East Harlem Is Finally Getting a Subway After Waiting 85 Years for It

The Second Avenue Line Reaches 125th Street

In August 2025, the MTA approved its largest tunneling contract in history to bring subway service to a neighborhood that has been waiting since 1940.

East Harlem lost its elevated train that year, and the promised replacement never came. Now, a $1.97 billion deal will extend the Q train to 125th Street, adding three new stations that could serve 110,000 daily riders by 2032.

The project involves a 750-ton tunnel boring machine, lessons from past failures, and a neighborhood that has been walking to overcrowded trains for generations.

The City Tore Down the El in 1940

The northern half of the Second Avenue Elevated closed on June 11, 1940, as part of a citywide effort to replace old elevated lines with modern subways.

The city promised East Harlem a new underground line. The area has been a subway desert ever since the Second Avenue El stopped service above 57th Street in 1940.

Residents were told to wait. They have been waiting for 85 years.

Construction Started Then Stopped in 1975

In April of 1975, due to the city’s fiscal crisis and the need to maintain existing infrastructure, the Second Avenue subway construction was stopped.

Workers had already dug tunnels between 110th and 120th Streets.

New York teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, shuttering more than a dozen firehouses while teachers went on strike and garbage piled up in the streets.

The tunnels sat empty for 50 years.

Phase 1 Opened Without East Harlem

Phase 1 of the project extended the line from 63rd Street to 96th Street and was New York City’s largest expansion of the subway system in 50 years.

Service opened on January 1, 2017, with additional stations at 72nd Street and 86th Street. The Upper East Side got relief from crowded trains.

East Harlem, just a few blocks north, still had nothing.

The Lexington Line Carries 1.3 Million Daily

The four-track IRT Lexington Avenue Line is the most used rapid transit line in the United States.

Its average of 1.3 million daily riders is more than the combined riderships of the transit systems of San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston. For decades, this was the only subway option for anyone living on the East Side above 96th Street.

Crowding on the line is so bad that riders are routinely stranded on the platform, having to wait for multiple trains to pass before being able to board.

70 Percent of Residents Rely on Transit

East Harlem is one of the city’s most transit-dependent neighborhoods, where 70 percent of residents already rely on public transportation.

It has the second-highest concentration of public housing in the United States, behind Brownsville, Brooklyn.

Many residents walk several blocks to the Lexington Avenue line because there is no closer option. That is about to change.

Three New Stations Are Coming

Phase 2 will bring a subway line back to the neighborhood by extending service north from 96th Street to 125th Street, creating three new stations at 106th, 116th, and 125th Streets.

MTA officials said there will be a direct connection with the existing 125th Street station on the Lexington Avenue subway line.

Work will also include an entrance at Park Avenue to allow transfers to the Metro-North Railroad’s Harlem-125th Street stop.

A 750-Ton Machine Arrives in 2027

The crown jewel of this contract is the delivery of an approximately 700-ton tunnel boring machine from Europe at the start of 2027.

The work to bore the new tunnel, between 35 and 120 feet below Second Avenue, is expected to take place using 750-ton machines equipped with 22-foot diamond-studded drill heads.

When assembled underground, the machine will measure between 250 and 300 feet.

The New Machine Digs and Builds at Once

The awarded contract will include designing and building a tunnel boring machine that both excavates the earth in front of it and simultaneously installs concrete tunnel lining behind.

MTA officials said the contract will save $100 million in labor costs because of a 40 percent reduction in the number of tunnel crew workers they expect to hire, compared to the first phase.

The old method required separate crews for digging and lining.

The Project Will Cost $7.7 Billion

The extension is expected to cost $7.7 billion, making it one of the most expensive new subway construction projects in the world on a per-mile basis.

But officials argue the investment makes sense.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said the project has the lowest cost per rider of any heavy rail project in America.

Reusing tunnels dug in the 1970s saved $500 million alone.

The Q Train Could Run by September 2032

Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 is on schedule with a revenue service date of September 2032.

When it opens, riders will have a one-seat ride from East Harlem to the Upper East Side, West Midtown, and Coney Island.

For a neighborhood that lost its train in 1940, saw construction halt in 1975, and watched Phase 1 stop short in 2017, the finish line is finally in sight.

Visiting East Harlem, New York

The neighborhood that waited 85 years for subway service is located between 96th and 125th Streets on Manhattan’s East Side.

Until the new stations open in 2032, visitors can reach East Harlem via the 6 train to 103rd, 110th, or 116th Streets on Lexington Avenue.

The Second Avenue Subway Community Information Center at 69 East 125th Street offers exhibits about the project’s history and construction. The center is open to the public and located between Park and Madison Avenues.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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