The A Eighth Avenue Express and C Eighth Avenue Local are a pair of rapid transit services in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Their route emblems, or "bullets", are colored blue since they 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 Ozone Park, Queens, making express stops in Manhattan and Brooklyn and all stops in Queens. Limited rush hour service also operates to or from Beach 116th Street in Rockaway Park, Queens. Night-time service operates only between 207th Street and Far Rockaway, making all stops along its entire route; during this time, a shuttle train (the Lefferts Boulevard Shuttle) operates between Rockaway Boulevard and Lefferts Boulevard.
The C operates at all times except nights, between 168th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and Euclid Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, making all stops along its entire route. At night, the A train, which runs express along the entire C route during daytime hours, makes all stops.
History[]
The A and C were the first two services on the IND Eighth Avenue Line when it opened on September 10, 1932. The A ran express between 207th Street and Chambers Street, adjacent to the Hudson Terminal (today's World Trade Center station), and the C was a local between 168th Street and Hudson Terminal. During nights, the C did not run and the A 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.
On April 9, 1936, the IND Fulton Street Line was opened to Rockaway Avenue. The 1936 completion 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, the line was extended to Broadway–East New York (now Broadway Junction).
On November 28, 1948, the line, along with the C, was extended to Euclid Avenue. Express service in Brooklyn began on the A during daytime hours, while the daytime-only C provided local service. At night, the A made all stops along the Fulton Street Line like on the Eighth Avenue Line.
On April 29, 1956, Grant Avenue was opened, and the line was extended over the IND Liberty Avenue Line 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). Alternating trains began terminating at Lefferts Boulevard and Rockaway Park, with rush hour-peak direction only service to Wavecrest. A shuttle train operated at all times between Wavecrest and Broad Channel, where it connected with the A. At night, a shuttle train also operated between Rockaway Boulevard and Lefferts Boulevard, allowing all A trains to go to Rockaway Park during that timeframe.
On January 16, 1958, a new terminal was created at Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue, and the through connection to the Long Island Rail Road's Far Rockaway station was severed. Alternating trains began terminating at Far Rockaway, with rush hour-peak direction only service to Rockaway Park instead, due to ridership along the Rockaway Park branch deemed too low for full-time direct through service. The shuttle began operating between Rockaway Park and Broad Channel from then on.
In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, C service was suspended until September 24, 2001. Local service along Central Park West was replaced by the A and D, and the E was extended from Canal Street to Euclid Avenue during daytime hours, replacing C service in Brooklyn.
On January 23, 2005, a fire at the Chambers Street signal room crippled A and C service. C service was suspended until February 2 and was replaced by the A, B, D, E, and V along different parts of its route. 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 and from the Rockaways originated and terminated at Howard Beach–JFK Airport, with some rush hour trains originating and terminating at Euclid Avenue. Service to and from the Rockaways resumed on May 31, 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.
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 black neighborhoods in New York City.