ERA BULLETIN — DECEMBER, 2019 The Bulletin Electric Railroaders’ Association, Incorporated Vol. 62, No. 12 December, 2019 The Bulletin AVENUE A ENTRANCE OPENS/ Published by the Electric Railroaders’ CANARSIE LINE UPDATE Association, Inc. P. O. Box 3323 by Subutay Musluoglu Grand Central Station New York, NY 10163 (Photographs by the author) For general inquiries, We have been periodically visiting the Ca- enough that they could possibly be opened or Bulletin submissions, narsie Line this year, as MTA New York City before the end of the year. contact us at bulletin@erausa. org Transit (NYCT) continues to reconstruct the Some background is in order. The 1 Av sta- or on our website at 14th Street Tubes to remedy the damage tion suffers from two related issues — con- erausa. org/contact inflicted by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Previ- strained capacity and location. As of 2018, Editorial Staff: ous installments in this series appeared in this station was used by 21,000 average the February and September Bulletins. weekday riders, the 65th busiest station in Jeffrey Erlitz Editor-in-Chief While work continues on the under-river the entire subway system. As such, the build- tubes, it has been accompanied by a series ing of these new entrances should be exam- Ronald Yee of capacity improvements at several subway ined in the larger historical context of the de- Tri-State News and Commuter Rail Editor stations on the Canarsie Line as well as ad- velopment of the Lower East Side and be- jacent lines in Brooklyn and Queens. Fare yond, as it realizes a transit need that long Alexander Ivanoff North American and control areas are being rearranged, long- predates the current Canarsie Line rehabilita- World News Editor closed mezzanines and street access stair- tion project. ways are reopening, and internal stairways Built during the later years of the Dual Con- David Ross Production Manager have been widened, with new stairs added in tracts era, the 1 Av station opened in 1924 as key locations. a single-ended station with side platforms, Copyright © 2019 ERA In the short term, these improvements have with separate entrances to each platform at mitigated the effects of service changes while the station's western end at its namesake This Month’s the tubes are rebuilt, and in the long term avenue. Located across from each other on Cover Photo: they will serve to cope with the population E. 14th Street, the entrance on the northeast Bytom (northwest of Katowi- growth which has created congestion and corner features a fare control area one level ce), Poland, May 28, 2006. Type N 954 (Konstal, 1949) overcrowded conditions at the affected sta- up from the platform level, and a pair of trundling down Piekarska tions. street stairs facing east and north. The south- Street at the intersection of A significant milestone in this effort was east corner entrance features a smaller fare Powstańców Śląskich. This is just south of the north achieved on the morning of November 4 at control area, and a pair of street stairs facing terminal station of Bytom the 1 Av station when the first of the new en- north and south, both on First Avenue. Stacja Ruchu. Photo taken trances at the station's east end at Avenue A At the time of the station's opening this ar- on by Jeff Erlitz during the ERA's trip to Poland. were placed into use. Sited along the south rangement was considered adequate. How- side of E. 14th Street, just west of the corner ever, the lack of a through mezzanine linking In This Issue: of Avenue A, two stairways to the Brooklyn- the two fare control areas, and the under- The Genesis of bound platform are now open, with an eleva- sized southeast corner fare control area and tor to follow. A fare control area with five turn- entrance in particular, would present future Dashing Dan — stiles has been built at platform level. Directly challenges, as discussed later. Events on the across the street, work continues on two In 1924 the surrounding area was mostly Atlantic Branch more stairways and an elevator to the 8 Av- composed of low-rise tenement apartment …Page 7 bound platform and based on personal ob- houses. To the north and east, several large servation the work appears advanced (Continued on page 2) 1 NEW YORKERA BULLETIN DIVISION BULLETIN— DECEMBER, OCTOBER, 2019 2000 Canarsie Line Update the BMT Canarsie Line. Route 103B would have extended east along Houston (Continued from page 1) Street from the center express tracks east of the 2 Av gas holders belonging to the Consolidated Gas Compa- station (originally intended for the IND Second System ny (one of the predecessor companies to today's Con East River tunnel to S. 4th Street in Brooklyn), then Edison utility) dominated the landscape