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The New York Subway System
Taylor Kenney
Molloy College














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The creation of the subway system in New York City has had such a large impact
on the people of New York every single day. Extending itself all the way from Far
Rockaway through into Manhattan, the subway is so widely used to transport city goers
and residents to there wanted destinations. The construction of the subway took so long
because of all the dirt and debris that it would be going underneath, but without this long
building process, the speedy and useful underground railroad would have never been able
to provide not only transportation to tourists and local residents, but also diversity, a
sense of modern engineering as well as cultural development. Think about it; how cool is
it that there are just tracks amongst tracks winding underneath the great roads of New
York City?
From the time of its invention, the New York Subway System has continued to
expand its routes. It opened on October 27, 1904. For this opening to be achieved, many
contracts and private companies were involved for laying down foundation of this first
underground subway line. This construction took place almost thirty-five years after the
laying down of the first surface line (Hood). Although some would rather hop into a car
and drive to their destined location, the subway was considered one of the most beneficial
achievements of the 20
th
century because people would not have to sit through traffic
when needing to travel across New York City. During its first year, the subway had
statistics of 106 millions passengers riding at five cents a head (Cudahy). The subway
system was needed after the Civil War had occurred in the United States and was very
useful when immigrants were coming into Lower Manhattan. Transit beforehand was
split into two companies known as BRT and IRT. The BRT was the Brooklyn Rapid
Transit and the IRT was the Interborough Rapid Transit. These were two privately owned
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organizations which the new subway system would see to be competition later on. The
Independent Subway System (IND) was built and owned by the city. It competed with
the other two by charging for fare and eventually the two other competitors were bought
by the city (Hood).
There were two types of methods that would be used to build this subway system.
One was called cut and cover and the other method was called deep bore tunneling.
The process of cut and cover involved removing the street covering, digging into the
ground there, and creating the hole where the subway would be located. After this
digging and creating, the street that was once destroyed was then built again covering the
subway. This process was favored because it was easy and cost very little. Although this
was cheap and easy, it was very disruptive. Because the street would be torn up at several
locations, this caused a lot of traffic for a long time. This is ironic because the reason for
the subway system was to help transportation and in making it, it was disrupting it. The
other method was known as deep bore tunneling. This was a more modern way of
building. This was when as everything involving plowing and tunneling happened
underground. The only hole being created is the one in which the boring machine needed
to enter the ground. This provided a circular shape. Although this process seemed more
reasonable, it was more costly and more dangerous. It was hurtful for the sand hogs or
the workers who worked in the building of the subway. These sand hogs were paid
$1.25 which is absurd because they are now paid so much. Both methods were used and
was determined by the factors such as weather and the conditions of the soil they would
be dealing with (Derrick).
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As the development of the subway continued to spread, so did the people. The
over abundance of immigrants were able to stop overcrowding Manhattan and took the
railroads as far as they could go. People with jobs did not have to live close and were able
to use the subway to commute to work each day. According to the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA) because the subway runs mostly 24 hours a day seven
days a week, and is the most extensive rail service in the United States since its creation
over 110 years ago.
The creation of the New York Subway System has had one of the greatest impacts
on the city. It not only allows an easy way for transportation, but also has seen to show
improvements in construction as well as integrating different cultures into different parts
of New York. Without the subway, the structure of New York would be totally different,
and the streets of New York would be even more packed then they are today.











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References
Derrick, Peter. Tunneling to the Future: The Story of the Great Expansion That Saved
New York. New York: New York University Press, 2001.
Hood, Clifton. 722 Miles: The Building of the Subway and How They Transformed New
York. New York Simon & Schuster, 1993. Print.
Under the Sidewalks of New York. Google Book. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 July 2014.