Steinway Tunnel Opening (1915)

The New York Times · Sunday, June 20, 1915

STEINWAY TUNNEL OPENING.

Arrangements have been completed for a big celebration at the opening of the Queens Borough Subway, the official name which has been given by the Public Service Commission to the East River subway, formerly called the Steinway Tunnel and the Belmont Tunnel.

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company has notified the Public Service Commission that this tunnel, connecting Forty-second Street, Manhattan, and Long Island City, Queens Borough, will be opened to the public at 12 o'clock noon, Tuesday, June 22 [1915].

At 11 o'clock on the same day an official train will convey the officers and Directors of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, members and engineers of the Public Service Commission, the Mayor and other city officials, the members of the Chamber of Commerce of the Borough of Queens, and other local civic organizations of that borough. The first official train will leave the Jackson Avenue Station, Long Island City, and run through the tunnel to the terminal in Manhattan.

Just prior to the operation of the first train speeches will be made by Mayor Mitchel, Edward E. McCall, Chairman of the Public Service Commission; Theodore P. Shonts, President of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company; Maurice E. Connolly, President of the Borough of Queens; George J. Ryan, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Borough of Queens, and John Adikes, Chairman of the Transit Committee, Queens Borough Chamber of Commerce.

During the past week the company has been operating experimental trains and drilling crews for the operation of these cars. Twelve steel cars will be placed in operation and three trains of four cars each will run on a headway of about four minutes.

While the operation of the tunnel at present is only a shuttle service between Long Island City and New York, transfers will be given at the Manhattan end to the present Subway, enabling passengers to ride for 5 cents from Long Island City to any part of the present Subway.

The greatest immediate benefit will be to the industrial section of Long Island City adjacent to the stations, as it will make available the entire labor supply of Manhattan for this growing factory section.

The entire borough, however, will be benefited in two ways-- first, by the trolley lines which now run from the station in Long Island City to the various parts of the borough, and, second, through the connection which will be made with the Long Island Railroad at the Hunters Point Avenue station. If the ten-cent local fare is given by the Long Island Railroad from Jamaica and Flushing to the mouth of the tunnel, service similar to that now on the Atlantic Avenue Division between Jamaica and Brooklyn will thus be established.