W (New York City Subway service)
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A train made of R68 cars in W service at 39th Avenue in Queens, bound for Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard.
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| Northern end | Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard |
| Southern end |
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| Stations | 23 44 (limited rush hour service) |
| Rolling stock | (Shared with N) 24 R68s (3 trains) 300 R160Bs (30 trains) |
| Depot | Coney Island Yard |
| Started service | July 22, 2001 |
| Discontinued | June 25, 2010 |
| Reinstated | November 7, 2016 |
The W Broadway Local is a rapid transit service of the New York City Subway's B Division. Its route emblem, or "bullet", is colored sunflower yellow since it uses the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan. The W operates only on weekdays. It runs between Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens and Whitehall Street-South Ferry in Lower Manhattan, serving all stops along the BMT Astoria Line in Queens and the BMT Broadway Line in Manhattan. Some W trains operate to/from Gravesend-86th Street due to storage capacity issues on the lower level at City Hall. The W is internally staffed and scheduled as part of the N.
Introduced on July 22, 2001, the W initially ran until June 25, 2010, when it was eliminated due to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA's) financial crisis. The MTA restored the route on November 7, 2016, using its original emblem and 2004–2010 routing, as part of the updated service pattern related to the opening of the Second Avenue Subway.
The W was originally conceived as an extra Broadway Line local service running on the Astoria and Broadway lines to Whitehall Street. This service was essentially a variant of the N route, which in the 1970s and 1980s ran express between Queens and Brooklyn, with some trains running local between Queens and Whitehall Street. However, reconstruction of the Manhattan Bridge between 1986 and 2004 forced the N, which normally ran express on the Broadway Line and on the Bridge, to run local via the Montague Street Tunnel. This service change precluded W local service from running as envisioned. The W bullet appeared on roll signs as a yellow diamond bullet, but on the R68s and R68As, round bullet signs were installed. The W also appeared on the digital signs of the R44s and R46s with any route and designation combination that could be used for the Broadway Line.
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