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Outer platform of the South Ferry station as served by the train in 2004. |
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| Station statistics | ||||
| Address | Whitehall Street at South Ferry New York, NY 10004 |
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| Borough | Manhattan | |||
| Locale | Financial District | |||
| Line | IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line (Outer loop) IRT Lexington Avenue Line (Both loops) |
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| Services | None (Inner loop track is used to turn trains on the 5 (weekdays 8:45 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.; weekends 6:30 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.)) | |||
| Structure | Underground | |||
| Platforms | 2 side platforms | |||
| Tracks | 2 balloon loops | |||
| Other information | ||||
| Opened | July 10, 1905 (Outer loop) July 1, 1918 (Inner loop) |
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| Closed | March 16, 2009 (Outer loop) February 13, 1977 (Inner loop) |
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| Station succession | ||||
| Next north | Rector Street (IRT Broadway – 7th Avenue Line) Bowling Green (IRT Lexington Avenue Line) |
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| Next south | (Terminal) | |||
The South Ferry loops are a pair of New York City Subway underground stations in South Ferry, Manhattan that have been disused since March 2009. The stations, the southernmost in Manhattan built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, are two side platforms on curved sections of track that form balloon loops; however, free transfers were unavailable between the platforms and each platform was meant to be served by its own line. The most recent configuration consisted of the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line on the outer loop platform and the IRT Lexington Avenue Line on the inner loop platform. Both stations are individually named South Ferry; the name "South Ferry loops" is used to distinguish these platforms from the successor station, South Ferry, that is used by the Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line's 1 service.
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On July 10, 1905, the outer South Ferry platform was the first of the two platforms to open and was an extension of the original trunk line of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. The inner track existed when the station was built, but only as a storage track. When the "H" system of the IRT opened on July 1, 1918, Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line trains used the outer platform while the inner platform was opened for IRT Lexington Avenue Line trains which used the original trunk line in Lower Manhattan. Services on the Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line, including the 1 and 9 trains, used the outer platform as a terminal station until March 16, 2009, when the new South Ferry station opened for 1 train passengers. That station, located underneath this one, allows a free transfer to the N R trains of the BMT Broadway Line, whereas neither of this station's platforms did.[1]
The outer platform accommodated the first five cars of a train. The rear five cars of a 10-car train could not load or unload. Gap fillers were used to bridge the gap between the platform and the doors. Spray nozzles lubricated the track to reduce the friction caused by the tight curve. The sharp curvature slowed train operation and generated a loud metallic scraping noise.[2] In order to eliminate this special operation, the new station was built as a two-track, full (10-car) length island platform on a less severe curve, permitting the operation of a typical terminal station.[3][4] The MTA claims that the new station saves four to six minutes of a passenger's trip time and 24 trains an hour can run on the entire Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line as opposed to 16 to 17 trains with the former operation.[5]
The outer platform's only point of egress was within the Staten Island Ferry's terminal building and was not ADA-accessible. By contrast, the successor station is fully accessible (although its transfer to the BMT Broadway Line is not) and has three entrances; the main entrance is across from the ferry terminal building's entrance.[3]
The outer track is now used for train storage and turnarounds primarily for the Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line.
The inner platform of South Ferry opened for IRT Lexington Avenue Line passengers on July 1, 1918, as that line's service was moved from the outer platform. This platform has an even sharper curve than the outer platform, and only the center doors opened at South Ferry, with special arched openings in a wall between the platform and track at the locations of the doors.
In the late 1950s, when the IRT division began to use mostly R-type cars which could not have only the center doors opened, 5 trains (which ended at South Ferry evenings and weekends only) and 6 trains (which ended at South Ferry late nights) were rerouted to the outer loop. The Bowling Green – South Ferry Shuttle, which ran weekdays and at first also late nights, continued to use the inner loop, running to the west platform at Bowling Green until 1977, when the inner platform was closed and Lexington Avenue trains stopped using the outer loop. Specially modified R12 cars were used starting in the late 1960s until the service ended. These cars had two different door controls; the first opened the outer two sets of doors while the second opened the center set of doors only.
Both tracks are now used to turn 5 trains from Bowling Green station in the evenings and on weekends.