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 operates at all times except late nights, with trains running on two tracks underneath 42nd Street between Times Square and Grand Central; for many decades, three tracks had been in service until a major renovation was begun in 2019 reducing it to two tracks. With two stations, it is the shortest regular service in the system by number of stops, running about 2,402 feet (732 m) in 90 seconds as of 2005^[update]. The shuttle is used by over 100,000 passengers every day, and by up to 10,200 passengers per hour during rush hours.

The 42nd Street Shuttle was constructed and operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and is part of the A Division of New York City Transit as of 2024^[update]. The shuttle tracks opened in 1904 as part of the city's first subway. The original subway line ran north from City Hall on what is now the IRT Lexington Avenue Line to 42nd Street, from where it turned west to run across 42nd Street. At Broadway, the line turned north, proceeding to 145th Street on what is now the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. This operation continued until 1918, when construction on the Lexington Avenue Line north of 42nd Street, and on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line south of 42nd Street was completed. One trunk would run via the new Lexington Avenue Line down Park Avenue, and the other trunk would run via the new Seventh Avenue Line up Broadway. The section in the middle, via 42nd Street, was converted into shuttle operation.

Through the 20th century, various attempts to convert, replace, or extend the shuttle have failed. The proposals have included conveyor-belt systems, as well as reconstruction of connections to the Broadway–Seventh Avenue and Lexington Avenue lines. One of the shuttle's trains was outfitted with automatic train operation on a trial basis in 1962, although the trial ended after a fire in 1964. A major reconstruction of the shuttle took place between 2019 and 2022. The reconstruction allowed trains to be lengthened to six cars while also expanding both shuttle stations' capacity, and brought the shuttle into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The shuttle does not operate overnight, and each of the shuttle tracks in operation at any given time is independent of the other. Its route bullet is colored dark gray on route signs, station signs, and rolling stock with the letter "S" on the official subway map.

The subway through which the shuttle runs was opened on October 27, 1904, by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the first day of subway service in Manhattan. The current shuttle line was part of the first IRT subway line, which ran north to 145th Street via Broadway and south to City Hall via Park Avenue and Lafayette Street. The 42nd Street section of the line connected Broadway at Times Square, on the west, to Park Avenue at Grand Central Terminal, on the east. At the Times Square end of this segment, the line curved sharply to the north under One Times Square, swinging northeast under Seventh Avenue before shifting under Broadway. The platforms at Times Square are located on this curve. Like the rest of the Original Subway, the line was built with a vertical clearance of 13 feet (4.0 m), and a total width of 49 feet (15 m). The maximum grade of the line is 1.0 percent between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. In 1910, the platforms at the two stations were extended.

In 1913, the IRT, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit, and the city agreed to the Dual System of Rapid Transit to expand the city's transportation. As part of the agreement, the existing IRT subway would be split into two north–south lines and a shuttle along 42nd Street. The section of the line south of Grand Central–42nd Street would be connected to a newly constructed line stretching from 41st Street and Park Avenue to the Bronx, running via Lexington Avenue, while the section of the line north of Times Square–42nd Street would be connected to a newly constructed line heading south under Seventh Avenue. The section along 42nd Street was left as a shuttle to connect the new East Side and West Side Lines.

The new Lexington Avenue route curved off of the old line at 41st Street and ran underneath private property to reach Lexington Avenue at 43rd Street with a new Grand Central station located in the diagonal segment. Since there was 400 feet between the eastern end of the original line's station and the new Lexington Avenue Line station, a new shuttle station was to be built near the Lexington Avenue Line station. The construction of the narrow island platform station required building two new trackways extending east under 42nd Street. The two-track layout was expected to provide ample capacity for the shuttle. On August 1, 1918, the Dual System's "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 station was not ready in time, and therefore wooden flooring was temporarily laid over sections of the trackways at Times Square and Grand Central. The shuttle was heavily used, and the crowding conditions were so bad that the shuttle was ordered closed the next day by the Public Service Commission.

The new, unused trackways of the planned station were covered with flooring and turned into a passageway between the Shuttle and Lexington Avenue stations. The shuttle reopened on September 28, 1918, with improved passageways and platforms. Track 2 at the Grand Central station was covered over by a wooden platform. A New York Times columnist later said that former southbound express track 2 was still usable for the first few hours of the shuttle's operation, but the wooden platform was placed over that track later the same day to allow shuttles to use former northbound express track 3, due to high demand for the shuttles on the former local tracks, numbered 1 and 4. 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 was meant to be "temporary," and by 1922, there were proposals for the shuttle to be replaced by a moving sidewalk.