The 42nd Street Shuttle (also Grand Central-Times Square Shuttle) is a line and service of the division of the New York City Subway. It runs at all times but late nights, connecting Times Square to Grand Central Terminal under 42nd Street. It is the shortest regular service in the system, running .8 mile (1.3 km) in officially one minute.

The subway through which the shuttle runs was opened on October 27, 1904, the first day of subway service in Manhattan. It served as part of the IRT's main line until August 1, 1918, when the "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 southbound express track on the four-track line was closed and new platforms wer built, as the old station at Times Square had been local-only. However, the new arrangement turned out to be inadequate, and the shuttle was closed on midnight between August 3 and August 4 for expansion of the platforms. The shuttle reopened on September 28, with improved passageways and platforms. 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 ran at all times until September 10, 1995, after which it no longer ran during late nights. The provides replacement service.

At the present time, there is no connection between the southbound local track (which connects to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line's southbound local track) and the northbound local track (which connects to the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line's northbound local track). The northbound express track is connected to the southbound local track by a crossover at the south end.

The shuttle uses One Person Train Operation (OPTO). The operator and conductor swap jobs when the train gets to one end, to provide for quick turnaround time; the operator is always in the front and the conductor in back. Prior to OPTO, a full-time conductor was also present.

Station listing

External links

• nycsubway.org - IRT Grand Central/Times Square Shuttle
• Abandoned Stations - proposed Grand Central shuttle platform (includes a track diagram)

References

• Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph, New York Times August 2, 1918 page 1
• Drop Shuttle Plan as Subway Crush Becomes a Peril, New York Times August 3, 1918 page 1
• Subway Shuttle Resumes Today, New York Times September 28, 1918 page 17
• A Subway Station is Shuttered, the First in 33 Years, New York Times September 11, 1995 [the article is about Dean Street on the Franklin Avenue Shuttle, and the headline refers to the 1962 closing of Worth Street; several old-style elevated railways were closed since then, as well as the Culver Shuttle which hosted both elevated and subway service at one time]