The Canal Street station is a New York City Subway station complex. It is located in the neighborhoods of Chinatown and SoHo in Manhattan and is shared by the BMT Broadway Line, the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, and the BMT Nassau Street Line. It is served by the 6, J, N, and Q trains at all times; the R train at all times except late nights; the W train during weekdays; the <6> train during weekdays in the peak direction; the Z train during rush hours in the peak direction; and the 4 train during late nights.

The complex comprises four stations, all named Canal Street; the Broadway Line's local and express tracks stop at separate sets of platforms. The Lexington Avenue Line platforms were built for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), and was a local station on the city's first subway line. That station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. The other three stations were built for the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, or BMT) as part of the Dual Contracts. The Nassau Street Line station opened on August 4, 1913; the Broadway Line express station opened on September 4, 1917; and the Broadway Line local station opened on January 5, 1918. The IRT and BMT stations were connected in 1978. Several modifications have been made over the years, including a full renovation between 1999 and 2004.

The Lexington Avenue Line station, under Lafayette Street, has two side platforms and four tracks; express trains use the inner two tracks to bypass the station. The Nassau Street Line station, under Centre Street, has two island platforms and three tracks, but only one platform and two tracks are in use. The Broadway local station, under Broadway, has two side platforms and four tracks, the inner two of which are not in use. The Broadway express station, under Canal Street, has two side platforms and two tracks, running at a lower level than the other three sets of platforms. The Lexington Avenue Line platforms contain elevators from the street, which make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, but the other platforms are not wheelchair-accessible. Accessibility to the rest of the station complex has been proposed under the MTA's 2025–2029 Capital Program.

History

First subway Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864. However, development of what would become the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. 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. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and all legal conflicts over the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899. 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, in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations. Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.

The Canal Street station was constructed as part of the route segment from Chambers Street to Great Jones Street. Construction on this section of the line began on July 10, 1900, and was awarded to Degnon-McLean Contracting Company. Near Canal Street the subway passed through a drainage sewer (the namesake of Canal Street), which had drained the old Collect Pond and continued west to the Hudson River. Because engineers had expected to find quicksand near the pond's site, contractors waited to construct the section between Pearl and Canal Streets; work on this segment had not even begun by early 1902. Workers found that the ground was sturdier than expected, consisting of "good, coarse gravel", and they discovered tree trunks and human bones, as well as artifacts such as coins, silverware, keys, and steel tools. In addition, the ground was still muddy enough that workers had to pump out water. With the IRT's construction, the sewer was redirected east into the East River. The new brick sewer was circular and measured across, expanding to at Chatham Square. Pumps were used to keep the excavation clear of water while the work proceeded. By late 1903, the street surface above the station had been restored and repaved. The subway was nearly complete, but the IRT Powerhouse and the system's electrical substations were still under construction, delaying the system's opening.

The Canal Street station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from City Hall to 145th Street on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. After the first subway line was completed in 1908, the station was served by local trains along both the West Side (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street) and East Side (now the Lenox Avenue Line). West Side local trains had their southern terminus at City Hall during rush hours and South Ferry at other times, and had their northern terminus at 242nd Street. East Side local trains ran from City Hall to Lenox Avenue (145th Street).

To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway. 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 $ million in ) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. Platforms at local stations, such as the Canal Street station, were lengthened by between . Both platforms were extended to the north and south. Six-car local trains began operating in October 1910.

BRT and Dual Contracts After the original IRT opened, the city began planning new lines. A proposed Tri-borough system was adopted in early 1908, combining the Broadway–Lexington Avenue and Nassau Street lines; a Canal Street subway from the Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn via the Manhattan Bridge to the Hudson River; and several other lines in Brooklyn. The lines were assigned to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; after 1923, the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation or BMT) in the Dual Contracts, adopted on March 4, 1913. The BRT was authorized to construct a line under Broadway with a station at Canal Street, as well as a line under Canal Street with a station at Broadway. The development of the BRT stations resulted in increased real-estate values in the area.

Also as part of the Dual Contracts, the Lexington Avenue Line opened north of Grand Central–42nd Street in 1918, and the original line was divided into an H-shaped system. All local trains were sent via the Lexington Avenue Line, running along the Pelham Line in the Bronx.

Centre Street Loop As early as 1902, Parsons had devised plans for a subway line under Centre Street in Lower Manhattan. The line would have had four tracks from the Brooklyn Bridge north to Canal Street; from there, two tracks would split eastward to the Manhattan Bridge, and two tracks would continue north and east to the Williamsburg Bridge. By 1904, the route had been widened to four tracks from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Williamsburg Bridge. The Centre Street Loop (later the Nassau Street Line) was approved on January 25, 1907, as a four-track line. The route was to connect the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and Williamsburg Bridge via Centre Street, Canal Street, and Delancey Street, with a spur under Canal Street. Unlike previous subway contracts that the city government had issued, the BRT was responsible only for constructing the Centre Street Loop and installing equipment, not for operating the loop.

The work was split into five sections; the Canal Street station was built as part of the two sections of the line that ran under Centre Street. The city began receiving bids for these sections in March 1907. The Degnon Construction Company was hired to build section 9-0-2, from Canal Street north to Broome Street, while the Cranford Company was hired to build section 9-0-3, from Canal Street south to Pearl Street. The line had to be built through the former site of Collect Pond, which still had high amounts of groundwater. Contractors drained the groundwater, causing a huge crack in a nearby courthouse building.

The Centre Street Loop station, including a bridge over a planned line on Canal Street, was completed at the end of 1909. The station remained closed because the Chambers Street station, the terminal for the Centre Street Loop, was not complete.http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/Canal.platf.jpg From the Abandoned Stations website: A Public Service Commission photo from 1909 shows the east platform with non-tiled steel columns. The view is looking south, showing the wall between the center tracks. The stepped structure at the base of wall near the image center is part of the bridge over the projected Canal St subway, not even begun at the time. The station looks completed, about four years before it opened. There is a rough strip near the platform edge. Track was to be installed by the operating company. The BRT tunnel under Centre Street was completed by 1910, except for the section under the Manhattan Municipal Building, which contained the incomplete Chambers Street station. The tunnel remained unused for several years. In March 1913, the Public Service Commission authorized the BRT to lay tracks, install signals, and operate the loop. The Nassau Street Line platforms opened on August 4, 1913, providing service to northern Brooklyn via the Williamsburg Bridge.

Manhattan Bridge line The IRT unsuccessfully proposed constructing a two-track subway line along Canal Street in 1908, which would have crossed the Manhattan Bridge and connected with what is now the Eastern Parkway Line in Brooklyn. The BRT proposed the next year to construct a line across Canal Street and the Manhattan Bridge to connect with the Brighton Beach Line. The BRT submitted a proposal to the Commission, dated March 2, 1911, to operate the Tri-borough system (but under Church Street instead of Greenwich Street), as well as a branch along Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 59th Street from Ninth Street north and east to the Queensboro Bridge. The Canal Street subway was to merge with the Broadway Line instead of continuing to the Hudson River. The Canal Street tunnel was originally supposed to be a separate line passing under the Broadway Line station and extend further westward. At the time, the Public Service Commission did not plan to build a track connection between the Canal Street and Broadway lines, saying that such a connection would cause severe train congestion. The BRT wanted to connect the lines, citing the fact that it would be difficult for passengers to transfer at the Canal Street station or to reroute trains in case of emergency.