V (New York City Subway service)

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The V Sixth Avenue Local is a service of the New York City Subway. It is colored orange on the route sign (either on the front and/or side - depending on equipment used) and on station signs and the NYC Subway map, as it represents a service provided on the IND Sixth Avenue Line through midtown Manhattan. The V train operates weekdays, from 71st–Continental Avenue–Forest Hills to Lower East Side–Second Avenue, running local in both Queens and Manhattan. It does not operate late nights and weekends and all of the stations on its route are served full-time by at least one other service. The following lines are used by the and V train:

Line	Tracks	When
IND Queens Boulevard Line from 71st Avenue to Queens Plaza	local	rush hours, middays and evenings
IND Queens Boulevard Line from Queens Plaza to Fifth Avenue–53rd Street	N/A	rush hours, middays and evenings
IND Sixth Avenue Line from 47th–50th Streets to Lower East Side–Second Avenue	local	rush hours, middays and evenings

1 Service history
2 Controversy
3 Station listing
4 External links
5 Notes
6 References

[edit] Service history

The V train is the New York City Subway's newest service. It made its debut on December 17, 2001, running weekdays, replacing the G train on the local tracks of the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Queens, and replacing the F train on the 53rd Street Tunnel route to Manhattan. The F train was re-routed through the IND 63rd Street Line, which opened for full-time service the day before. In Manhattan, between 47th–50th Streets and the V train's Lower East Side-Second Avenue terminal station, V and F made identical stops.

On January 23, 2005, a fire destroyed the signal room of Chambers Street on the IND Eighth Avenue Line. V service was temporarily extended to Euclid Avenue until C service was restored on February 2.

[edit] Controversy

The introduction of the V service added nine additional peak-hour trains coming into Manhattan on the IND Queens Boulevard Line.^[1] However, to make room for the V train on Queens Boulevard, the G train was given a new weekday terminal at Long Island City–Court Square, and the F train was re-routed through the 63rd Street Tunnel. The New York Times described the service plan as "complex and heavily criticized." In response to complaints from G riders, who lost their transfer to Manhattan-bound trains at Queens Plaza, the MTA agreed to install an underground moving walkway between Court Square and the 23rd Street–Ely Avenue station, where E and V trains are available. The authority "had spent several hundred thousand dollars on tests, trying to figure out a way to keep the G train running past the Court Square Station and farther into Queens on weekdays. But because of the addition of the V train, which will share space along the Queens Boulevard lines with the trains already there — the E, F and R — G trains could not fit during the daytime, when service is heaviest."^[2] The V's debut also made some F riders unhappy:

Last week, there were two express trains (the E and the F) running along Queens Boulevard to 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue, the station where many people catch the Lexington line. Now, there is only one express (the E) and a local (the V) going to that popular station. And the other express (the F) detours to a less popular station, 63rd and Lexington, where you cannot transfer to the Lexington line without walking outside for a few blocks.

So the questions being asked privately, and sometimes very publicly, in Queens stations yesterday were: Do I take a train not going where I'm going and — God forbid — transfer? Do I take a relatively uncrowded train that goes where I'm going but that gives me the scenic tour of subterranean Queens?^[3]

Four months after it opened, the Times reported that the line was operating at only 49% of capacity. However, ridership had "increased 30 percent since it began, and every new V rider, as lonely as he or she might be, relieves crowding on the E."^[4]

[edit] Station listing

For a more detailed station listing, see the articles on the lines listed above.

	Station	When	Services
Queens
	71st-Continental Avenue–Forest Hills	always	E F G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾ LIRR
	67th Avenue	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	63rd Drive–Rego Park	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	Woodhaven Boulevard	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	Grand Avenue–Newtown	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	Elmhurst Avenue	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	Roosevelt Avenue–Jackson Heights	always	E F G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾ 7
	65th Street	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	Northern Boulevard	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	46th Street	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	Steinway Street	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	36th Street	V all but late nights and weekends	E ⁽⁵⁾ G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	Queens Plaza	V all but late nights and weekends	E G ⁽³⁴⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ V ⁽¹²³⁾
	23rd Street–Ely Avenue	V all but late nights and weekends	E V ⁽¹²³⁾ G 7 <7> ^(1a2a3c) (MetroCard)
Manhattan
	Lexington Avenue-53rd Street	V all but late nights and weekends	E V ⁽¹²³⁾ 4 ⁽⁵⁾ 6 <6> ⁽¹²⁾ Roosevelt Island Tramway
	Fifth Avenue–53rd Street	V all but late nights and weekends	E V ⁽¹²³⁾
	47th-50th Streets–Rockefeller Center	always	B ^(123a) D F V ⁽¹²³⁾
	42nd Street–Bryant Park	always	B ^(123a) D F V ⁽¹²³⁾ 7 <7> ^(1a2a3c)
	34th Street–Herald Square	always	B ^(123a) D F V ⁽¹²³⁾ N Q R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ W ^(123a) PATH
	23rd Street	always	F V ⁽¹²³⁾ PATH
	14th Street	always	F V ⁽¹²³⁾ L 1 2 3 ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ PATH
	West Fourth Street–Washington Square	always	B ^(123a) D F V ⁽¹²³⁾ A C ⁽¹²³⁴⁾ E
	Broadway–Lafayette Street	always	B ^(123a) D F V ⁽¹²³⁾ 4 ⁽⁵⁾ 6 <6> ⁽¹²⁾ southbound
	Lower East Side–Second Avenue	always	F V ⁽¹²³⁾

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

^ Sarah Kershaw, "Proposed Line Would Lighten Subway Crush," The New York Times, December 2, 2000
^ Randy Kennedy, "Panel Approves New V Train but Shortens G Line to Make Room," The New York Times, May 25, 2001
^ Randy Kennedy, "Lonesome Newcomer, Taking It Slowly, Seeks Riders," The New York Times, December 18, 2001.
^ Randy Kennedy, "When One New Train Equals One Less Express," The New York Times, July 9, 2002

[edit] References

Line By Line History

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Under construction	Second Avenue Subway • 7 Subway Extension • Fulton Street Transit Center
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