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The Dual Contracts

Between 1910 and 1920, the City, along with the IRT and BMT companies, undertook a massive construction project known as the Dual Contracts. These contracts provided for the expansion of the subway and elevated networks to open up areas of the city without transit service. Typical of the Dual Contracts subway station design was intricate mosaic tiling, such as this at Montrose Avenue on the Canarsie line. Photo by Wayne Whitehorne.

The Dual System of Rapid Transit
A 1912 description of the Dual Contracts expansion published by the Public Service Commission.

New Subways For New York: The Dual System of Rapid Transit
A 1913 guide to the Dual Systems period of subway expansion, by the New York City Public Service Commission. Outlines the Dual System plans, routes and stations of the new lines, contract costs, etc. (6 chapters)

The New York Rapid Transit Railway Extensions
A series of articles published by Engineering News in 1914 detailing various aspects of the construction of the Dual Contracts subway lines. (12 chapters)

Fifty Years of Rapid Transit (1918)
This 1918 book by James Blaine Walker details the politics behind the development of New York's elevated lines, its first subway, and the Dual Contracts.

Dual Contracts News
Short period news articles (1910-1919) about the construction and operation of the Dual Contracts subway lines, from the Public Service Record, New York Times, and elsewhere pertaining to the Dual Contracts subway lines.

The Steinway Tunnels
Ground broken in 1892, and not used for subway service until 1915, this tunnel was an important link in the Queens portion of the Dual Contracts.

The Construction of the Harlem River Tubes
A 1915 description of the engineering effort involved in building the Lexington Avenue line's Harlem River Tubes, with many illustrations and photographs.

Build More Transit Lines/ Rush Hour Relief For Passengers (1924)
Two 1924 articles about the need for completion of the 14th St.-Eastern (Canarsie) and Nassau St. lines, and overcrowding on the Williamsburg Bridge routes.

Transit Truths (1924)
In 1924, B.M.T. Chairman Gerhard M. Dahl published this book (an expansion of the above articles "Build More Transit Lines" and "Rush Hour Relief For Passengers") as propoganda in the fight to get Mayor Hylan to expand transit lines in New York City.