From Metro Wiki
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the operator of the original underground New York City Subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT was purchased by the City in June 1940. The former IRT lines (the numbered lines in the current subway system) are now the IRT Division of the New York City Transit Authority, also known as the A Division.
The first IRT subway ran between City Hall and 145th Street at Broadway, opening on October 27, 1904. It opened following more than twenty years of public debate on the merits of subways versus the existing elevated rail system and on various proposed routes.
It acquired the pre-existing Manhattan Elevated by lease, gaining a monopoly on rapid transit in Manhattan. The Manhattan el was the operator of four elevated railways in Manhattan with an extension into the Bronx. The IRT coordinated some services between what became its subway and elevated divisions, but all the lines of the former Manhattan el have since been dismantled.
The IRT today operates as a subway in Manhattan, except for a short stretch across Harlem at 125th Street and in northernmost Manhattan. Its many lines in the Bronx are predominantly elevated, with some subway, and some railroad-style right-of-way inherited from the defunct New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, which now comprises the IRT Dyre Avenue Line. Its two Brooklyn lines are in subway with a single elevated extension that reaches up to New Lots Avenue, and the other reaching Flatbush Avenue via the underground Nostrand Avenue Line. The Flushing Line, its sole line in Queens, is entirely elevated except for a short portion approaching its East River tunnel and its terminal at Main Street-Flushing (the whole Manhattan portion of the line is in subway). The Flushing Line has had no physical connection to the rest of the IRT since 1942, when service on the Second Avenue El was discontinued; today, its sole connection to the rest of the system is to the BMT at Queensborough Plaza.
The IRT was purchased by the City in June 1940. The former IRT lines (the numbered lines in the current subway system) are now the IRT Division of the New York City Transit Authority, also known as the A Division.
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| Defunct New York City Transit Operators
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| Steam railroads later converted to rapid transit systems
| Brooklyn and Brighton Beach Railroad • Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Rail Road • Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad • Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad • Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway • Coney Island Elevated Railway • Greenwood and Coney Island Railroad • Marine Railway • New York and Coney Island Railroad • New York and Manhattan Beach Railway • New York and Sea Beach Railroad • New York and Sea Beach Railway • New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railroad • Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad • Sea Beach Railway • Sea View Railroad
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| Rapid transit systems
| Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation • Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company • Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad • Interborough Rapid Transit Company • Kings County Elevated Railway
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| Streetcar systems
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Avenue C Railroad Company • Belt Line Railway • Bleecker Street and Fulton Ferry Railroad • Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad • Broadway Surface Railroad • Broadway Railway Company • Brooklyn and North River Railroad • Brooklyn & Queens Transit Corporation • Brooklyn Central and Jamaica Railroad • Brooklyn City Rail Road • Brooklyn Crosstown Railroad • Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad • Bush Terminal Railroad • Bushwick Railroad • Calvary Cemetery, Greenpoint and Brooklyn Railroad • Central Crosstown Railroad Company •
Central Park, North and East River Railroad • Chambers Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad • Christopher and Tenth Street Railroad Company • Columbus and Ninth Avenue Railroad • Coney Island and Brooklyn Rail Road • Coney Island, Fort Hamilton and Brooklyn Railroad • Dry Dock, East Broadway and Battery Railroad • Eighth Avenue Railroad Company • Flushing and College Point Electric Railway • Fort George and Eleventh Avenue Railroad • Forty-Second Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad Company • Fourth Avenue Street Railway • Fulton Street Railroad • Grand Street and Newtown Rail Road • Greenpoint and Lorimer Street Railroad • Houston, West Street and Pavonia Ferry Railroad • Interurban Street Railway • Jamaica Central Railways Company • Kings County Electric Railway • Lexington Avenue and Pavonia Ferry Railroad • Long Island City and Calvary Cemetery Railroad • Long Island City and Maspeth Railroad • Long Island City and Newtown Railway • Long Island Electric Railway • Manhattan and Queens Traction Company • Manhattan Bridge Three Cent Line • Marine Railway • Maspeth Avenue and Toll Bridge Company • Maspeth Railroad and Bridge Company • Metropolitan Crosstown Railway • Metropolitan Street Railroad • Metropolitan Street Railway • Nassau Electric Railroad • Newtown Railway • New Williamsburgh and Flatbush Railroad • New York and Harlem Railroad Company • New York and North Shore Traction Company • New York and Queens County Railway Company • New York and Queens Transit Corporation • New York City Railway Company • New York Railways Company • Ninth Avenue Railroad Company • Park Avenue Railroad • Queensboro Bridge Railway Company • Rikers Avenue and Sanford Point Railroad • Second Avenue Railroad • Sixth Avenue Railroad Company • South Brooklyn Street Railroad • South Ferry Railroad Company • Steinway and Hunters Point Railroad • Steinway Railway Corporation • Third Avenue Railroad • Third Avenue Railway • Third Avenue Transit Corporation • Thirty-fourth Street Crosstown Railway • Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Streets Crosstown Railroad • Twenty-Third Street Railroad Company • Union Railroad (Brooklyn) • Union Railway Company of New York City • Van Brunt Street and Erie Basin Rail Road
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| Bus systems
| Affiliated Bus Transit Corporation • Argus Line Transportation Corporation • Avenue B & East Broadway Transit Company • B&L Transportation • Bilow Bus Line • Brooklyn Bus Corporation • Command Bus Company • Comprehensive Omnibus Corporation • Concourse Bus Lines • Courier Bus Company • Eastern Parkway, Brownsville and East New York Transit Relief Association • East Side Omnibus Corporation • Fifth Avenue Coach Company • Fifth Avenue Coach Lines, Incorporated • Flushing Heights Bus Company • General Omnibus Corporation • Greater Cities Bus Lines • Green Bus Lines • Hamilton Bus Company • Independent Buses • Jamaica Bus Line • Jamaica Buses • Kings Coach Company • Liberty Bus Transportation • Liberty Lines Express • Long Island Coach Company • Madison Avenue Coach Company, Incorporated • Manhattan & Queens Bus Corporation • Midland Coach Corporation • Municipal Motorbus Company • National City Bus Lines • New York Bus Service • New York City Omnibus Corporation • North Shore Bus Company • Pioneer Bus Company • Plum Beach Auto Stage • Queens Auto Traction • Queens Bus Corporation • Queens Bus Lines • Queens-Nassau Transit Lines • Queens Surface Corporation • Queens Transit Corporation • Rauchwerger Bus Company • Richmond Hill Bus Line • Ruoff Brothers • S&C Buses • S&F Transportation • Steinway Omnibus Corporation • Steinway Transit Corporation • Surface Transit, Incorporated • Surface Transportation Corporation of New York • Triangle Bus Company • Triboro Coach Corporation • Woodside-Astoria Transportation Company • Z&M Coach Company
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