Chapter 17. Extent, Importance and Cost of Dual System

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Fifty Years of Rapid Transit · James Blaine Walker

Chapter XVII

Extent, Importance and Cost of the Dual System of Rapid Transit.

To appreciate the extent and importance of the Dual System one must know the limitations of the existing rapid transit lines at the time the agreements were made. Outside of the Hudson tunnels, or McAdoo tubes, the rapid transit facilities of the city were divided between the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. The former operated the first subway in Manhattan and the Bronx with a short branch to Brooklyn and the elevated railroads in Manhattan and the Bronx; the latter the elevated railroads in Brooklyn and Queens boroughs. It was these two companies that joined the City in the Dual System agreements, and those agreements provided for the amplification and extension of the lines of both.

The Interborough company controlled and operated 73 miles of single track in the City subway, and 118 miles of single track on its elevated roads. The Dual System provided additional City-owned lines to the extent of 149 miles of single track subway and elevated railroad; elevated railroad extensions of ten miles of single track and additional tracks on such roads amounting to ten miles more. In other words the single track mileage of the Interborough system was to be increased from 191 to 360 miles. At the same time the Brooklyn company controlled and operated 105 miles of single track on its elevated railroads. The Dual System added to this 110 miles of single track in new City-owned lines and 35 miles of single track extensions of the elevated roads, together with nearly ten miles of additional tracks. This increased the company's single track mileage from 105 to 260. Taking both companies together the total single track mileage of the Dual System is 620, against a prior existing mileage of 296.

The new contracts, therefore, provided for more than doubling the existing rapid transit mileage -- an increase never before attained or even contemplated. In the past the rapid transit system had been a slow, natural growth. First came the elevated railroads, which served the needs of the city for twenty years; then the first subway, which with the elevated roads met all demands after a fashion for the next ten years. Then came the Dual System, which promised to more than double all that had gone before for thirty years in the short space of time needed to build it, estimated at five years! Even now, with the Dual System approaching completion, there are comparatively few who realize the extent of the traffic revolution it will bring about. It is probable that it will cause a great shifting in the tides of travel, and that may mean a shifting of centers of importance, with resultant effect on real estate values.

Single track mileage is taken as the unit of comparison here because it is the true test of a railroad's capacity. While the total of such new trackage will be about 324 miles, the actual length of new road will be only about 90 miles. This is because some of the new lines will have six, some four, some three and some two tracks. Of course there will be no single track roads. The double track line is the smallest unit permissible in a large city, and where express service is desired three or four tracks are required. In the selection of routes for the new lines the aim was to provide needed extensions for existing lines and to build new lines into sections either wholly without or lacking in rapid transit facilities. In the Interborough territory the City's first concern was to provide extensions for its own subway. This subway ran the length of Manhattan Island in zig-zag fashion -- from the Battery up the East Side to 42d street, then across town to Broadway and up the West Side to 242d street with a branch out Lenox Avenue and other streets to Bronx Park at 180th street. It was decided to extend the East Side line to the north and the West Side part to the south so as to make two subways instead of one -- a complete line up and down the East Side and a complete line up and down the West Side. This was done by extending the first subway from 42d street at the Grand Central terminal over to Lexington Avenue and up Lexington Avenue to the Harlem River; and by extending it from 42d street at Broadway down Seventh Avenue and other streets to the Battery. These additions alone mean two complete, four track subways up and down the length of Manhattan Island -- a virtual doubling of the existing road.

As adopted the Lexington Avenue line begins in Park Avenue at about 40th street, where it leaves the first subway. It runs thence under private property (the site of the old Grand Union hotel) and diagonally across 42d street to the New York Central property at the northwest corner of Lexington Avenue and Forty-second street, and under that property to Lexington Avenue at about 43d street. The line then runs up Lexington Avenue to the Harlem River, and under this river by tunnels to a point near 135th street. For this entire stretch, a distance of nearly one hundred blocks, it is a four-track road.

At 135th street the road forks into two branches, each having three tracks. The one to the West runs up Mott and River Avenues to Jerome Avenue and up Jerome Avenue to Woodlawn Road. At 157th street and River Avenue the underground part ends and the line continues as an elevated road up Jerome Avenue.

The branch to the East runs through 138th street to Southern Boulevard, through Southern Boulevard to Whitlock Avenue and out Westchester Avenue to Pelham Bay Park. It is a subway to Whitlock Avenue, where it crosses the Bronx River by bridge and continues out Westchester Avenue as an elevated railroad.

