9 (New York City Subway service)

Flushing Line (BMT; 1917–48)

From 1917, Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) services on the IRT Flushing Line were assigned the number 9, used on maps but not on trains; IRT services used the designation 7 instead. When the joint BMT-IRT operation on the Flushing Line, provided for under the Dual Contracts, was discontinued, the BMT designation 9 was also canceled.

Dyre Avenue Line (1941–66)

The 9 designation was originally used for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s Dyre Avenue Line upon its opening in 1941 between Dyre Avenue and the East 180th Street platforms of the former New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, connecting to the IRT White Plains Road Line at the latter station. When a connection between the Dyre Avenue Line and the White Plains Road Line opened in 1957, daytime shuttle service was replaced with through service as the 2. From 1957 till 1966, the nighttime Dyre Avenue Shuttle continued to use the number 9. Since 1967, the Dyre Avenue Shuttle runs during late night hours, but now carries the number 5, the same as the through service on the line.

History

The second and most recent usage of the 9 designation was a skip-stop service to complement the 1 local train on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line as the 9 Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line Local. Beginning at 6:30 AM on Monday, August 21, 1989, the services were coordinated as the 1/9 and both ran between Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street and South Ferry. The skip-stop operation was north of 137th Street.

Midday skip-stop service was discontinued in 1994, but remained during peak hours. By this time, skip-stop service assigned the following stations to the 1 train only:

and the following stations to the 9 train only:

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, 1 trains had to be rerouted since the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line ran directly under the World Trade Center site and was heavily damaged in the collapse of the Twin Towers. The 1 ran only between Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street and 14th Street, running local north of 96th Street and express south of there. It later ran to New Lots Avenue via the IRT Eastern Parkway Line, running local on that line, as well as south of 96th Street, replacing the 3 train, which ran between Harlem–148th Street and 14th Street; the 9 service and skip-stop service were suspended at this time. 1 trains returned to South Ferry, and skip-stop service was restored on September 15, 2002.

As a result of a decrease in the number of riders benefiting from the 9 and skip-stop services, the MTA announced their elimination in mid-2004 and approved it in early 2005. The last 9 train ran on May 27, 2005 and the 1 now makes all stops on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line.

Service pattern

The 9 service used the following lines during the rush hours only.