Dual Contracts (New York City Subway)

The Dual Contracts of 1913, also known as the Dual Subway System, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the City of New York. The majority of the lines of the present-day New York Subway were built or reconstructed under these contracts.

The contracts were "dual" in that they were signed between the City and two separate private companies. Contract 3 was signed between the City and the , operator of the original subway line in New York City. Contract 4 was signed between the City and the Municipal Railway Company, a subsidiary of the (later ), formed especially for the purpose of contracting with the City for construction of the lines.

Contracts 1 and 2 were the original subway contracts between the City and the for the famous first subway. These contracts predated the Dual Contracts.

Under the terms of Contracts 3 and 4, the City would build new subway and elevated liness and rehabilitate and expand certain existing elevated lines, and lease them to the private companies for operation. The cost would be borne more or less equally by the City and the companies. The City's contribution was in cash raised by bonded indebtedness, while the companies' contributions were variously by supplying cash, facilities and equipment to run the lines.

Several provisions were imposed on the companies, which eventually led to their downfall and consolidation into the City-owned in 1940:

Fare was be limited to five cents; this led to financial troubles after post-World War I inflation.

The City had the right to "recapture" any of the lines it built, and run them as their own.

The City was to share in the profits.

IRT lines

The following lines were built under the Dual Contracts for the :

Astoria Line and Flushing Line

Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line south of 42nd Street-Times Square and Brooklyn Branch

Lexington Avenue Line north of 42nd Street-Grand Central

Jerome Avenue Line

Ninth Avenue Line from 155th Street to the Jerome Avenue Line

White Plains Road Line north of 177th Street
The following lines were rebuilt with extra tracks:

Ninth Avenue Line from 125th Street to 155th Street (one new track)

BMT lines

All Manhattan and Queens lines were built under the Dual Contracts, as were all subway and some elevated lines in Brooklyn. The following lines were built under the Dual Contracts for the (or its predecessor, the ):

Astoria Line and Flushing Line east of Queensboro Plaza (trackage rights over )

Broadway Line

14th Street Eastern Line west of Broadway Junction

Manhattan Bridge tracks and approaches

Nassau Street Line south of Essex Street

Myrtle Avenue Line east of Wyckoff Avenue (on surface line right-of-way)

Brighton Line north of Prospect Park

Fourth Avenue Line

West End Line (on surface line right-of-way north of Bath Junction)

Sea Beach Line (on surface line right-of-way south of Bath Junction)

Culver Line south of West End Line

Brighton Beach Line south of Sheepshead Bay

Jamaica Line east of Cypress Hills

Fulton Street Line east of Grant Avenue
The following lines were rebuilt with extra tracks:

Jamaica Line from merge with line from Broadway Ferry (east end of Queensboro Bridge) to Broadway Junction (one new track)

Myrtle Avenue Line from Broadway to Wyckoff Avenue, including track connection to Jamaica Line (one new track)

Fulton Street Line from east of Franklin Avenue to east of split from Canarsie Line, plus short piece of Canarsie Line north of Fulton Street Line (one new track)

Brighton Line from Church Avenue to Prospect Park (two new tracks)

External links

NYCsubway.org - The Dual Contracts

Story including 50th anniversary of the contracts

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