Thanks for the corrections. I could have sworn that was a map of the planned 2nd Ave. line. I’ll have to go track down another accurate one for a later post.

As for the four-track/six-track/two-track debate, the MTA’s environmental impact statement mentions concerns over the stability of the densely-built buildings on Second Ave. if they were to build four tracks instead of two. They could stack them as they’ve done on Lexington Ave. north of 42nd St., but as you mentioned, the express service is hardly necessary with faster trains and stations built further apart.

That map is not a plan for subway extensions. It shows the Second Avenue Elevated (torn down in the ’40s) and the Third Avenue El (torn down in Manhattan in 1955, in the Bronx in 1973). Note that some Second Avenue El trains crossed the Queensboro Bridge. Those tracks are obviously now gone, too.

Second Avenue is more than wide enough for four side-by-side tracks. There will be no express tracks because of the expense of doubling the size of the tunnel to accommodate four tracks. (In the ’20s, plans called for part of the proposed Second Avenue IND subway to have six tracks).

It would be nice to have express service but trains today accelerate and brake much faster than they did when the original subway was built. A Second Avenue local train today can probably make the entire run fast enough to satisfy most riders, especially since there will be no old-fashioned sharp curves on this line to slow the trains. Also, building stations farther apart allows trains to operate at higher speeds.

Cute joke about the Q/T line. There was actually a QT train before the massive service change of 1967. The QT ran in Brooklyn as a Brighton local (hence the double letters–all locals used to have two letters) and reached Manhattan via the Montague Street Tunnel. There was another Brighton service that used the Manhattan Bridge so it was called QB. And Brighton trains that ran through to Jamaica were signed QJ.

I think they have spread stations out in order to compensate for the lack of express service, and I’m not sure it has anything to do with the length of the trains. R142 cars (the new ones on the 2,3,4,5,6 lines with the blue seats) are 50 feet long x 10 cars = 500 feet. R160 cars, which will presumably be used on the T, are 60 feet long x 10 cars = 600 feet. The system’s largest cars, which are 75 feet (the R68 cars which are often used on the current Q) are used in 8-car trains = 600 feet. So BMT trains are at most 100 feet longer than IRT train, about one-third of a NYC block.