While these two branches provided for the territory tributary to Jerome Avenue on the West and for that in the extreme East of Bronx borough, they did nothing for the intermediate ground. It was therefore decided to extend the Lenox Avenue branch of the first subway from its terminus at 180th street, Bronx Park, through private property to White Plains Road and up White Plains Road to 241st street, near the northerly city boundary. This is an elevated railroad with three tracks.

Station at Pelham Parkway, White Plains Road Extension Type of Ornamental Concrete Construction.

These improvements were wisely correlated with the improvements of the company's elevated railroads in the Bronx, for which the contracts provided. Plans were made to connect the new lines so that they could be operated by elevated as well as subway trains. The Sixth and Ninth Avenue elevated line terminated at 155th street and the Harlem River. An extension was provided over the Putnam Division bridge across the Harlem River, leased from the New York Central Railroad Company by the Interborough for the purpose, through East 162d street by a tunnel through the Sedgwick Avenue hill and thence as an elevated road to a junction with the Jerome Avenue line at 162d street. This will permit elevated trains from the Sixth and Ninth Avenue lines to continue over the new line in Jerome Avenue to its terminus at Woodlawn Road.

The Third Avenue elevated terminated at Fordham. It was decided to extend it northward through Webster Avenue to Gun Hill Road and through Gun Hill Road to a junction with the new line in White Plains Road, so that elevated trains from the Third Avenue line may run over the White Plains Road line to its terminus at 241st street. A connection was also provided between the Lenox Avenue branch of the first subway and the new Jerome Avenue branch, which will permit an interchange of trains between the Lexington Avenue and the old subways. Another connection is made between the Third Avenue elevated line and the Lenox Avenue branch of the first subway where they intersect at about 149th street.

Two Views Of Dual System Construction. (1) Deep Cut on 162nd Street Connection

From Times Square, at Broadway and 42d street, the first subway as it comes down Broadway was extended into Seventh Avenue, down Seventh Avenue and Seventh Avenue Extension to Varick street, through Varick street to West Broadway and thence through Greenwich street to a connection with the first subway at the Battery. From Times Square down to Park Place it is a four track line entirely under ground. At Park Place two tracks continue over the route named to the Battery, while two others diverge and run under Park Place, the U. S. Post Office and Beekman street to William street, down William street to Old Slip and thence under the East River by tunnels to Clark street, Brooklyn, and through Clark and Fulton streets to a junction with the first subway near Brooklyn Borough Hall.

As the first subway has two tracks entering Brooklyn by tunnels this will give the Interborough company four tracks to that borough -- exactly doubling its present facilities. It was also decided to extend the first subway in Brooklyn from its terminus at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues out Flatbush Avenue to Prospect Park Plaza and thence into Eastern Parkway and out that street to Buffalo Avenue as a four track, underground road; and from Buffalo Avenue as a three track elevated road through East 98th street and Livonia Avenue to New Lots Avenue. From Eastern Parkway a two track subway was provided under Nostrand Avenue to Flatbush Avenue.

With the exception of the elevated extensions referred to, all these new lines were built and will be owned by the City, although equipped and operated by the Interborough company. They will for some time at least provide handsomely for the rapid transit needs of Manhattan, the Bronx and part of Brooklyn.

It was deemed necessary also to provide for Queens Borough, and to this end the City took over the Steinway tunnel from the Interborough interests and planned for its extension on both sides of the East River. As previously stated this tunnel is a two track underground and under river railroad running from Forty-second street, Manhattan, to Long Island City. Under the Dual system it is extended on the West to a junction with the first subway at Times Square, and on the East to Queensborough bridge plaza in Long Island City. It is now known as the Queensboro Subway.

From Queensborough Bridge Plaza the City builds and leases to the Interborough with trackage rights to the Brooklyn company, two new elevated railroads, one running northward through Second Avenue to Ditmars Avenue, Astoria; the other eastwardly through Queens Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue to Alburtis Avenue, Corona. Each of these roads will have three tracks. The Steinway tunnel extension will be connected with them at the Plaza, so that trains from it may operate both to Astoria and to Corona. The company is also given the right to connect with them its Second Avenue elevated line in Manhattan, by an extension built over the Queensborough bridge, so that elevated trains also may run to Astoria and Corona.

