Early history The section from East 180th Street to Dyre Avenue was once part of the mainline of the
New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, a standard gauge electric commuter railroad built by the
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. Upon its closure in 1937, the entire property was put up for sale. On December 21, 1925, the number of Manhattan-bound through trains in the morning rush hour from the White Plains Road Line was doubled with the addition of two more through trips, and service was considerably increased in the evening rush hour toward the Bronx, with through trains running every 11 minutes. In 1926, during the morning rush hour several northbound trains terminated at
86th Street. Saturday 5 service to
Crown Heights–Utica Avenue began on April 28, 1930. As of 1934, trains normally ran from
Wakefield–241st Street or
East 180th Street to
Atlantic Avenue. During weekday rush hours and weekend afternoons they were extended to Utica Avenue. Late-night service was not operated. From July 24, 1938, to September 18, 1938, there was Sunday daytime 5 service to
New Lots Avenue. Sunday afternoon 5 service to New Lots began on July 10, 1939. The Lexington–White Plains Road route became known as the 5. Express service on the IRT White Plains Road Line began on April 23, 1953, with alternate 5 trains using the middle track between East 180th Street and 149th Street during the weekday rush in the peak direction. Starting on October 2, 1953, the express 5 trains began running express between East 180th Street and Gun Hill Road – also using the middle track – and were branded as "Thru-Express" trains in order to encourage passengers who changed at Gun Hill Road for Third Avenue Elevated service to stay on subway trains. On June 7, 1954, to speed up service, thru-expresses began skipping 138th Street, allowing for one more train per hour. On June 16, 1958, these 5 trains resumed stopping at 138th Street, with 4 trains skipping the station during rush hours. Beginning on May 3, 1957, limited rush hour 5 service ran to
Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College replacing the 4 service. Evening, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday trains were cut back to South Ferry. Beginning on March 1, 1960, evening trains began making all stops in Manhattan. Starting on May 3, 1965, trains to or from 241st Street began making all stops between Gun Hill Road and East 180th Street. Plans were made for restoring the old line north into
Westchester County, but ultimately failed, and the superfluous track and overhead catenary on the old NYW&B were scrapped by 1943. The section below East 180th Street to Greens Farm Junction was once used to interchange with the New Haven (and later
Penn Central and
Conrail) to bring subway cars and other equipment on and off the system. That section was removed in the 1970s, isolating this part of the subway from the interchange. There was a paper transfer to the
IRT White Plains Road Line at East 180th Street, since there were no track connections between the lines. The shuttle was run with trains consisting of two cars, and there was no late night service when the line opened in 1941. The fares were collected in the stations during rush hours, and by conductors on the trains when ridership was light. At the same time, the former NYW&B station was closed and the off-hours Dyre Avenue Shuttle rerouted to the White Plains Road Line station. These shuttles were initially labeled 2 like the full-time service but were later signed as
9. Effective April 18, 1965, the Dyre Avenue Line was instead served by 5 trains at all times. On October 26, 1978, the NYCTA presented a plan to Bronx Community Board 12 to have all rush hour peak-direction thru-expresses from the White Plains Road Line run express between Gun Hill Road and East 180th Street, and to have all trains from Dyre Avenue run express in the Bronx. The changes were expected to be implemented in 12 to 19 months. In 1979, with the color coding of subway routes based on their trunk line in Manhattan, the 5 service's color was changed to forest green, as it goes via the Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan. On January 13, 1980, all 5 service to/from Dyre Avenue and Wakefield–241st Street during rush hours in the peak direction began running express in the Bronx. 5 service was re-extended to Atlantic Avenue on May 15, 1980. Beginning on January 18, 1988, all midday 5 service was cut back to Bowling Green, to allow 4 service to operate to Utica. On December 9, 1999, New York City Transit released a proposal revising 2 and 5 service in the Bronx to eliminate a merge north of the East 180th Street station, increasing capacity and reducing delays, to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board. Dyre Avenue-bound 5 trains would start running local along the White Plains Road Line at all times except late nights, while 2 trains would by rerouted via express in the rush hour peak way direction. The limited Rush Hour Nereid Avenue-bound 5 trains would remain express in the Bronx however. As part of the change, the frequency of service at White Plains Road Line local station would decrease from 12 trains per hour to 7 trains per hour. Market research showed that riders at these stations preferred Lexington Avenue Line service. In addition, riders on the line north of East 180th Street would gain express service. This change would have been revenue neutral. Shortly after the proposal was more widely announced in April 2000, Assemblyman
