunneling using tubular

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...

plating and a

at the excavation site. The large mechanically- jacked shield was pushed through the silt at the bottom of the river, and the silt went through the bulkhead of the shield, which faced the portion of the tunnel that had already been dug. The bulkhead contained a pressurized air lock in order to avoid sudden blowouts, such as had occurred during the original construction. The air pressure was maintained at . The excavated mud was then carted away to the surface using

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

-operated

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

s running on a temporary narrow-gauge railway. In some cases, the silt would be baked with

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning " wax", and was re ...

torches to facilitate easier removal of the mud. The cast iron lining would then be placed on the tunnel wall immediately after the shield had been pushed through, so that no silt could be seen on the tube wall behind the shield's bulkhead. These iron plates were then bolted shut to prevent leakages, as well as to maintain low air pressure in the tunnel. McAdoo later noted that the Uptown Hudson Tubes effort was the first project where machines, rather than workers, carted out the excess silt. Because of the previous work on the Morton Street Tunnel, the tunnel project was already half complete a year after McAdoo's company started digging. By 1903, the gap was only a few feet wide between the two sections of the northern tube. As a result, the tubular cast iron and tunneling shield method was mostly used on the southern tube. For the southern tube, the tunneling shield progressed from the New Jersey side. Some difficulties arose during the completion of the northern tube. The company had to use dynamite to tunnel through a hard

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes—deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock ...

on the Manhattan side, which was only above the intended grade of the tunnel. In addition, an explosion killed one worker. The two parts of the northern tube were connected on March 11, 1904, accompanied by a large celebration that involved a group of 20 men walking through the completed tube from end to end.

Completion and franchise

By the end of 1904, the New York and Jersey Railroad Company had received permission from the New York City Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners to build a new subway line through Midtown Manhattan, which would connect with the Uptown Hudson Tubes; the company received the sole rights to operate this line for a duration of 25 years. The Midtown Manhattan line would travel eastward under

before turning northeastward under

, then continue underneath Sixth Avenue to a terminus at 33rd Street. The

New York City Board of Aldermen The New York City Board of Aldermen was a body that was the upper house of New York City's Common Council from 1824 to 1875, the lower house of its Municipal Assembly upon consolidation in 1898 until the charter was amended in 1901 to abolish ...

expressed that the line could be extended further north to

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

in the future. The New York and Jersey Railroad had previously submitted a bid for a Sixth Avenue subway line, but it was refused because Sixth Avenue was a major north–south road. The Rapid Transit Board changed its decision after Sixth Avenue property owners expressed opposition to the rejection. McAdoo's company was also given perpetual rights to build and operate an east–west crosstown line under Christopher Street and

Ninth Street ''Ninth Street'' is a 1999 black-and-white drama, written by Kevin Willmott. Filmed in the United States, the movie was primarily released in English. Plot Set in 1968 Junction City, Kansas sometimes called "Junk Town" reflect on the history o ...

eastward to either Second Avenue or

Astor Place Astor Place is a one-block street in NoHo/ East Village, in the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs from Broadway in the west (just below East 8th Street) to Lafayette Street. The street encompasses two plazas at ...

, with no intermediate stops. The Ninth Street tunnel would be constructed only after the completion of the other lines. The crosstown line was only excavated about ; the partly completed crosstown tube still exists. In January 1905, the Hudson Companies was incorporated for the purpose of completing the Uptown Hudson Tubes and constructing the Sixth Avenue line. The company, which was contracted to construct the Uptown Hudson Tubes' subway tunnel connections on each side of the river, had a capital of $21 million to complete the project. The

Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned ...

Company (H&M) was incorporated in December 1906 to operate a passenger railroad system between New York and New Jersey via the Uptown and Downtown Hudson Tubes. The Downtown Hudson Tubes, located about south of the first pair, had started construction by that point, and would ultimately open in July 1909. Digging for the Uptown Hudson Tubes was completed in 1907, after 33 years of intermittent effort; they were celebrated as the first non-waterborne link between Manhattan and New Jersey. Work continued to finish off the interior of the tubes. The finishing touches included the addition of a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

lining, which replaced the original

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

lining, as well as laying tracks and electric

third rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

s; this took an additional year to complete. The stations on the Manhattan side were also completed during this time. Test runs of trains without passengers started through the tunnels in late 1907; the Hudson Companies tested its rolling stock on the

Second Avenue Elevated 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 ...