Two Views Of Dual System Construction. (2) Reinforced Concrete Construction in the Bronx.

The company also got the right to complete the third tracks for express service on its Second, Third and Ninth Avenue elevated lines.

By the inclusion of the New York Municipal Railway Corporation, generally referred to as the Brooklyn Company, in the Dual System agreements there was made possible a much greater expansion of rapid transit facilities in Brooklyn and Queens than if the new contracts had been confined to the Interborough company. Before the agreements were made the Brooklyn elevated lines terminated on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges. Here the throngs of incoming passengers from all parts of Brooklyn and Queens were discharged every morning, to find their way as best they could to their places of business in Manhattan. The "bridge crush" had become notorious, and it was resolved to end it once for all in the Dual System arrangement. To do this not only were new facilities provided for the Brooklyn company on the Brooklyn side, but a distributing system in Manhattan was planned to serve all of this company's lines entering the borough by bridges or tunnels. This is the Broadway subway, a four track line destined to serve the business part of Manhattan, or that part of it south of 59th street.

The Broadway subway begins in the southern part of Manhattan in Whitehall street, where the tunnel from Montague street, Brooklyn, enters the borough. It runs thence as a two track line under Whitehall street across town to Morris street, turning thence into Trinity Place and continuing up Trinity Place and Church street (these two being really one thoroughfare) to Vesey street, where it turns into Broadway. The line passes under a corner of Old St. Paul's churchyard in the rear of the church, thence into Vesey street and from Vesey street curves under the old Astor House property and into Broadway just south of the U. S. Post Office building. Here the line changes to a four track line, and continues under Broadway northward to 42d street. Here it descends to pass under the first subway and continues northward under Seventh Avenue to 59th street, where the four track line ends; two tracks curve into 59th street and continue to Fifth Avenue, where they swing into 60th street and extend under that street to the East River and into a new tunnel to be built to Long Island City. Here the two tracks will come out of the ground and join the new elevated lines on the Queensborough Bridge Plaza.

Four other City-owned subways were leased for operation to the Brooklyn Company -- the Centre Street loop subway and the Canal Street subway in Manhattan and the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn and the Eastern District subway in Manhattan and Brooklyn. When the Dual System agreements were made the Centre Street and Fourth Avenue subways were nearly completed and they were adjusted to the Brooklyn part of the system.

The Centre street loop, as before stated, was built to connect the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. It consists of a four track underground railroad extending from the Manhattan terminus of the Brooklyn Bridge northward under Centre street to Delancey street and eastwardly under Delancey street to the Williamsburg Bridge, with a two track spur at Canal street connecting with the Manhattan Bridge. In August 1913 the two westerly tracks in this subway were placed in operation in connection with the Broadway elevated railroad in Brooklyn, the trains from which now run through the loop subway to the Chambers street station in the basement of the new Municipal Building, instead of stopping as formerly at the end of the Williamsburg bridge. The two easterly tracks south of Canal street were placed in operation in June, 1915, as part of the Fourth Avenue subway, and the two easterly tracks north of Canal street were devoted to the Williamsburg Bridge operation.

Compressed Air Tunnel Work. (1) Tunnel Heading Filled With Mud Following a "Blowout"; (2) Erecting Iron Rings of Tunnel; (3) Surface of East River at Point of "Blowout."

The Fourth Avenue subway is a four track underground road running from the Brooklyn end of the Manhattan Bridge through Flatbush Avenue Extension to Fulton street, Ashland Place and Fourth Avenue to 86th street, near Fort Hamilton. The Dual System contracts provided for its extension through 38th street with two, three-track elevated lines to Coney Island, one running from 38th street down New Utrecht Avenue, 86th street and Stillwell Avenue and the other from 38th street down Gravesend Avenue and Shell Road, both terminating at a common terminal at Coney Island. It was further provided that the company should at its own expense reconstruct its Sea Beach line as a four track railroad and connect it at 65th street with the Fourth Avenue subway, thus providing another line to Coney Island. From Flatbush Avenue Extension, or from Fulton street near the Extension, another connection was planned. This is a two track railroad running under Fulton and St. Felix streets to Flatbush Avenue and thence under Flatbush Avenue to a junction with the Brighton Beach railroad at Malbone street. A further connection with Manhattan was provided by a two track underground line running from the Fourth Avenue subway in Flatbush Avenue Extension just west of De Kalb Avenue through Willoughby street to Montague street and down Montague street to and under the East River to Whitehall street, Manhattan and a connection with the Broadway subway.

