A (New York City Subway service)

The A Eighth Avenue Express is a rapid transit service in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored  since it uses the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan.

The A operates at all times. Daytime service operates between 207th Street in Inwood, Manhattan and Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway, Queens or Lefferts Boulevard in Richmond Hill, Queens, making express stops in Manhattan and Brooklyn and local stops in Queens. Limited rush-hour service also operates to or from Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Park, Queens. Late night service operates only between 207th Street and Far Rockaway, making local stops along its entire route; during this time, a shuttle train (the Lefferts Boulevard Shuttle) operates between Euclid Avenue and Lefferts Boulevard.

The A provides the longest one-seat ride in the system—at , between Inwood and Far Rockaway—and has a weekday ridership of 600,000.

History

Early history 

The A and AA were the first services on the IND Eighth Avenue Line when it opened on September 10, 1932. The Independent Subway System (IND) used single letters to refer to express services and double letters for local services. The A ran express between 207th Street and Chambers Street/World Trade Center, and the AA ran local between 168th Street and Chambers St/World Trade Center, known at the time as Hudson Terminal. The AA used a pink bullet. During late-night hours (from 1:45 a.m. to 5:45 a.m.) and on Sundays, the A did not run and the AA made all stops along the line.

The A was extended to Jay Street–Borough Hall on February 1, 1933, when the Cranberry Street Tunnel to Brooklyn opened, and to Bergen Street, when the extension opened on March 20. On July 1, the A began running express at all times, stopping at 155th Street and 163rd Street during late nights. The A was extended to Church Avenue on October 7.

On April 9, 1936, the IND Fulton Street Line was opened to Rockaway Avenue. The 1936 extension played an integral part in the establishment of Bedford-Stuyvesant as Brooklyn's central African American community. The A train connected Harlem, Manhattan's central African American community, to areas of Bedford-Stuyvesant that provided residential opportunities for African Americans not found throughout the rest of New York City.

On December 30, 1946, and November 28, 1948, the line was extended to Broadway–East New York (now Broadway Junction) and Euclid Avenue, respectively.

On October 24, 1949, express service in Brooklyn to Broadway–East New York began with the A running express during rush hours, with the  extended to provide local service.

Extensions to Ozone Park and the Rockaways 
On April 29, 1956, Grant Avenue was opened, and the line was extended over the BMT Fulton Street Line to Lefferts Boulevard. On weekdays except midnights, alternate trains terminated at Lefferts Boulevard and at Euclid Avenue. During weekends, they terminated at Euclid Avenue with a shuttle to Lefferts Boulevard.

Two months later, on June 28, 1956, the former Long Island Rail Road Rockaway Line was rebuilt to subway specifications, and service began to Rockaway Park and Wavecrest (Beach 25th Street). At this time, rush hour express service on the Fulton Street Line with the E train began.

On September 16, 1956, the A was extended to the Rockaways, replacing the E. At the time, alternate trains continued running to Lefferts Boulevard. On January 27, 1957, non-rush hour through service to the Rockaways was discontinued and was replaced by a shuttle running between Euclid Avenue and Wavecrest (now Beach 25th Street). Non-rush hour A train service was now to Lefferts Boulevard.

On June 18, 1957, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) announced plans to have Rockaway-bound A train skip Hudson Street, Boyd Street, and Grant Street during rush hours on a one-month pilot, to take effect July 1. The change was made to determine whether ten minutes could be reduced off of travel times to the Rockaways; the NYCTA only believed it would save three minutes. In the face of community opposition, the NYCTA announced that it would take more time to review the change, meaning that it ultimately did not take effect on July 1.

On January 16, 1958, a new terminal was opened at Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue, and the through connection to the Long Island Rail Road's Far Rockaway station was severed. On September 8, 1958, the A train replaced the E train in the Rockaways again. "Round-robin" service from Euclid Avenue to both Rockaway terminals began, non-rush hours, while through A service ran to Lefferts Boulevard. In September 1959, the A began to run local in Brooklyn at all times, as the E became express in Brooklyn.

In 1963, the E train was extended to the Rockaways, and the A train ran local to Euclid Avenue or Lefferts Boulevard at all times. (HH shuttle service from Euclid Avenue provided all service to the Rockaways).

On July 9, 1967, the A train was extended to Far Rockaway middays, evenings, and weekends, replacing the HH shuttle on that branch. Five years later, it was also extended during rush hours.

On January 2, 1973, the A train became the express service along Fulton Street and the E train became the local during rush hours. Finally, on August 30, 1976, the  became the Fulton Street Local during rush hours.

On August 27, 1977, the A began making local stops in Manhattan during late nights, when the AA was not running.

On December 11, 1988, A trains began running local between 145th Street and 168th Street on weekends to replace the discontinued K service, and express on the IND Fulton Street Line in Brooklyn during middays and rush hours, with the C providing local service during those times.

On September 30, 1990, A trains began operating local between 145th Street and 168th Street during weekday evenings.

Until October 23, 1992, the A train ran to Lefferts Boulevard during late nights while the Far Rockaway section was served by a shuttle to Euclid Avenue. On that date this pattern was switched, with late-night A service running to Far Rockaway. Since then an A shuttle provided service from Euclid Avenue to Lefferts Boulevard during late nights. In addition, special A service began running from Rockaway Park to 59th Street–Columbus Circle (Dyckman Street and Inwood–207th Street in the future) during the morning rush and from 59th Street–Columbus Circle to Rockaway Park during the evening rush.

On May 29, 1994, A trains began running express during between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. between 145th Street and Chambers Street/World Trade Center, with C trains making local stops. On May 2, 1999, the A became the express on the Fulton Street Line at all times except late nights, and C service was extended from World Trade Center to Euclid Avenue to provide local service along the line.

21st century 
On January 23, 2005, a fire at the Chambers Street signal room crippled A and C service. Initial assessments suggested that it would take several years to restore normal service, but the damaged equipment was replaced with available spare parts, and normal service resumed on April 21.

A service was affected by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, due to extreme damage to the IND Rockaway Line. Trains that normally traveled to Far Rockaway or Rockaway Park terminated at Howard Beach–JFK Airport. Service to the Rockaways resumed on May 30, 2013. The Far Rockaway part of the route was served by the temporary free H shuttle that ran between Far Rockaway and Beach 90th Street via the connecting track at Hammels Wye.

As a result of a two-phase program of flood mitigation work along the Hammels Wye, between April 9 and May 18, 2018, limited rush hour A service to/from Rockaway Park was suspended. The second phase, from July 1 to September 3, diverted all Far Rockaway-bound A trips to Rockaway Park, with Rockaway Park Shuttle trains being rerouted to the Far Rockaway branch through the southern leg of Hammels Wye.

Route

Service pattern 
The following table shows the lines used by the A, with shaded boxes indicating the route at the specified times:

Stations 
For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.

For clarity, the A branches are shown separately in the following table. The leftmost column shows the Lefferts Boulevard service; the second column shows the Far Rockaway service; and the third column shows the Rockaway Park service.

In popular culture 
"Take the 'A' Train" is a jazz standard by Billy Strayhorn, referring to the A train, going at that time from eastern Brooklyn up into Harlem and northern Manhattan, using the express tracks in Manhattan. It became the signature tune of Duke Ellington and often opened the shows of Ella Fitzgerald. Part of the significance of this is sociological; it connected Harlem and Bedford–Stuyvesant, the two largest African-American neighborhoods in New York City.

Notes

References

External links 

 MTA NYC Transit – A Eighth Avenue Express
 
 
 MTA NYC Transit – A C Line Review
 Main Document

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Category:New York City Subway services