, then delivered the trains to the Uptown Hudson Tubes for further testing.

Operation

Service begins

A trial run, carrying a party of officials, dignitaries, and news reporters, ran on February 15, 1908. The first "official" passenger train, which was also open only to officials and dignitaries, left 19th Street on February 25, 1908, at 3:40 p.m., and arrived at Hoboken Terminal ten minutes later. The tubes opened to the general public at midnight the next day, at which point the tubes had taken more than three decades to construct. At the time, three more stations at 23rd Street, 28th Street, and 33rd Street were under construction, and there were plans to extend the H&M line northeast to

, at

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Av ...

and 42nd Street. In the coming years, many businesses moved to Sixth Avenue, along the route of the Uptown Hudson Tubes, while commuters moved to New Jersey to take advantage of the 10-minute commute to Manhattan. New office buildings were also developed around Hoboken Terminal. The 23rd Street station opened on June 15, 1908. Trains to 23rd Street initially used the eastern tube between 19th and 23rd Streets. The western tube opened on November 10, 1910, and the extension to 33rd Street also opened at that time. H&M officials celebrated the completion of the line to 33rd Street with a luncheon at the Hotel Martinique at Herald Square. On July 19, 1909, service via the downtown tubes commenced between

Hudson Terminal Hudson Terminal was a rapid transit station and office-tower complex in the Radio Row neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Opened during 1908 and 1909, it was composed of a terminal station for the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad (H&M), ...

in Lower Manhattan and Exchange Place in Jersey City. By this time, the

Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...

(IRT) had become a viable competitor, with a proposal to connect its Lexington Avenue line to the H&M at three locations: Fulton Street,

, and Grand Central–42nd Street. The Sixth Avenue portion of the H&M line also competed with the IRT's Sixth Avenue elevated, which extended both north of 33rd Street and south of 9th Street. Passengers along the uptown branch initially paid a flat fare of 5 cents. In 1911, H&M officials voted to raise fares to 7 cents for passengers traveling between the uptown branch and New Jersey. Passengers traveling between any two stations on the uptown branch, as well as passengers heading to Hudson Terminal, continued to pay 5 cents. In 1920, the fare between New Jersey and the uptown branch was raised to 10 cents, while passengers heading to Hudson Terminal paid 6 cents.

Proposed Grand Central extension

The original plans for the Uptown Hudson Tubes called for a terminal at 33rd Street under the

Gimbels Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the com ...

department store, now

Manhattan Mall Manhattan Mall is an inactive indoor shopping mall at 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. There are entrances to the New York City Subway's station and the PATH's station on the second basement level. The m ...

. During construction, the plan was changed so the 33rd Street station was directly under Sixth Avenue, providing for a future northward extension. This northward extension, which McAdoo had proposed by 1910, called for the Uptown Hudson Tubes to run under Sixth Avenue to 42nd Street, where they would curve east under the IRT's 42nd Street Line and terminate at Park Avenue. This would have created an easy connection to Grand Central Terminal, which was under construction at the time. There would be two intermediate stops at 39th Street/Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street/Fifth Avenue. The proposed extension to Grand Central soon encountered problems. At Grand Central, the H&M platforms would be directly below the 42nd Street Line's platforms, but above the IRT's

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 ...

that carried the Flushing Line to

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. However, the IRT had constructed an unauthorized ventilation shaft between the 42nd Street line and the Steinway Tunnel; this would force the H&M to build its station at a very low depth, making it relatively harder for passengers to access the H&M station. As an alternative, the city's Utilities Board proposed connecting the Uptown Hudson Tubes to the Steinway Tunnel. A franchise to extend the Uptown Hudson Tubes to Grand Central was awarded in June 1909, with the expectation that construction would start within six months and that the extension would be operational by January 1911. However, by February 1910, financing had only been secured to complete the 33rd Street terminal, and not for the Grand Central extension. By 1914, the H&M had not started construction of the Grand Central extension, and it requested to delay the start of construction for at least two more months. The Rapid Transit Commissioners had determined that the Ninth Street crosstown spur was unlikely to be built soon, so permission to build the Ninth Street tunnel was denied. By 1920, the H&M had submitted seventeen applications in which they sought to delay construction of the extension to Grand Central; in all seventeen instances, the H&M claimed that it was not an appropriate time to construct the tube. On its seventeenth application, the Rapid Transit Commissioners declined the request for a delay, effectively ending the H&M's right to build an extension to Grand Central.