In June, 1915, the Fourth Avenue subway was opened for traffic from Manhattan to Coney Island by the Sea Beach connection. Two tracks, a combination of local and express tracks, were used for the first operation to Sixty-fifth street and the Sea Beach tracks from there to Coney Island. For this service the two easterly tracks in the Centre street loop south of Canal street are used. Two tracks in the Fourth Avenue subway after crossing the Manhattan Bridge descend and pass under the Centre street loop and run under Canal street to a junction with the new Broadway subway in Manhattan.

Modern Steel Car Trains Operated In New York Subways (2) Train of New York Consolidated Railroad Company.

Aside from the Fourth Avenue system just described the City also agreed to build for operation by the Brooklyn Company a new subway from Manhattan to East New York. This is known as the 14th Street-Eastern line. It begins in Fourteenth street, Manhattan, at Sixth Avenue, runs eastwardly as a two track, underground road through 14th street to and under the East River to North Seventh Street, Brooklyn, through North Seventh street to Metropolitan Avenue, to Bushwick Avenue, to Johnson Avenue, where it becomes an elevated railroad and continues over the Long Island Railroad right of way, parallel to Wyckoff Avenue, and thence southeasterly to a junction with the Broadway elevated railroad in East New York.

All the above lines are built and paid for by the City and leased to the Brooklyn Company for operation, except of course the Sea Beach line, which is a reconstruction of the company's own property. In addition, the Dual System contracts granted to the company the rights to make extensions of and additions to its existing elevated railroad lines as follows:

An elevated connection between the Broadway and Myrtle Avenue lines and an extension of the latter to Lutheran Cemetery.

An elevated extension of the Broadway line from its terminus out Jamaica Avenue to Grand Avenue, Jamaica, in Queens Borough.

An elevated extension of the Fulton street line from the old City Line, at the boundary between Brooklyn and Queens, out Liberty Avenue to Lefferts Avenue, Richmond Hill, Queens Borough.

Also to build and operate a third track on each of the Broadway, Myrtle Avenue and Fulton street elevated lines.

All of such improvements are to be made at the company's expense.

The completion of this system means nothing less than a revolution in Brooklyn-Manhattan travel. Heretofore, owing to track limitations, no real express service was possible on the Brooklyn elevated roads. The third tracks on the Fulton street, Myrtle Avenue and Broadway lines permit of the addition of express trains. This in itself will greatly lessen existing congestion. The Fourth Avenue subway and its connections provide ample means of access to the Coney Island beaches -- a long-felt want. The Broadway subway in Manhattan gives all lines a proper and convenient outlet.

Modern Steel Car Trains Operated In New York Subways (1) Train of Interborough Rapid Transit Company.

Both leases with the companies run for forty-nine years. In general the terms are the same in each contract; that is each company agrees to contribute a certain amount toward the cost of construction of the City-owned lines, to build the company-owned lines with its own funds and to provide the necessary equipment for all lines at its own expense, although title to the equipment on City-owned lines is to vest in the City.

Each company is to charge only five cents for fare on any parts of its system and is to give free transfers at all intersections, but no transfers will be given between the lines of one company and those of another, nor will the Interborough company be required to transfer from its elevated lines to the City's subway lines or vice versa. Each company is to share equally with the City the surplus profits from operation.

In the Interborough contract provision was made for the synchronizing of its leases, that is to bring the old and new leases to a common expiring date. Under the old leases covering the first subway the company had until 1954 to operate the Manhattan-Bronx part of the line and till 1940 the Brooklyn extension, with the privilege of twenty-five years' renewal in each case. These leases the company naturally regarded as very valuable, for it was making about $6,000,000 a year out of the operation of the subway. It would not listen to any curtailment of the life of the leases unless the City would agree to compensate it for the profits to be expected in the period curtailed. It was finally agreed that a preferential payment equivalent to these profits should be provided for in the new lease, that the company should terminate the old agreement and consent to a new lease for old and new lines for 49 years. The amount of the preferential agreed upon was $6,335,000 a year, as representing the average annual profits under the old leases for the two years ending June 30, 1911.

