On account of its geographical peculiarities the city of New York has
for many years been subject to traffic congestion on the north-south
line. The long narrow outline of the island of Manhattan with its dense
population presents an unusually difficult transportation problem.
Until the year 1914 the operations of the Interborough Rapid Transit
System were confined almost exclusively to Manhattan and the Bronx,
while the Brooklyn Rapid Transit System operated in Brooklyn and the
Borough of Queens. This geographical division, however, was abandoned
with the inauguration of the dual system. By the new arrangement the
B. R. T. operates into Manhattan over the New York Municipal line and on
the other hand the Interborough reaches into Queens through the Steinway
Tunnels and the Queensborough Bridge and into Brooklyn by the Eastern
Parkway and Nostrand Ave. Lines.
[Illustration: 7-CAR TRAIN EQUIPPED WITH G-E MOTORS AND PC CONTROL]
[Illustration: 30,000-KW. TURBINE AT 59^{TH} STREET STATION,
INTERBOROUGH RAPID TRANSIT]
[Illustration: INTERBOROUGH RAPID TRANSIT LINES]
The Interborough operates the old subway traversing the length of
Manhattan and also the four elevated lines in Manhattan and the Bronx.
The original lines of this system were built in 1868 and were the first
elevated tracks in New York and probably the first in the world. Other
elevated lines were built between 1870 and 1880, and the present old
subway was completed in 1904-8.
Steam locomotives were superseded on the Manhattan Elevated line in 1902
and electric motor car trains were substituted. The original General
Electric equipment installed at that time is still in daily operation
after 20 years’ service.
The present rapid transit facilities of the Interborough include the
following branches:
═══════════════════════════════════╤══════╤══════
Division │Length│Total
│ of │Single
│ Road │Track
───────────────────────────────────┼──────┼──────
Bronx Subway Line Contracts 1 & 2 │ │
Underground │ 19.56│ 62.97
Elevated │ 6.16│ 22.32
Contract No. 3 │ │
Atlantic Ave. │ ....│ .27
Astoria Line Elevated │ 2.33│ 6.87
Brooklyn Line │ 5.10│ 17.66
Corona Line Elevated │ 4.21│ 12.61
Clark St. Tunnel │ 2.31│ 4.67
Jerome Ave. Line │ 6.04│ 18.89
Lexington Ave. Line │ 5.00│ 21.15
149th St. Loop │ .55│ .55
Nostrand Ave. Branch │ 2.70│ 5.55
Pelham Bay Park Line │ 7.15│ 21.6
Queensboro Subway │ │
Underground │ 1.61│ 5.98
Elevated │ 1.03│ ....
South Ave. Line Underground │ 4.19│ 15.73
White Plains Rd. Line Elevated │ 4.88│ 15.82
Manhattan Division Elevated │ 37.67│113.19
8th Ave. & 162nd. St. Connection │ .62│ 1.26
Queensboro Bridge Line │ 1.35│ 2.73
Webster Ave. Line │ 1.74│ 5.33
West Farms Subway Connection │ .5 │ 1.00
├──────┼──────
Totals │114.7 │373.15
───────────────────────────────────┴──────┴──────
The number of passengers carried by the Interboro Lines during the
fiscal year 1921 was 1,013,678,831. This figure represents 2,773,479
passengers per mile of track. In the main 4-track subway 10-car express
trains are operated during rush hour periods on minimum headways of 108
seconds.
_Power Supply_
The power generating equipment of the Interborough includes briefly the
following:
════════════════════════════════╤═══════════
59th St. Power Station │ Total Kw.
────────────────────────────────┼───────────
Turbo-Generators 3-30,000 kw.│ 90,000
Compound Units 5-15,000 kw.│ 75,000
Engine-driven Units 4- 7,500 kw.│ 30,000
├───────────
Total │195,000 Kw.
────────────────────────────────┴───────────
════════════════════════════════╤═══════════
74th St. Power Station │ Total Kw.
────────────────────────────────┼───────────
Turbo-Generator 1-60,000 kw.│ 60,000
Turbo-Generators 3-30,000 kw.│ 90,000
Turbo-Generator 1- 7,500 kw.│ 7,500
Engine-driven 3- 7,500 kw.│ 22,500
├───────────
Total │180,000 Kw.
────────────────────────────────┴───────────
Power is generated 11,000 volts three-phase 25 cycles and transmitted
principally underground at 11,000 and 19,000 volts. The total energy
generated in the two main sections at 59th St. and 74th St. for the year
1921 was 830,000,000 kw-hrs.
_Substations_
For supplying 625-volt direct current to the rapid transit lines, there
are a total of 25 substations containing 129 synchronous converters
aggregating 283,000 kw.
_Distribution_
Propulsion current is delivered to trains through an unprotected
over-running third rail weighing, in the old subway 75 lbs. per yard, on
the elevated 100 lbs., and in the new subway 150 lbs. per yard.
_Rolling Stock_
The motor car equipment on the Manhattan Elevated lines includes over
800 cars which have been in operation since 1902-4 with GE-66 motors and
Type M control. These cars after 20 years of hard service are referred
to as the “back-bone of the system.” Frequent additions have been made
to elevated and subway equipment so that the total rolling stock at the
end of the fiscal year 1921 was as follows: