42 Street Shuttle
The 42 Street Shuttle is New York City’s shortest subway line and much shorter than the other 2 Subway Shuttles. It operates as a true shuttle with trains connecting just two stations without intermediate stops, traveling just over 2,000 feet (just over 0.4 miles). This makes the 42 Street Shuttle is the shortest rail-based transit route in North America, with even many Airport People movers having longer routes than it.
Airport People movers longer than it even include three in the United States that just connect multiple stations on one long airport concourse. These including the Detroit Airport ExpressTram (3,700 feet), the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport “C” Concourse Tram (2,700 feet), the Miami Airport’s (currently suspended as of Fall 2023) skytrain in Concourse D (about 4,000 feet). Most outdoor people movers at Airports (except for some of the shorter ‘transit type’ shuttle people movers at airports like Orlando and Tampa are almost all longer than the 42 Street shuttle, include all with more than 2 stations).
Travel Times are about 90 seconds. Trains currently operate every 4 to 5 minutes, with two 6 car trains operating, each back and forth on their own sperate track, a “Dual Shuttle System”. During weekends just one train operates with a reduced 10 minute frequency.
The 42 Street Shuttle is a completely redundant subway line. Both stations on it are also serviced by the 7 train (that makes an intermediate stop at 5 Avenue the Times Square station has in system transfers to this station as well) although the 7 train is a decent walk from the Shuttle at Grand Centrally located quite deep underground, and full block south (under 41 Street) of the Shuttle at Times Square. This means that unless trackwork is suspending 7 trains in Manhattan (or causing major service changes to 1 and 2 or 4 and 6 trains) service is suspended overnight from Midnight to 5am, a phenomenon started on September 10, 1995 (it had previously operated at all times, with one train every 10 minutes overnight) to save money.
The Shuttle currently operates with two 6 car trains of R62A subway cars specially modified, so most seats have been removed, to provide additional space for standing passengers on the 90 second trips. The only seating is the priority seating areas at the ends of each car. Transit personal are stationed at both ends of the train and alternate duties for each one-way trip. They are the train operator T/O for all trips in the direction their cab faces, and the conductor C/R when their cab is the last car of the train.
Due to historical reasons the two shuttle tracks don’t even have crossover switches between time, track 1’s connection to the rest of the subway system is via the downtown 6 train track at Grand Central, Track 4’s connection is via the uptown 1 train track at Times Square.
The 42 Street Shuttle runs entirely along the originally 4-track 1904 opening day route of the IRT connecting Times Square and Grand Central. It entered service in 1918 when the original IRT subway line was split into two creating the H-system, with new extensions opening south down 7 Avenue along the West Side, and north up Lexington Avenue on the East Side. These extensions also opened new station platforms at Times Square and Grand Central, away from where the original platforms were. These two expansion projects created a gap in the original subway system under 42 Street and the 42 Street Shuttle was born.
The shuttle was originally supposed to use two of the original tracks with 3 car trains, using a new platform (and not the opening day of the IRT original station) at Grand Central to be closer to the Lexington Avenue Line. The building of overly narrow platforms at Grand Central (in the current connecting passageways between the ‘new’ 1918 Lexington Avenue platforms and original Grand Central express stop station) was closed the day after the shuttle opened on August 1, 1918 it was closed by the Public Service Commission. This was caused by unexpected popularity and heavy use of passengers using the shuttle that a major safety hazard was created. Instead, the line reopened on September 28, 1918 with trains operating on 3 tracks, the original local tracks 1 and 4, and track 3, the original Uptown Express Track. Track 2 was closed on the entire line to allow a wooden platform to be added to allow trains to platform at Times Square that before the H-system was implemented was just a local stop (today it is the busiest subway station complex on the NYC Subway). The platforms at Times Square were on a curve and gap fillers were soon installed for safety for trains on Track 1.
Throughout the next century, trains operated as a “Triple Shuttle System” (no idea if that’s a real train operations phrase) with 3 trains operating independently on 3 separate tracks. A 4-car train operated on Track 3, with 3 car trains on Tracks 1 and 4. Service was as frequent as every 2 to 3 minutes. Various proposals were made to replace the 42 Street Shuttle with moving walkways or people mover systems over the years. From 1962 through 1964 track 4 was operated as a prototype automated subway train before the equipment caught fire under shady circumstances (perhaps something to do with the Transit Operators Unions worried about job cuts caused by automation).
In the mid-2000s as the Times Square and Grand Central subway complexes were renovated and both turned into accessible stations for all other lines the Shuttle train remained very non-accessible primarily because of the wide gaps at Times Square where the station was on a curve. Passengers needing a step-free Access subway service were directed to the 7 train because of the large gaps between Shuttle trains and the platforms at Times Square, although the platforms at both stations had connections to elevators within the station complexes for step-free access.
From 2019 to September 7, 2021, the 42 Street Shuttle was under construction to make the shuttle ADA accessible. This involved the moving and complete rebuilding of the Times Square Station and major renovations to the Grand Central Station. This reconfigured the shuttle from three 3 or 4 car trains to the two 6 car train configuration the Shuttle operates today (a capacity increase from 100 train cars an hour to 120 train cars an hour, with a slight decrease in frequency). This project originally was planned to involve running reduced shuttle service from 3 to 2 tracks for up to 3 years depending upon the phase of construction. With the COVID-19 pandemic and all shuttle service suspended on March 25, 2020 due to reduced ridership and a lack of subway manpower. Construction was accelerated although the shuttle was reopened on August 10, 2020 because of construction on the Lexington Avenue line that saw service suspended on Nights and Weekends south of 42 Street, with various track closures throughout the next year resulting in reduced service and a final four and then twelve day closure before the new 42 Street Shuttle debuted on September 7, 2021. This project includes a new transfer passageway from the Shuttle to the B,D,F, and M trains at Bryant Park.