As Mr. Belmont pointed out in his remarks previously quoted, the first suggestion of a preferential payment came from the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. It was proposed in that company's offer of April 25, 1911, as a part of the terms of operation. These terms provided for the pooling of all receipts from both city-owned and company-owned lines and, after paying. out of them operating expenses, etc., the payment to the company of "an amount equivalent to the net earnings of the existing lines operated by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit system in connection with the proposed new lines, as of the year preceding the beginning of operation under the proposed contract with the City." As these earnings were increasing every year, the conferees for the City felt that the present earnings, which were known, would be a better guide than future earnings, and it was finally agreed that the preferential should be equivalent to the average annual net profits for the two years ended June 30, 1911. And thus it went into both contracts. In the Brooklyn company contract the amount of the preferential payment is $3,500,000 a year.

The first deductions from the pooled receipts, to be made even in advance of the preferentials, included: To the City such rentals as were due from the Interborough Company for the first subway; taxes and governmental charges of all kinds against each company; twelve per cent. of the revenue for maintenance exclusive of depreciation; for depreciation, five per cent. from the Interborough and three per cent. from the Brooklyn Company. Then come the preferential payments, and after them: six per cent. on the company's investment for construction and equipment, out of which an amortization fund must be set aside; to the City by the Interborough Company an amount equal to 8.76 per cent. on the City's expenditures for construction; one per cent. of the revenue to be paid into a contingent reserve fund. The surplus remaining is to be divided equally by the City and company.

It was agreed that the City through the Commission should prepare and award in the manner provided by the Rapid Transit Act all construction contracts on City-owned lines, but that in case of contracts which would be paid for in part by the companies a draft thereof should be submitted to the company affected for its criticisms and suggestions before it was finally adopted by the Commission. Such contracts also were to include the company as one of the parties, and the funds applied for such purposes by the company should be disbursed by it direct to the construction contractor.

The Interborough company agreed to contribute $58,000,000 and the Brooklyn company $13,500,000 toward the cost of construction of City-owned lines, and in addition the latter agreed to bear the cost of building the connection between the Canal street subway and the Broadway subway to connect the latter with the Fourth Avenue subway in Brooklyn, which was estimated at about $500,000. The total contribution, therefore, of the Brooklyn company is generally placed at $14,000,000. Of the Interborough's contribution it was agreed that $3,000,000 was to be allowed the company for the transfer to the City of the Steinway tunnel.

It was also provided that the Brooklyn company at its own expense should reconstruct its existing lines where necessary, to line them up with the City-owned lines, so that both could be operated together as parts of one system. This involved the reconstruction of the company's Brighton Beach line between Malbone street and Church Avenue, the reconstruction of the Sea Beach line as a four track road, the elevation of existing tracks and the construction of additional two tracks on the Brighton Beach line between Neptune Avenue and Coney Island, the construction of a new union terminal at Coney Island for the Brighton Beach, the Sea Beach, the New Utrecht and Gravesend Avenues lines and the extension of station platforms and other needed alterations -- all under plans to be approved by the Commission.

Heavy security was demanded of both companies. Each was required to deposit with the Controller of the City $1,000,000 in approved securities and also to file a bond in the sum of $1,000,000. It was arranged that the special deposit should be returned to the company in installments as its contribution to the cost of construction was paid; as each quarter of the contribution was expended a quarter of the deposit was to be returned.

To provide for a settlement of disputes between the parties to each contract an arbitration court was created. Each side names one arbitrator and the third is named by the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, or in his failure to act by any of the Associate Judges of the same Court in the order of their seniority, or in their failure by the President of the New York Chamber of Commerce. Personal claims by either company against members of the Public Service Commission or of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment on matters connected with the contracts are barred.

The City is given complete control over expenditures by the companies under the contracts. The companies agree to supervision by the Public Service Commission and to provide for such inspections as the Commission may wish to make. They must keep proper accounts, permit their examination and submit to the Commission for approval any contract or mortgage in connection with their contributions toward the cost of construction. All contracts affecting the maintenance and operation of the railroads extending for more than one year or involving more than $50,000 must be approved by the Commission, which may also prescribe systems of accounting and forms of vouchers and payrolls. The Commission may object to any item of expenditure as improper and the company must hold the same in a suspense account until the matter is adjusted, or, in case of failure to agree, arbitrated.

All equipment is to be purchased by each company at its own expense, but title to that on City-owned lines when accepted by the Commission becomes immediately vested in the City. All equipment must be of the best character "known to the art of urban railway operation." At the proper time the Commission may order the company to begin providing equipment, which shall be ready to put into operation any part of the road as soon as completed.