Reconfiguration underneath Sixth Avenue

In 1924, the city-operated

(IND) submitted its list of proposed subway routes to the New York City Board of Transportation. One of the proposed routes, the Sixth Avenue Line, ran parallel to the Uptown Hudson Tubes from Ninth to 33rd streets. At first, the city intended to take over the portion of the Uptown Hudson Tubes under Sixth Avenue for IND use, then build a pair of new tunnels for the H&M directly underneath it. With the IND committed to building the Sixth Avenue line, and the H&M's 33rd Street terminal located both above and below preexisting railroad tunnels, the IND preferred to acquire the tubes. However, the H&M objected, and negotiations between the city, IND, and H&M continued until 1929. H&M tunnel tile work 1

The IND and H&M finally came to an agreement in 1930. The city had decided to build the IND Sixth Avenue Line's local tracks around the pre-existing H&M tubes, and add express tracks for the IND underneath the H&M tubes at a later date. However, the city still planned to eventually take over the H&M tracks, convert them to express tracks for the IND line, then build a lower level for the H&M. As part of the construction of the IND line, the H&M's 14th Street and 23rd Street stations had to be rebuilt to provide space for the IND's 14th Street and 23rd Street stations, which would be located at a similar elevation. The 19th Street station was not affected because the IND tracks were located below the H&M tracks at that point. The 33rd Street terminal closed on December 26, 1937, and service on the H&M was cut back to 28th Street to allow for construction on the subway to take place. A temporary 29th Street entrance was installed at the 28th Street station. The 33rd Street terminal was moved south to 32nd Street and reopened on September 24, 1939. The city paid $800,000 to build the new 33rd Street station and reimbursed H&M another $300,000 for the loss of revenue. The 28th Street station was subsequently closed because the southern entrances to the 33rd Street terminal were located only two blocks away, rendering the 28th Street stop unnecessary. It was demolished to make room for the IND tracks below. The IND line opened in December 1940; it replaced the Sixth Avenue elevated, which was closed in December 1938 and demolished soon after.

Later years

The 19th Street station was closed in 1954. The only entrance to the station's westbound platform had been located inside a building, whose owner canceled the lease for the station entrance. The H&M determined that constructing a new entrance would be too expensive given the proximity of the 14th Street station. In 1962, the

took over the H&M's operations, and the H&M system was rebranded as the PATH. In 1961, as part of the

Chrystie Street Connection The Chrystie Street Connection is a set of New York City Subway tunnels running the length of Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. It is one of the few track connections between lines of the former Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Co ...

and

DeKalb Avenue Junction The DeKalb Avenue station is a station on the BMT Brighton Line and BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of DeKalb and Flatbush Avenues in Downtown Brooklyn. It is served by the Q and R trains at ...

projects, the city began building a pair of express tracks for the IND Sixth Avenue Line. Although the tracks were located below ground level, they were directly underneath the portion of the Uptown Hudson Tubes that ran along Sixth Avenue; their ceilings located just beneath the bottom of the tubes. Service on the Uptown Hudson Tubes was suspended for five days in 1962 when it was discovered that builders constructing the express tunnels had drilled to an "unsafe" margin of underneath. The express tracks opened in 1967. In 1986, the New Jersey-bound platform at 14th Street and both platforms of Christopher Street were closed for three months for renovations. Due to

positive train control Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains a ...

installation on the Uptown Hudson Tubes, service through the tubes was mostly suspended on weekends from July to October 2018.

Awards

The Uptown and Downtown Hudson Tubes were declared a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1978 by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. Additionally, the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

-fired

Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse, also known as the Jersey City Powerhouse in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, was built in 1908. The powerhouse made possible the subway system between New Jersey and New York ...

, which generated electricity to run the Hudson tube trains, was built in 1906–1908. The powerhouse stopped generating in 1929, and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on November 23, 2001.