Editing IRT Flushing Line (section)

===Service curtailments and slight improvements<span class="anchor" id="Service curtailments"></span><span class="anchor" id="Service curtailments in the 1940s–60s"></span>===
Second Avenue Line service, including the connection across the Queensboro Bridge, ended June 13, 1942,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/06/14/archives/200-take-last-ride-on-2d-ave-elevated-official-says-the-structure.html|title=200 TAKE LAST RIDE ON 2D AVE. ELEVATED; Official Says the Structure Will Yield 29,400 Tons of Steel|date=June 14, 1942|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 29, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and free transfers to the [[IRT Third Avenue Line]] were offered at [[Grand Central (IRT Flushing Line)|Grand Central]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/06/07/archives/el-will-cease-saturday-service-on-second-avenue-line-from-queens-to.html|title=EL' WILL CEASE SATURDAY; Service on Second Avenue Line From Queens to End|date=June 7, 1942|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 29, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> These transfers were valid until May 12, 1955, when Third Avenue Line service ended.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J2d5rgEACAAJ|title=From a Nickel to a Token: The Journey from Board of Transportation to MTA|last=Sparberg|first=Andrew J.|date=2014|publisher=Empire State Editions|isbn=978-0-8232-6193-2|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|113}}

[[File:October 17, 1949 New York Board of Transportation Subway Service Change Poster .jpg|thumb|left|A poster describing the changes at Queensborough Plaza in 1949]]
On October 17, 1949, the joint BMT/IRT service arrangement ended. The Flushing Line became the responsibility of IRT. The Astoria Line had its platforms shaved back, and became BMT-only.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/10/15/96475230.pdf|title=Direct Subway Runs To Flushing, Astoria|date=October 15, 1949|work=The New York Times|access-date=October 7, 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Because of this, routes through the then eight-track Queensboro Plaza station were consolidated and the northern half of the structure was later torn down. Evidence of where the torn-down platforms were, as well as the trackways that approached this area, can still be seen in the ironwork at the station.<ref name=nycs-bmt-astoria>{{Cite web|title = www.nycsubway.org: BMT Astoria Line|url = http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/BMT_Astoria_Line|website = www.nycsubway.org|access-date = February 21, 2016}}</ref>