January 1, 1917, was fixed as the date for the beginning of "initial" operation of the completed system, but provision is made for the temporary operation of such parts of the lines as may be ready before the whole system is finished. Such temporary operation is to be conducted on the same terms as are provided for the operation of future extensions of the Dual System, which are slightly different from the terms for permanent operation. If there is a deficit from such operation, it is provided that the company may deduct the amount of such deficit from the revenue before making any payments to the City.

There are special provisions in the contract with one company which do not appear in that with the other. For instance, the Brooklyn company is permitted for ten years to purchase its power instead of generating it; and in the Interborough contract there is a provision for the "exchange of legs" of the first subway if at any time the City should exercise its right of recapture, so that it may take over a complete operating line instead of a fragment of one of the new lines.

So much for the contracts for City-owned lines. The rights for the extensions and third tracking of existing elevated railroads owned by private companies were conferred in separate "certificates", granted under other provisions of the Rapid Transit Act. The companies were given franchises for such improvements to run for 85 years, subject to the right of the City to take them over at any time after ten years from the date of the contract upon proper payments.

A third tracking certificate, as stated above, was granted to the Manhattan Railway Company, the owner of the elevated railroads in Manhattan and the Bronx operated by the Interborough company under lease. Prior to this time the company had in use a third track on the Ninth Avenue line extending from Fourteenth to 116th Street, and a third track on the Third Avenue line extending from Forty-second to 129th street; also portions of the Second Avenue line had some third tracks. There was some question as to the rights for either one or both of these extra tracks, and the affirmation or confirmation of such rights was one of the considerations in the Dual System contracts. The latter beyond this confirmation granted rights for a third track on the Second Avenue line in addition to those on the Ninth and Third Avenue lines, which were expanded to extend the third tracks from the Battery to 155th street on the Ninth Avenue, and from Pearl street to 145th street on the Third Avenue line. In places four and even five tracks were authorized.

During the negotiations there was a great deal of discussion as to the amount of compensation the City should receive for the grants for additional tracks, and more as to the method by which it should be determined. It was finally decided and so nominated in the certificate that, after operation began, the company should pay to the City annually from the receipts of each station served by the additional tracks an amount equal to two per cent. of the excess of such receipts over the receipts of the same station for the year ending June 30, 1911, or for a corresponding portion of such year. These payments are to continue for twenty-five years, when the rental is to be readjusted for the next twenty years and again readjusted each twenty years thereafter. In case the City and the company cannot agree on the readjustment, the matter may be settled by arbitration or by appeal to the courts. In no case, however, is the readjusted rental to be less than that provided for the first twenty-five years.

Ten years after operation begins the City is authorized to purchase and take over the additional tracks so installed, but not for purposes of railroad operation. This condition was deemed advisable because the City has no power to take over the original tracks and therefore could not operate the third tracks in the event that it came into possession of them. The recapture provision, therefore, is valuable only in that it will save the City from condemning and paying full value for the third tracks if at any time it decides to purchase the line or to condemn the original tracks and remove the whole structure from the streets. When the right of recapture accrues, namely ten years after operation begins, the City must pay cost plus 15 per cent. for the property, but this percentage decreases each year thereafter until at the end of 85 years the City gets the property without any payment whatever.

The certificate for additional tracks granted to the Brooklyn company, while substantially the same, differs in some particulars from that granted to the Manhattan company; The most important point of divergence is in the terms of compensation to the City. Instead of a percentage of receipts, or excess of receipts due to the new tracks, the earnings of the elevated roads upon which additional tracks are built shall be pooled with the receipts of the subway lines operated by the Brooklyn company and payments made to the City in accordance with the operating contracts for the City-owned lines. The reason for this is that the Brooklyn elevated roads are to be operated as parts of the City-owned system, while the Manhattan elevated lines are to be operated separately and not as parts of the subway system.

Three Brooklyn lines are covered by the certificate for additional tracks, namely, the Broadway, the Fulton Street and the Myrtle Avenue lines. The right on the Broadway line extends from the Williamsburg bridge to East New York; on the Fulton Street line from the Brooklyn bridge to the Queens boundary; and on the Myrtle Avenue line from Broadway to Wyckoff Avenue. As in the Manhattan certificate more than one additional track is authorized in places. The grants run for 85 years and the property may be purchased and taken over by the City at any time after ten years on the same terms as are laid down in the Manhattan certificate.

