Project Summary: T Second Avenue Subway

By: Jamie Kauri

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About

The Metropolitan Transit Authority proposed the Second Avenue subway line in the 1920s, and now almost 100 years later, significant milestones have been achieved. The Second Avenue elevated line opened in 1878 and was operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, marking the beginning of more than a century-long project to build a subway underneath Second Ave in NYC. In the 1970s, NYC started construction on the Second Ave. subway, but construction was halted just a couple of years later due to a financial crisis. In 2007, construction finally re-started on the now-operational Phase 1.

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Route Alignment & Stops

Phase 1

Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway opened at the beginning of 2017. It meant adding three new stations to the Q line at 72nd, 86th & 96th streets. With this extension, the Q line (not including connections at Lexington Ave/63rd St stn), connections can be made with the M15 Select Bus Service (SBS), M72, M79, M86 SBS & M96.

Although phase 1 opened, the T line did not. The T line likely won't open until Phase 3 is completed. Instead the Q Second Avenue/Broadway Express/Brighton Local Line was modified to operate on the first portion of the Second Ave Subway. The stations on Second Ave. were, in the first couple years of opening, very clean, with large platforms and spacious mezzanines. The station entrances were nice, in my opinion, housed in smaller buildings than other newer North American subway entrances. The buildings are white and grey, on the sidewalk with stairs and an elevator.

Phase 2

Phase 2 of the Second Avenue subway is already underway and will extend the subway north to 125th St. It will include three stations at 106th, 116th and 125th streets. According to a story on the '2nd Ave. Sagas' blog, Phase 2 won't open until 2027 at the earliest.

Phase 3

Phase 3 will almost definitely bring the T Line into service. It will extend the Second Ave subway from Houston St to 125th St and add six new stations.

Phase 4

The final phase of building the Second Ave subway will give the T Line four additional stations at Grand St., Chatham Sq., Seaport & Hanover Sq. Until other extensions on the T or Q are proposed by the MTA, this will be the final portion of the Second Ave Subway. The extension will also bring the line to New York's Financial District.

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Rolling Stock

Currently the Q Line uses R46 and R68 train sets according to aWikipedia article, but other more modern trains have also been used on the Q. By the time the full Second Avenue subway opens, the MTA will likely be able to use R211 train sets. The line also used specially wrapped R160B's in a Second Ave subway theme when it opened in 2017. The wrap was a dark blue with circled letters (like the MTA subway symbols) that spelled out Second Ave. Subway.

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Map of Route

Map of the T & Q subway lines on Second Ave subway. Map includes information about station connections.

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