Jeffrey Klein collected 2,000 signatures for a petition opposing the change. The MTA delayed the change's planned implementation by a month after receiving the petition. Opponents of the change argued that the loss of express service would’ve made commute times on the Dyre Avenue line longer with an increase by up to 15-20 minutes and increased crowding on the route from the additional crowds on the local stations. Critics also argued that it would have increased subway crowding on the 2 train, especially at the
72nd Street station on the
IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line as well as at East 180th Street and 3rd Avenue 149th Street from crowds transferring for express service. The change was also opposed by State Senator
Eric Schneiderman, Assemblyman
Scott Stringer, and Public Advocate
Mark Green. New York City Transit expected the passenger volume of downtown 2 trains in the morning rush hour to increase from 92% of capacity to 108% at 72nd Street. After Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver put pressure on the MTA, the change was pushed back for an additional three months in May 2000. On September 24, 2000, a spokesperson for New York City Transit said that MTA Chairman E. Virgil Conway told planners to drop the change until service on the 5 was increased with the arrival of new
R142 subway cars by early 2002; the swap proposal was canceled the next day. On May 28, 2000, the headway of Dyre Avenue shuttles between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. was decreased from 40 minutes to 20 minutes.
Recent history After the
September 11, 2001 attacks, 5 service initially operated as a shuttle between Dyre Avenue and East 180th Street, but service was restored along the full route by the evening of September 12, with trains skipping 14th Street–Union Square in both directions. By September 17, trains were only skipping Wall Street, which reopened on the evening of September 19. On May 27, 2005, use of the 5 diamond to indicate peak direction service to Nereid Avenue was discontinued. From August 7 to November 10, 2006, limited rush hour service originated and terminated at
241st Street instead of Nereid Avenue. Station improvements taking place at Nereid Avenue temporarily closed the station, preventing 5 trains from using it as a terminal. On June 29, 2009, 5 trains were extended from Bowling Green to Flatbush Avenue during midday hours, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., following a successful pilot run in fall 2008. From March 29 to September 3, 2010, rush hour peak direction 5 express service was suspended due to rehabilitation of East 180th Street and signal replacements along the IRT White Plains Road Line. PM northbound express service was suspended again on March 28, 2011, to allow for the second phase of the signal replacement project. This time, service was restored on August 8. Due to repairs to
Hurricane Sandy-related damage in the Clark Street Tunnel, which carries the
IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line into Brooklyn, the 5 was extended to Flatbush Avenue on weekends between June 17, 2017, and June 23, 2018, running local in Brooklyn. In the Bronx, the 5 ran to
241st Street instead of Dyre Avenue in place of the
2. On November 17, 2019, New York City Transit made adjustments to weekday evening 3, 4, and 5 service in order to accommodate planned subway work. 5 service between Dyre Avenue and Bowling Green was reduced by one hour, from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m., with Dyre Avenue Shuttle service beginning an hour earlier. This change, which was approved by the MTA Board on June 27, 2019, was expected to save the agency $900,000 annually. In addition, on this date, morning rush hour reverse-peak 5 trains that terminated at
241st Street began terminating at
Gun Hill Road/White Plains Road, making express stops north of East 180th Street. In May 2025, as part of the 2025–2029 Capital Program, the MTA proposed that the 5 train be rerouted from Flatbush Avenue to
New Lots Avenue at its southern end. The 5 would be rerouted along the
IRT New Lots Line, sharing that route with a new 8 service that would operate along the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, while the 3 would take over the 5's routing to Flatbush Avenue. ==Route==