238 Street
View from the northbound platform, looking north
Station statistics
Address	West 238th Street & Broadway, Bronx, New York
Borough	The Bronx
Locale	Kingsbridge
Coordinates	40°53′6.35″N73°54′2.19″W / 40.8850972°N 73.9006083°W /40.8850972; -73.9006083
Division	A (IRT)[1]
Line	IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
Services	1  (all times)
Transit	NYCT Bus:Bx3,Bx9
Structure	Elevated
Platforms	2side platforms
Tracks	3 (2 in regular service)
Other information
Opened	August 1, 1908 (117 years ago) (1908-08-01)
Traffic
2024	921,050[2]  4%
Rank	309 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street Terminus Local 231st Street towardSouth Ferry
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to242nd Street to240th Street Yard to231st Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times

The238th Street station is a localstation on theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of theNew York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 238th Street andBroadway in theKingsbridge neighborhood ofthe Bronx, it is served by the1 train at all times.

Built by theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the station opened on August 1, 1908, as part of thefirst subway. The northbound platform was lengthened in 1910 while the southbound platform was lengthened in 1948. In 2018, the fare controls at the station were changed to allow entries in the northbound direction.

Planning for asubway line inNew York City dates to 1864.^[3]: 21 However, development of what would become thecity's first subway line did not start until 1894, when theNew York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act.^{[3]: 139–140} The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led byWilliam Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. It called for a subway line fromNew York City Hall inlower Manhattan to theUpper West Side, where two branches would lead north intothe Bronx.^[4]: 3 A plan was formally adopted in 1897,^[3]: 148 and all legal conflicts concerning the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899.^[3]: 161

The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized byJohn B. McDonald and funded byAugust Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900,^[5] under which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line.^[3]: 165 In 1901, the firm ofHeins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations.^[4]: 4 Belmont incorporated theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.^[3]: 182

Operation of thefirst subway began on October 27, 1904, with the opening of all stations fromCity Hall to145th Street on the West Side Branch.^{[6]: 162–191 [7][8]} The line was mostly underground, except for the section surrounding125th Street, which ran across the elevated Manhattan Valley Viaduct to cross a deep valley there.^[9] Service was extended to 157th Street on November 12, 1904, as that station's opening had been delayed because of painting and plastering work.^[10]

The West Side Branch was extended northward to a temporary terminus at221st Street and Broadway on March 12, 1906 served by shuttle trains operating between 157th Street and 221st Street.^[11] However, only theDyckman Street,215th Street, and 221st Street stations opened on that date as the other stations were not yet completed.^[12][13] The168th Street station opened on April 14, 1906.^[14][12] The181st Street station opened on May 30, 1906, and on that date express trains on the Broadway branch began running through to 221st Street, eliminating the need to transfer at 157th Street to shuttles.^[15] The original system as included in Contract 1 was completed on January 14, 1907, when trains started running across theHarlem Ship Canal on theBroadway Bridge to225th Street, and the nearby 221st Street station was closed.^[13]

Once the line was extended to 225th Street on January 14, 1907, the 221st Street platforms were dismantled and moved to 230th Street for a new temporary terminus.^[13] Service was extended to the temporary terminus at 230th Street on January 27, 1907.^{[16][17]: 33} An extension of Contract 1 north to242nd Street atVan Cortlandt Park was approved in 1906^[6]: 204 and opened on August 1, 1908, along with the 238th Street station.^[18][19]

After the first subway line was completed in 1908,^[20] the station was served by West Side local and express trains. Express trains began atSouth Ferry in Manhattan orAtlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and ended at242nd Street in the Bronx. Local trains ran from City Hall to 242nd Street during rush hours, continuing south from City Hall to South Ferry at other times.^[21] In 1918, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south ofTimes Square–42nd Street, and the original line was divided into an H-shaped system. The original subway north of Times Square thus became part of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Local trains were sent toSouth Ferry, while express trains used the newClark Street Tunnel to Brooklyn.^[22]

To address overcrowding, in 1909, theNew York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway.^[23]: 168 As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $50.6 million in 2024) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $16.9 million in 2024) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent.^[24]: 15 The northbound platform at the 238th Street station was extended 200 feet (61 m) to the south,^[24]: 114 while the southbound platform was not lengthened.^[24]: 106 Six-car local trains began operating in October 1910,^[23]: 168 and ten-car express trains began running on the West Side Line on January 24, 1911.^{[23]: 168 [25]} Subsequently, the station could accommodate six-car local trains, but ten-car trains could not open some of their doors.^[26]

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[27][28] Platforms at IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations between103rd Street and 238th Street were lengthened to 514 feet (157 m) between 1946 and 1948, allowing full ten-car express trains to stop at these stations.^[26] A contract for the platform extensions at 238th Street and five other stations on the line was awarded to the Rao Electrical Equipment Company and the Kaplan Electric Company in June 1946.^[29] The platform extensions at these stations were opened in stages. On July 9, 1948, the platform extensions at stations between207th Street and 238th Street were opened for use at the cost of $423,000.^[26][30] At the same time, the IRT routes were given numbered designations with the introduction of"R-type" rolling stock, which containedrollsigns with numbered designations for each service.^[31] The route to 242nd Street became known as the1.^[32]

Between September 4, 2018, and January 2, 2019, Manhattan-bound trains did not stop at this station due to stairway replacement. In preparation for this, the northbound platform's fare control was converted so that it could accommodate both entries and exits.^[33][34]

Platform level	Side platform
	Northbound local	← towardVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street(Terminus)
	Peak-direction express	→ No regular service
	Southbound local	→ towardSouth Ferry(231st Street) →
	Side platform
Ground	Street level	Entrances/exits

This elevated station has twoside platforms and three tracks, with the center one not used in revenue service.^[35] The station is served by the1 at all times^[36] and is betweenVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street to the north and231st Street to the south.^[37] Each platform has beige windscreens and red canopies with green roofs in the center and black waist-high fences on either side.^{[citation needed]}

North of this station is the240th Street Yard, where cars assigned to the 1 route are inspected and maintained. The yard has a footbridge to the tracks of the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, crossovers and leads that allow this station to serve as a terminal. During the morning and afternoon rush-hours, some 1 trains begin their trips here as direct put-ins from the nearby 240th Street Yard, and some morning and afternoon rush-hour 1 trains end their trips either here or at215th Street and drop-out and lay-up at the 240th Street Yard to prevent congestion at Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street, which is the next and last stop on the 1 train to the north.^[36]

The northbound platform was originally exit only since 242nd Street is a short walking distance north, containing two platform-levelturnstiles, each of which leads to a staircase that goes down to either eastern corner of 238th Street and Broadway. The Manhattan-bound platform has an adjacent elevated station house that contains a turnstile bank, token booth, and a single street stair going down to the southwest corner of 238th Street and Broadway.^[38]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to238th Street (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org –IRT West Side Line: 238th Street
• Station Reporter —1 Train
• The Subway Nut —238th Street PicturesArchived July 6, 2020, at theWayback Machine
• 238th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View

• IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations
• Broadway (Manhattan)
• U.S. Route 9
• New York City Subway stations in the Bronx
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1908
• 1908 establishments in New York City
• Riverdale, Bronx
• Kingsbridge, Bronx

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