subway cars travel without repairs is 16 times greater today than it was in 1982.
Number of miles traveled by an average subway car between repairs:
1982 2002
7,145 114,619
Longest Rides
With no change of trains: the train from 207th Street in Manhattan to Far Rockaway in Queens (more than 31 miles).
With a transfer: the train from 241st Street in the Bronx, with a transfer to the Far Rockaway-bound Train (more than 38 miles).
Between stations: the train between the Howard Beach/JFK Airport and Broad Channel stations in Queens (3.5 miles).
The train (pictured at the renovated Utica Avenue station, Brooklyn) can take
you more than 31 miles without a transfer for the price of a fare.
Stations
Introduction
From the original 28 stations built in Manhattan and opened on October 27, 1904, the subway system has grown to 468 stations, most of which were built by 1930. Their design represents three distinct styles since two private companies – the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) – and the city-owned Independent Rapid Transit Railroad (IND), built them.
The primary difference among the three types of stations is platform lengths. IRT stations have platforms that are 525 feet long; BMT platforms are 615 feet long, and IND platforms are the longest – some measuring 660 feet.
Over the past 20 years, NYC Transit has rehabilitated or upgraded almost half the stations in the system, making sure to rebuild the distinctive tile mosaics of the stations. In addition, MTA Arts for Transit has commissioned and installed artwork in dozens of stations since 1985.
DID YOU KNOW? NYC Transit - with 468 subway stations - has only 35 fewer stations than the combined total of all other subway systems in the country.
Types of stations: Underground (about 60 percent); elevated, embankment, and open-cut. *
Highest station: Smith-9 Sts in Brooklyn, 88 feet above street level.
Lowest station: 191 St in Manhattan, 180 feet below street level.
*An open-cut station is built below street level, in a trench-like depression, or "cut." Unlike a station built in a tunnel, most "open-cut" stations are exposed to the outdoors.
Track Gauge: (distance between rails) is 4 feet 8.5 inches, the same as that of major American railroads.
Miles of Track: Approximately 660 in passenger service. Counting track used for “non-revenue” purposes (e.g., in subway yards), the number is more than 840 miles.
DID YOU KNOW? Laid end to end, NYC Transit train tracks would stretch from New York City to Chicago. Power sources: Substations receive as much as 27,000 volts from power plants and convert it for use in the subway. The third (contact) rail uses 625 volts to operate trains.
Types of power: Alternating current (AC) operates signals, station and tunnel lighting, ventilation, and miscellaneous line equipment.
in Manhattan, 180 feet below street level.
