page_title: Park Avenue main line
section_title: Street railway
hierarchical_section_title: Park Avenue main line / History / Street railway
caption_attribution_description: English: 1847 map of Lower Manhattan, reproduced in Twelve Historical New York City Street and Transit Maps from 1860 to 1967.
context_page_description: The Park Avenue main line, which consists of the Park Avenue Tunnel and the Park Avenue Viaduct, is a railroad line in the New York City borough of Manhattan, running entirely along Park Avenue. The line carries four tracks of the Metro-North Railroad as a tunnel from Grand Central Terminal at 42nd Street to a portal at 97th Street where it rises to a viaduct north of 99th Street and continues over the Harlem River into the Bronx over the Park Avenue Bridge. During rush hours, Metro-North uses three of the four tracks in the peak direction.
  Originally constructed in the mid-19th century as a New York and Harlem Railroad route, the Park Avenue main line was initially a street railroad and ran to what is now Lower Manhattan. It was gradually truncated through the 1860s, until Grand Central Depot was opened at 42nd Street in 1871. The line was placed in a grade-separated structure in the late 19th century as part of the Fourth Avenue and Park Avenue Improvement projects, and was electrified in the first decade of the 20th century as part of the construction of Grand Central Terminal. Since then, several improvement and rehabilitation projects have been made along the main line.
context_section_description: The Harlem Line in its current form originated from the New York and Harlem Railroad (NY&H), which was the first streetcar company in the United States and in the world. It was franchised on April 25, 1831 to run between the original city core in Lower Manhattan to the suburb of Harlem, several miles to the north on Manhattan Island. The railroad's charter allowed the line to run between 23rd Street and any point on the Harlem River between Eighth and Third Avenues, with a branch running to the Hudson River, encompassing most of the island. The company initially had a stock limit of $350,000 (equivalent to $8,403,000 in 2019).
  While the NY&H wanted to run the line as a steam line, the city made it use horsepower south of 14th Street. On September 13, 1831, the Board of Directors of the railroad approved its route along Fourth Avenue (later renamed Park Avenue) from 23rd Street to the Harlem River. On April 6, 1832, the railroad's charter was amended to allow the line to be extended south to 14th Street.
  On May 2, 1832, the City Common Council secretly granted the NY&H the right to lay track along Broadway to City Hall and Bowling Green. The general public objected once they found out, and a fraudulent map was circulated at the time, showing that the railroad would take up 23 feet (7.0 m) of the street when it really would only take up 5 feet (1.5 m). Newspaper editors also objected to the railroad's plan. In spring 1833, the railroad published a pamphlet titled "A Statement of Facts in Relation to the Origin, Progress, and Prospects of the New-York and Harlem Railroad Company" to refute objections to their plan. On March 1, 1833, a meeting was held in Tammany Hall concerning the issue. At the meeting, cabdrivers and cab owners came out against the railroad. After the meeting, the crowd tore up some of the railroad's track, and the council withdrew its Broadway agreement with the railroad. The NY&H was eventually extended downtown in 1839, but along a different route.
  Ground was broken on the NY&H's construction on February 23, 1832 at Murray Hill on Fourth Avenue. At the ceremony, Vice President of the railroad John Mason hinted at the railroad's ambitions, saying that while the railroad's principal objective was local, its higher importance was to get to Albany. In 1832 the New York State Legislature authorized the company to raise its stock limit to $500,000 on the condition that the line be completed to the Harlem River by 1835. That November, two horsecars—"John Mason" and "President"—built by John Stephenson were ready for operation, both of which were named after John Mason, who had become the railroad's president in August.
  On April 27, 1837, an act was passed in the State Legislature to widen Fourth Avenue between 32nd Street and the Harlem River to provide room for the railroad. The street was widened by 20 feet (6.1 m) on either side, making the street 140 feet (43 m) wide. The company ceded the title for the land that would be occupied by Fourth Avenue to the city in exchange for permission to occupy it. In that same year, the railroad purchased six city lots at Fourth Avenue and 26th Street for $7,000 for the construction of car barns and stables. A tunnel stretching 596 feet (182 m) was completed through Prospect Hill, one of the highest points on the East Side of Manhattan, between modern 92nd Street and 95th Street, in 1837. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission claims that this is the oldest railroad tunnel in the United States.
  The first section of the NY&H, along Bowery from Prince Street north to 14th Street, consisting of .85 miles (1.37 km), opened to the public on November 26, 1832. Service was then extended northward along Fourth Avenue to 32nd Street on June 10, 1833. Work on the Murray Hill rock cut began in autumn 1833 and was completed in 1834, and service along a 4.432 miles (7.133 km)-long segment to 85th Street in Yorkville opened on May 1, 1834. Service ran every 15 minutes between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m., and ran every 60 minutes to 10 p.m.. A one-way fare cost 12.5 cents. Service 
caption: An 1847 map of Lower Manhattan; the only railroad in Manhattan at that time was the New York and Harlem Railroad
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