Canal Street (New York City Subway)

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This article is about the subway station complex in Chinatown. For the station at Canal and Varick Streets, see Canal Street (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line). For the station at Canal Street and Sixth Avenue, see Canal Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line).

Coordinates: 40°43′05″N 73°60′00″W / 40.71806, -74


Canal Street
New York City Subway station

Station information
Services	4 (late nights) 6 (all times) <6>(weekdays until 8:45 p.m., peak direction) J (all times) M (weekdays until 7:30 p.m.) N (all times) Q (all times) R (all except late nights) W (weekdays until 9:30 p.m.) Z (rush hours, peak direction)
Passengers (2006)	15.666 million ▲ 2%
Other
Borough	Manhattan
Accessible	(IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms only)

Canal Street is a New York City Subway station complex in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chinatown, shared by the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the BMT Nassau Street Line, and the BMT Broadway Line. It is served by:

6, J, N and Q trains at all times
R train all times except late nights
M and W trains weekdays
Z trains rush hours in the peak direction
4 trains late nights

The complex consists of four originally separate stations joined by underground passageways. Three of the four are perpendicular to Canal Street, crossing at Broadway (Broadway Main Line platforms), Lafayette Street (Lexington Avenue Line platforms) and Centre Street (Nassau Street Line platforms). The Broadway Manhattan Bridge Line platforms run parallel to, and directly underneath, Canal Street itself.

This complex was fully renovated between 1999 and 2004. The Broadway Main Line station was restored to the original look, with new mosaics featuring Chinese characters, reflecting the station's location in Chinatown. The symbols on the red wall plaques mean "money" and "luck", and the "Canal Street" name tablet has ideographs that actually read "China" and "Town." During the most recent renovation in the 1990s, the original mosaics were uncovered but then either removed or covered over again. One of original tablets has been preserved at the New York Transit Museum.

Some relative depths of the stations in the Canal Street complex are as follows:

IRT Lexington Avenue Line, 20 feet below street
BMT Nassau Street Line, 20 feet
BMT Broadway Line, main branch, 40 feet
BMT Broadway Line, Manhattan Bridge branch, 50 feet

1 IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms
2 BMT Nassau Street Line platforms
3 BMT Broadway Line platforms
4 Bus connections
5 References
6 External links

[edit] IRT Lexington Avenue Line platforms


Station information
Line	IRT Lexington Avenue Line
Services	4 (late nights) 6 (all times) <6>(weekdays until 8:45 p.m., peak direction)
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Other
Opened	October 27, 1904^[1]
Accessible	(not accessible to other routes)
Next north	Spring Street: 4 6 <6>
Next south	Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall: 4 6 <6>
	Closed: Worth Street

Canal Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line has four tracks and two side platforms. Due to platform lengthening in the 1940s and 1950s, there are two distinct sections of this station. The original portion has tile-covered I-beams with small and large mosaics and an ornamental ceiling. The newer portion has 1950s green tile at the ends of the platforms. There are also IND-type "To Canal Street" signs. New lights are being installed. Non-original name tables and small "C" mosaics exist.

[edit] BMT Nassau Street Line platforms

Station information
Line	BMT Nassau Street Line
Services	J (all times) M (weekdays until 7:30 p.m.) Z (rush hours, peak direction)
Platforms	2 island platforms (1 in revenue service)
Tracks	3 (2 in revenue service)
Other
Opened	August 4, 1913^{[citation needed]}
Accessible
Next north	Bowery: J M Z
Next south	Chambers Street: J M Z

Canal Street on the BMT Nassau Street Line has three tracks and two island platforms, but only the western island platform is accessible to passengers. Formerly, Canal Street resembled the typical express station, except that the inner "express" tracks dead-ended at the south end of the station, with a platform-level connection joining the southern ends of the two platforms. These stub-end tracks were occasionally used to terminate trains, most recently a weekend J service in the late 1980s.

After a reconfiguration of the Nassau Street Line, completed in 2004, the eastern (former "northbound") platform was abandoned. The platform-level connection was removed, allowing the former southbound express track to run through to Chambers Street and beyond. Today, the westernmost (former "southbound") platform remains in operation. Both tracks provide through service, with southbound traffic using the former southbound "local" track and northbound traffic using the former southbound "express" track. The former northbound local track is now used only for non-revenue moves, train storage and emergencies; the northbound express stub track has been removed; the now unused northbound island platform is a storage area.

In the renovation, the original "Canal Street" mosaics were restored, and new wall and floor tiling were installed.

[edit] BMT Broadway Line platforms


Station information
Line	BMT Broadway Line
Services	N (all times) Q (all times) R (all except late nights) W (weekdays until 9:30 p.m.)
Platforms	2 side platforms on each of 2 branches
Tracks	4
Other
Opened	September 4, 1917^[2] (Manhattan Bridge) January 5, 1918^[3] (Broadway Line)
Next north	Prince Street (local): N R W 14th Street–Union Square (express): N Q
Next south	City Hall (local): N R W DeKalb Avenue (express): Q
	Atlantic Avenue–Pacific Street (DeKalb bypass): N Closed: Myrtle Avenue

Canal Street on the BMT Broadway Main Line has four tracks and two side platforms. However, only the local tracks provide through service on the BMT Broadway Line; the "express" tracks, which have never seen revenue service, begin at the lower level of City Hall station and run north to Canal Street, dead-ending about two-thirds of the way through. As part of the Dual Contracts, these express tracks were to have continued up Broadway, fed by traffic from Brooklyn via the Montague Street Tunnel; local service was to have terminated at the upper level of City Hall. That plan was dropped in favor of local service via City Hall upper level and Montague Street and express service via the Manhattan Bridge. Today, just north of this station, the tracks from the south side of the Manhattan Bridge rise up and replace the stub-end express tracks from City Hall lower level.

In the late 1970s, New York City Transit fixed the station's structure and overall appearance by replacin the original wall tiles, old signs, and incandescent lighting to the 70's style wall tiles, signs and fluorescent lights. They also fixed staircases and platform edges. In 2001, the station received a major overhaul, including state of the art repairs as well as upgrading the station for ADA compliance and installing new artwork on the wall tiling. Among the repairs included the staircases, re-tiling for the walls, new tiling on the floors, upgrading the station's lights and the public address system, installing ADA yellow safety threads along the platform edge, new signs, and new trackbeds in both directions, before taking the train service of the Broadway - Manhattan Bridge line.

Canal Street on the BMT Broadway Manhattan Bridge line has two tracks and two side platforms. When it originally opened, this station was known as Broadway. Although technically located on the BMT Broadway Line, it was originally a distinct station from the main line. Located on a lower level and oriented perpendicular to the other station, it is fed by northbound rail traffic from the south tracks of the Manhattan Bridge and by southbound express service from the Broadway Line. Under the Dual Contracts, this station was meant to be part of a crosstown line under Canal Street, running from the Manhattan Bridge to the Hudson River; however, prior to the opening of the Broadway Line, the BMT decided to route Manhattan Bridge traffic to the Broadway express tracks instead. A short section of tunnel heading westward from the west end of the station is a remnant from the original plans.

From 1988 to 2001, during the Manhattan Bridge reconstruction project, this station was temporarily abandoned, only used as part of the transfer between the Broadway local station and Nassau Street station. In 1997, an art exhibit known as the Canal Street Canal by Alexander Brodsky, was installed on the northbound trackway. It consisted a large waterproof tub filled with water, with Venetian canal boats floating inside. The station reopened on July 22, 2001 with new tiling on the floors, upgraded lights and public address system, ADA yellow safety threads along the platform edge, new signs, and new trackbeds in both directions.