238th Street station

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For the station on the IRT White Plains Road Line, formerly of the same name, see Nereid Avenue station.
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The **238th Street station** is a local station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 238th Street and Broadway in the Kingsbridge Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, it is served by the 1 train at all times.

Built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the station opened on August 1, 1908, as part of the first subway. The northbound platform was lengthened in 1910 while the southbound platform was lengthened in 1948. In 2018, the fare controls at the station were changed to allow entries in the northbound direction.

## History

### Construction and opening

Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864.Template:Rp However, development of what would become the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature authorized the Rapid Transit Act.Template:Rp The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, chief engineer of the Rapid Transit Commission. It called for a subway line from New York City Hall in lower Manhattan to the Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into the Bronx.Template:Rp A plan was formally adopted in 1897,Template:Rp and all legal conflicts concerning the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899.Template:Rp

The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900, under which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line.Template:Rp In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations.Template:Rp Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.Template:Rp

Operation of the first subway began on October 27, 1904, with the opening of all stations from City Hall to 145th Street on the West Side Branch.Template:Rp The line was mostly underground, except for the section surrounding 125th Street, which ran across the elevated Manhattan Valley Viaduct to cross a deep valley there. Service was extended to 157th Street on November 12, 1904, as that station's opening had been delayed because of painting and plastering work.

The West Side Branch was extended northward to a temporary terminus at 221st Street and Broadway on March 12, 1906 served by shuttle trains operating between 157th Street and 221st Street. However, only the Dyckman Street, 215th Street, and 221st Street stations opened on that date as the other stations were not yet completed. The 168th Street station opened on April 14, 1906. The 181st Street station opened on May 30, 1906, and on that date express trains on the Broadway branch began running through to 221st Street, eliminating the need to transfer at 157th Street to shuttles. The original system as included in Contract 1 was completed on January 14, 1907, when trains started running across the Harlem Ship Canal on the Broadway Bridge to 225th Street, and the nearby 221st Street station was closed.

Once the line was extended to 225th Street on January 14, 1907, the 221st Street platforms were dismantled and moved to 230th Street for a new temporary terminus. Service was extended to the temporary terminus at 230th Street on January 27, 1907.Template:Rp An extension of Contract 1 north to 242nd Street at Van Cortlandt Park was approved in 1906Template:Rp and opened on August 1, 1908, along with the 238th Street station.

After the first subway line was completed in 1908, the station was served by West Side local and express trains. Express trains began at South Ferry in Manhattan or Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and ended at 242nd Street in the Bronx. Local trains ran from City Hall to 242nd Street during rush hours, continuing south from City Hall to South Ferry at other times. In 1918, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south of Times Square–42nd Street, thereby dividing the original line into an "H"-shaped system. The original subway north of Times Square thus became part of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Local trains were sent to South Ferry, while express trains used the new Clark Street Tunnel to Brooklyn.

### Station renovations

To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening platforms at stations along the original IRT subway.Template:Rp As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts, made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $Template:Inflation million in Template:Inflation/year) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (Template:Inflation) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent.Template:Rp The northbound platform at the 238th Street station was extended Template:Convert to the south,Template:Rp while the southbound platform was not lengthened.Template:Rp On January 24, 1911, ten-car express trains began running on the West Side Line.Template:Rp Subsequently, the station could accommodate six-car local trains, but ten-car trains could not open some of their doors.

Platforms at IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations between Template:Stn and 238th Street were lengthened to Template:Convert between 1946 and 1948, allowing full ten-car express trains to stop at these stations. A contract for the platform extensions at 238th Street and five other stations on the line was awarded to the Rao Electrical Equipment Company and the Kaplan Electric Company in June 1946. The platform extensions at these stations were opened in stages. On July 9, 1948, the platform extensions at stations between 207th Street and 238th Street were opened for use at the cost of $423,000. At the same time, the IRT routes were given numbered designations with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock, which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service.  The route to 242nd Street became known as the 1.

Between September 4, 2018, and January 2, 2019, Manhattan-bound trains did not stop at this station due to stairway replacement. In preparation for this, the northbound platform's fare control was converted so that it could accommodate both entries and exits.

## Station layout

 File:238th Street IRT 4337261651 9da254d9ed.jpg
This elevated station has two side platforms and three tracks, with the center one not used in revenue service. Each platform has beige windscreens and red canopies with green roofs in the center and black waist-high fences on either side.Template:Citation needed

North of this station is the 240th Street Yard, where cars assigned to the 1 train are inspected and maintained. The yard has a footbridge to the tracks of the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, crossovers and leads that allow this station to serve as a terminal. During the morning and afternoon rush-hours, some 1 trains begin their trips here as direct put-ins from the nearby 240th Street Yard, and some morning and afternoon rush-hour 1 trains end their trips either here or at 215th Street and drop-out and lay-up at the 240th Street Yard to prevent congestion at Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street, which is the next and last stop on the 1 train to the north.Template:Citation needed

### Exits

The northbound platform was originally exit only since 242nd Street is a short walking distance north, containing two platform-level turnstiles, each of which leads to a staircase that goes down to either eastern corner of 238th Street and Broadway. The Manhattan-bound platform has an adjacent elevated station house that contains a turnstile bank, token booth, and a single street stair going down to the southwest corner of 238th Street and Broadway.

## External links

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* Template:NYCS ref
* Station Reporter — 1 Train
* The Subway Nut — 238th Street Pictures Template:Webarchive
* 238th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
* Platforms from Google Maps Street View

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1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Template:Cite book
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Interborough Rapid Transit System, Underground Interior. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (October 23, 1979).
3. ↑ Template:Cite book
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Template:Cite book
5. ↑ Template:Cite news
6. ↑ Template:Cite news
7. ↑ Interborough Rapid Transit System, Manhattan Valley Viaduct. New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (November 24, 1981).
8. ↑ Template:Cite book
9. ↑ Interborough Rapid Transit Subway and Elevated Map (1906).
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Template:Cite news
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Template:Cite news
12. ↑ Template:Cite news
13. ↑ Template:Cite news
14. ↑ Merritt, A. L. (1914). Ten Years of the Subway (1914) (en). Interborough Bulletin.
15. ↑ Template:Cite book
16. ↑ Template:Cite news
17. ↑ Template:Cite book
18. ↑ Template:Cite news
19. ↑ Template:Cite book
20. ↑ Template:Cite news
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Hood, Clifton (1978). The Impact of the IRT in New York City 146–207 (PDF pp. 147–208). Historic American Engineering Record.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Template:Cite book
23. ↑ Template:Cite news
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Template:Cite book
25. ↑ Template:Cite news
26. ↑ Template:Cite news
27. ↑ Brown, Nicole (May 17, 2019). How did the MTA subway lines get their letter or number? NYCurious.
28. ↑ Template:Cite journal
29. ↑ Beginning 5 AM Tuesday, September 4, the Manhattan-bound platform at 238 St 1 Train will close through Winter 2018–19 for stairway replacement. Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
30. ↑ Planned Service Changes for: Friday, January 4, 2019. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (January 4, 2018).
31. ↑ Template:NYCS const
32. ↑ 238th Street Neighborhood Map. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (April 2018).