Lines

At the beginning of the Tubes' operations there were two  Map of the Hudson Tubes c 1946 showing connections to other transportation modes; Click to enlarge, to read additional information on headways, running times and connections; use your browser's BACK button to return to narrative Hudson Tubes / PATH / H&M RRUptown lines to 33rd Street, one originating in Hoboken, the other at Summit Avenue (Journal Square); there were also two downtown lines to Hudson Terminal from each of those originating stations. The Journal Square downtown line usually ran on to Manhattan Transfer, Harrison and Park Place in Newark. The clickable image to the left gives a clear view of the connections discussed below as well as information on schedules, headways and the Hudson Tubes' relationship with the railroads.

At Hudson Terminal the Manhattan connections via the downtown lines were with the 6th and 9th Avenue Els as well as with the new IRT subway whose Fulton Street station was about a block to the east. 

H&M Tubes: PATH route map until September 11, 2001The uptown lines connected at Christopher Street to the 9th Avenue El, while there were connections to the 6th Avenue El at 9th, 14th, 23rd, 28th and 33rd Streets. 

In Hudson County Exchange Place served the Pennsylvania Railroad; Erie tapped the New York Susquehanna & Western Railroad [which moved here from the PRR station shortly after the Tubes began operating] as well as the Erie Railroad; Hoboken connected to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and to  many trolley routes, including an elevated route that connected Hoboken and the Heights section of Jersey City. Hoboken was also the link to several major ocean  liner terminals (Hamburg-Amerika,  North German Lloyd, Holland America); Manhattan Transfer handled passengers from PRR trains that were being switched from steam to electric power.

The Tubes' Hoboken station served the steamship lines, especially the German and Dutch ones Hudson Tubes / PATH Trains / Hudson & Manhattan RR; click to enlarge and then use the browser back button to return to narrativeIn general, the original running times through the underground sections were slightly shorter than the current running times, e.g., Hoboken to Hudson Terminal was scheduled for 9 minutes, while today that run is 11 minutes. This extract from the Brooklyn Red Book gives running times in 1928. [From the Joseph Brennan Collection]

Running Times and Stations from Brooklyn Red Book 1928.Hudson Tubes / PATH trains / H&M RR[Also click for an extract from the 1927 German guidebook Griebens New York und Umgebung with information on routes and fares.]

Today the routes - and the running times - have changed very little. There is a total of 43.1 miles of track, 28.6 miles of which compose the total service mileage and 13.8 miles of which make up the one way service mileage.  The total mileage of the base routes is 20.1 miles.  Of the one way service mileage 7.4 miles are in tunnels, while 6.4 miles are above ground with the surface route beginning between Grove Street and Journal Square stations.

In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the WTC station and Exchange Place stations were closed. Two base Uptown Lines were operated: one running from 33rd Street to Hoboken; the other running from 33rd Street to Newark via Pavonia / Newport and Journal Square. Christopher Street to Manhattan was skipped during the evening rush hour. The third interim line was an intra-state New Jersey line: Journal Square<>Hoboken Service via Grove Street, Pavonia/Newport. Click here for a view of the general post terrorist attack service with the downtown line out of service [also showing the Hudson Bergen trolley, several ferry and road connections] and here for the official map of the interim routes.

On June 29, 2003 Exchange Place station was put back into service, acting as a terminal station until the re-opening of the downtown Manhattan station at the end of 2003. The base lines reverted back to the pre-Islamic terrorist attack status with Exchange Place taking the place of the World Trade Center: Newark <> Exchange Place, Hoboken <> Exchange Place, Journal Square <> 33rd Street, Hoboken <> 33rd Street.

Then on November 23, 2003 the temporary downtown station at the World Trade Center opened and the lines returned to their traditional form:

  1. Uptown (Journal Square<>33rd Street:  5.7 miles in 22 minutes);
  2. Downtown (Newark<>Journal Square<>World Trade Center: 8.9 miles in 22 minutes);
  3. Hoboken Uptown (Hoboken<>33rd Street: 3.5 miles  in 14 minutes); and
  4. Hoboken Downtown (Hoboken<>World Trade Center: 3 miles  in 11 minutes).

In the rush hours there is a shortened Downtown line, Journal Square<>World Trade Center. During the late evenings the Uptown and the Uptown Hoboken lines are run as one route. Trains begin at Journal Square, run to Hoboken where the train changes direction and continues through the uptown tunnel to 33rd Street: 6.7 miles in 26 minutes. Also during those periods there is no Hoboken <> Exchange Place service; Grove Street is used as a connecting transfer point.

Click for Current Schedules and here for the current official service map

Trains normally consist of 8 cars but in the rush hours that number is at times increased. 

The closest headways now are at three minutes for the downtown lines and 6 minutes for the uptown ones; the many sharp curves on the uptown lines set a  practical maximum for the headways.

Plans after the Port Authority takeover to extend the Tubes from Newark westwards about 10 miles to Plainfield and / or to bring them into Newark Airport were never realized and now appear unlikely to be so.

November 2003:

June 2003

PATH service map June 29, 2003 PATH trains / Hudson Tubes / Hudson & Manhattan RR

May 2003

This page was last updated on December-31-2007  using NotePad Lite.
© BKlapouchy 1987-2008

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