by the East Riv- turned north on Avenue C, with at least one new station er, which earned the neighborhood its name as the Gas on the avenue before turning west on to 14th Street and House District. merging with the Canarsie Line. This setting, as well as the steep grades rising from Unfortunately, the city's economic struggles that be- the under-river tubes, precluded the building of an addi- gan in the early 1970s effectively killed Route 103B and tional station between First Avenue and the East River. severely curtailed most of the New Routes program. In In the years following the end of World War II, the the ensuing decade the city experienced a population neighborhood underwent dramatic change which would loss of one million residents. The Lower East Side increase usage at the 1 Av station. One by one, the gas struggled with poverty, crime, arson, and general social holders were demolished, reducing Con Ed's footprint to unrest and disinvestment for years. the facility it occupies today between Avenue C and the In the early 1990s the area began to rebound, as the East River. city's economy improved, and young professionals be- The tenements north of 14th Street gave way to two of gan to flood the area. Gentrification soon followed, and the largest housing developments in the city's history — as housing costs increased, the population boom Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. Built by the moved across the river to Brooklyn, with Williamsburg Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in a manner simi- being the first stop for those getting priced out of the lar to its previous Parkchester development in the Lower East Side. Bronx, the complex opened in 1947 on an 80-acre site By the late 1990s the Canarsie Line was feeling pres- stretching from First Avenue to Avenue C, from 14th sure on both sides of the river, as both the 1 Av station Street to 23rd Street, composed of 110 buildings, mostly and the Bedford Av station in Williamsburg began to 12 and 13 stories in height, containing 11,250 apart- strain under the increased ridership. At around this time, ments. Tenancy priority was initially given to returning the need to replace the line's life-expired signal system war veterans and over time the complex came to be presented an opportunity to increase train frequencies known as a bastion of stable middle-class living in the by installing a Communications-Based Train Control heart of Manhattan, with a present-day population of system (CBTC). The completion of this pioneering pro- around 25,000. ject provided some relief, but the situation at both sta- At around the same time, Robert Moses was busy tions would ultimately need to be addressed. clearing slums throughout the Lower East Side. South- While CBTC was being designed, NYCT was also east of the 1 Av station, the Jacob Riis and Lillian Wald looking at longer-term solutions to the travel issues public housing complexes were built between Avenue D across the lower East River and along Manhattan's east and the FDR Drive. Through the 1950s and early side. In 1994, two studies were initiated — the East Riv- 1960s, tenements across the neighborhood were de- er Crossings Study (ERX) and the Manhattan East Side molished in favor of larger apartment houses. Alternatives Study (MESA). The unique geography of this part of the city presents The motivation for ERX came about partly in response a challenge to transit planners. From just north of E. to the long-term risks in continued subway operation 23rd Street to south of the Williamsburg Bridge, Man- over the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. In the hattan Island "bulges" eastward. As such, during the 1980s serious structural deficiencies had been discov- Dual Contracts era, as well as later during the planning ered on both bridges. On the Williamsburg Bridge, the of the IND, it was difficult to effectively design a rapid defects were serious enough that all vehicular traffic transit solution for the area. and JM subway service across the bridge was sus- This led to the situation which continues to this day, pended for a two-month period in the Summer of 1988. where the area bounded by E. 14th Street on the north, Intensive inspections yielded a series of emergency FDR Drive/East River on the east, E. Houston Street on fixes, allowing traffic to gradually return to the bridge. the south, and Fourth Avenue/Lafayette Street on the Soon after, a design competition was held to identify a west represents the largest "transit desert" in Manhat- permanent solution to either rehabilitate or replace the tan. Walk times from the areas east of First Avenue are bridge. It was determined that a comprehensive rehabil- long (15-20 minutes from Avenue D and E.