Certificates for the extensions of elevated lines are somewhat different in their terms. Instead of a percentage of excess profits, the City is to receive as rental for the extensions of the Manhattan elevated railroads, operated by the Interborough company, one half of the excess profits over the average net profits of the existing elevated lines for the years 1910 and 1911, fixed in the certificate at $1,589,348, from which there is previously deducted the rental paid under the additional track certificate. The other terms are substantially the same as those in the third-tracking certificate. The franchise runs for eighty-five years, but the City has the right to take over the roads at any time after ten years upon paying cost plus 15 per cent., the percentage declining every year until at the end of the grant the property passes to the City without any payment.

The extensions for which authorizations are granted by the certificate to the Interborough company are: The Webster Avenue Line, the Eighth Avenue and 162d Street Connection, the Queensboro Bridge Line and the West Farms Subway Connection. The Webster Avenue Line is an extension of the Third Avenue elevated road from its terminus at Fordham northward through Webster Avenue to Gun Hill Road and eastward through Gun Hill Road to a junction with the elevated extension of the Lenox Avenue branch of the first subway in White Plains Road. The Eighth Avenue and 162d Street Connection is an extension of the Sixth and Ninth Avenue elevated lines from their terminus at 155th Street and Eighth Avenue over the Putnam Division Bridge across the Harlem River and through East 162d street to a junction with the Jerome Avenue elevated extension in River Avenue of the Lexington Avenue subway. The Queensboro Bridge line is an extension of the Second Avenue elevated road over the Queensboro bridge to a junction with the new rapid transit lines to Astoria and Corona. The West Farms Subway Connection is an elevated line joining the Third Avenue elevated road with Lenox Avenue branch of the first subway and running from about 143d street through Willis and Bergen Avenues to the subway line, which is an elevated road at that point.

The certificates to the New York Municipal Railway Corporation for elevated extensions in Brooklyn and Queens are substantially similar to the certificates for additional tracks granted to that company. These extensions are to be made a part of the whole system, and the City will get compensation for them out of the earnings thereof in the manner provided in the main operating contract. That is the receipts of all lines and extensions will be pooled, and the City will share with the company in the surplus profits remaining after paying operating expenses and other charges fixed by the contract. The grants are to run eighty-five years, with the same provision for recapture after ten years as are embodied in the Interborough certificates.

The extensions covered by these certificates to the Brooklyn company are: The Jamaica Line and the Liberty Avenue Line. The Jamaica Line is an extension of the Broadway elevated road from its terminus near Crescent street out Jamaica Avenue to Grand street, Jamaica. The Liberty Avenue Line is an extension of the Fulton street elevated road from its terminus at the Brooklyn-Queens boundary out Liberty Avenue to Lefferts Avenue, Queens.

At the time the Dual System contracts were signed the total cost of the work, including construction and equipment, was estimated at $330,000,000. Had it not been for the World War this estimate might have been approximated in the result, but the increase in prices of materials, cost of labor, etc., has largely augmented the figures. The original estimates provided for an investment of $164,000,000 by the City of New York, $105,000,000 by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and $61,000,000 by the Brooklyn company. It is now known that the City's expenditure will equal or exceed $200,000,000 and that the investment of each of the companies will be much heavier than the estimates, so that the entire, ultimate cost of the system will be about $400,000,000. This exceeds the cost of the Panama Canal.

Since the adoption of the Dual System contracts opinion has been divided as to their merits-that is, whether they were a good or a bad bargain for the City. They were both. They were good in the enormous increases of rapid transit facilities which they assured at a time when the city was sorely in need of relief. They were bad in that they assured the operating companies a continuation of large profits and placed the burden of carrying deficits from operation upon the City, besides giving the companies first call on the revenues. Time alone will show whether the good or the bad predominates. The primary object in building rapid transit railroads is to provide quick transportation service for the people; whether the operation of such roads will bring a monetary return to the City is secondary. There is no question that the Dual System will fulfill the first; whether the second will be realized only the future can tell. Had the Dual System negotiations failed, however, the plight of the city would have been serious, for the building of new lines would have been delayed and the burden of constructing them would have been placed wholly on the municipality, the resources of which would not have permitted such a large addition to the rapid transit system as was made possible by the co-operation of the companies under the Dual System agreements.

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