Transit Authority
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Q: Sometimes I see subway lines referred to as IRT, BMT, or IND. What are the origins of those abbreviations and which lines do they correspond to?
A: The abbreviations you mention are references to the lines’ original names and owners. The subway system started out as a private enterprise that expanded to include several private companies, which were bought and consolidated by the city in 1940 under the Board of Transportation, which was succeeded in 1953 by the New York City Transit Authority.
The first subway line, which opened in 1904, was operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. This line has since become the Lexington Avenue (4,5,6) line, which is also sometimes called the Lexington Avenue IRT. All lines that use the same cars as the 4,5,6 – that is, the 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, and S – are IRT lines. They are also called Division A.
BMT trains were initially built and operated by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation. The L, M, and N run only along tracks created by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation.
IND is short for the Independent City Owned Rapid Transit Railroad, which began rolling in 1932.The line, as its name would suggest, has always been operated by the city. Only the G runs solely on IND lines.
All other trains run on both BMT and IND tracks, or on tracks that were created after unification. Since the BMT and IND lines are used by the same type of train, they now are collectively called Division B.
How come I often see “H&M” written on walls that lead to the PATH trains?
H&M is short for the name of PATH’s original owner, the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company. The company’s first train carrying passengers ran on February 25, 1908. The train went from Hoboken to a temporary station on 19th Street. The old name was scraped on September 1, 1962, when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took over the private railroad. The new public train line was called Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, or PATH.
The Port Authority sought to make certain that all H&M signage and references were removed the night of August 31, 1962, just after the original company relinquished control of the trains. Certain signs were tiled into the walls, however, and thus remain as the relics that you’ve seen.