During the joint service period, the elevated stations on the Astoria and Flushing Lines were only able to fit nine 51-foot-long BMT elevated or IRT cars, the rough equivalent of seven 67-foot-long BMT subway cars. After the BMT/IRT dual services ended in 1949, the [[New York City Board of Transportation]] announced that the Flushing Line platforms would be lengthened to 11 IRT car lengths, and the Astoria Line platforms extended to 9 BMT car lengths. The project, to start in 1950, would cost $3.85 million.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/11/20/archives/transit-platforms-on-lines-in-queens-to-be-lengthened-3850000.html|title=TRANSIT PLATFORMS ON LINES IN QUEENS TO BE LENGTHENED; $3,850,000 Program Outlined for Next Year to Care for Borough's Rapid Growth NEW LINKS ARE TO BE BUILT 400 More Buses to Roll Also – Bulk of Work to Be on Corona-Flushing Route TRANSIT PROGRAM IN QUEENS OUTLINED|last=Bennett|first=Charles G.|date=November 20, 1949|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 29, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Identification of Trains and Routing Automatically (IDENTRA) was implemented on the line in the 1957 and used until 1997, when a route selector [[punch box]] with B1 Astoria, local/express buttons was installed at the 10/11 car marker on the upper level of Queensboro Plaza.<ref name="subsig">[http://www.thejoekorner.com/out-the-front/signals.htm "Subway Signals"], thejoekorner.com</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-198995503.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222182320/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-198995503.html|archive-date=February 22, 2016|title=Roots of an Evolution: Fifty Years of Automated Train Control in New York|work=Railway Age|date=April 1, 2009|access-date=September 15, 2015|author=Conningham, Joseph J.|quote=The latter included an installation on the IRT Flushing (7) line of the US&S IDENTRA (Identification of Trains and Routing Automatically) system in which a passive coil on the lead car actuated wayside readers to set routes and station signs.|via=HighBeam}}</ref> IDENTRA used a removable round circular disc type [[radio antenna]] assembly, slide-mounted on the small mounting brackets that were attached on the front of [[R12 (New York City Subway car)|R12]], [[R14 (New York City Subway car)|R14]], [[R15 (New York City Subway car)|R15]], and [[R17 (New York City Subway car)|R17]] cars that were assigned to the 7 route, which had been used on the line since 1948. Similar to the use of radio transponders in the CBTC installation, the system used the antennas to determine whether a train was running local or express, and then accordingly switched the track at interlockings near the Queensboro Plaza and Flushing–Main Street stations. This move reduced the number of signal towers on the line from 9 to 2<ref name=subsig/><ref name=rpa/> and theoretically allowed to operate 37 eleven-car trains instead of only 30 nine-car trains per hour.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Automatic Control of Switches In New York Subway|journal=Railway Signaling and Communications|date=1954|issue=4|page=33}}</ref><ref name="LISJ-StillCrawls-1957"/> The consolidated signal system was in use by 1956 while the selector system was in service by 1958.<ref name="AnnualReport1963">{{Cite book|title=Annual Report — 1962–1963|publisher=New York City Transit Authority|year=1963}}</ref> However, in practice, train frequencies were not necessarily increased. According to an experiment performed by the ''Long Island Star Journal'' in 1957, rush-hour headways ranged from 6 to 15 minutes between local trains, and 2 to 6 minutes between express trains.<ref name="LISJ-StillCrawls-1957">{{Cite news|url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252014%2FLong%2520Island%2520City%2520NY%2520Star%2520Journal%2FLong%2520Island%2520City%2520NY%2520Star%2520Journal%25201957%2FLong%2520Island%2520City%2520NY%2520Star%2520Journal%25201957%2520-%25203083.pdf|title=Millions Spent... Flushing IRT Still Crawls|last=Perlow|first=Austin H.|date=April 2, 1957|newspaper=Long Island Star – Journal|access-date=October 7, 2018|via=Fulton History|page=1}}</ref>

In 1953, with increased ridership on the line, a "super-express" service was instituted on the line.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/08/28/archives/2-subway-lines-to-add-cars-another-to-speed-up-service-3-subways-to.html|title=2 Subway Lines to Add Cars, Another to Speed Up Service; 3 SUBWAYS TO GET IMPROVED SERVICE|last=Ingalls|first=Leonard|date=August 28, 1953|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 29, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The next year, the trains were lengthened to nine cars each. Subsequently, the trains were extended to ten cars on November 1, 1962.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=December 1962|title=R17s to the Flushing Line|url=https://issuu.com/erausa/docs/1962-06-dec-bulletin|journal=New York Division Bulletin|publisher=Electric Railroaders' Association|volume=5|issue=6|pages=M-8|via=Issu}}</ref> With the [[1964 New York World's Fair|1964–1965 World's Fair]] in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in April 1964, trains were lengthened to eleven cars.<ref name="AnnualReport1963" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252014%2FLong%2520Island%2520City%2520NY%2520Star%2520Journal%2FLong%2520Island%2520City%2520NY%2520Star%2520Journal%25201963%2FLong%2520Island%2520City%2520NY%2520Star%2520Journal%25201963%2520-%25205257.pdf&highlightsFile=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fultonhistory.com%2Fhighlighter%2Fhits%2F1988d896b7a6d005cf0318462615258c#page=1|title=TA to Show Fair Train|date=August 31, 1963|newspaper=Long Island Star – Journal|access-date=August 30, 2016|via=Fulton History}}</ref> The Flushing Line received 430 new [[R33S (New York City Subway car)|R33S]] and [[R36 (New York City Subway car)|R36]] cars for this enhanced service.<ref name=":7" />{{Rp|137}}

Rolling stock along the Flushing Line received "strip maps" in 1965, the first such installation in the system. The strip maps showed only the stations on the Flushing Line, as opposed to for the entire system, but the transfers available at each station were listed.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/04/14/101537746.pdf|title=Subway Cars Here To Get Strip Maps Showing One Route; New Series of Maps, Signs and Schedules Are Designed to Take the Guesswork Out of Subway Travel|last=Perlmutter|first=Emanuel|date=April 14, 1965|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref>