A-8 Avenue Express is one of the trains in the IND division of the New York Subway and the longest route. It runs 31 miles between 207 Street in Inwood, Manhattan to the Rockaways in southern branches: a main branch to Far Rockaway, one to Lefferts Boulevard in the Richmond Hill section and a branch to Rockaway Park served during rush hours only. Until the early 1990s, the Lefferts Boulevard branch was the main branch and the Far Rockaway branch did not run during late night hours, when a transfer to a shuttle at Euclid Avenue in Brooklyn was made available; since then, it has been the Lefferts Boulevard branch which does not operate in the middle of the night.

In Manhattan the A is an express which follows the same route as the C but with fewer stops, and also runs as an express in Brooklyn. Between about midnight and 6:00 A.M., however, the A is a local in both boroughs as the C does not run during those times.

The A provides a direct connection to JFK Airport at the Howard Beach station via AirTrain, a fast, but extra fare rail line, with stops at most terminals. (From the late 1970s until the early 1990s a premium express service officially called the JFK Express and more commonly referred to as the "Train To The Plane" provided service to and from the Howard Beach station, mostly along the same tracks traversed by the A train, stopping only at 57th Street, 42nd Street and 34th Street along the 6th Avenue Line, then at the West 4th Street, Chambers Street, and Broadway/Nassau Street stations on the 8th Avenue Line in Manhattan, and then once more at Jay Street/Borough Hall in Brooklyn, thereafter not stopping again until Howard Beach).

Billy Strayhorn's jazz hit Take the A Train (popularized in 1941 by Duke Ellington) made the A train famous. It is among the better_known trains in the system.

On January 23, 2005, an unidentified homeless person set fire to a control room at the Chambers Street station. The room was nearly destroyed and seriously crippled the A and C lines. It may take millions dollars and several years to fully restore the system.

See also

• C-8 Avenue Local
• E-8 Avenue Local

External link

• "A Train (http://www.nyct.org/nyct/service/aline.htm)"