7 (New York City Subway service)
The 7 Flushing Local and <7> Flushing Express[3] are two rapid transit services in the A Division of the New York City Subway, providing local and express services along the full length of the IRT Flushing Line. Their route emblems, or "bullets", are colored purple, since they serve the Flushing Line.[4]
For the former Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation 7 service, see Franklin Avenue Shuttle.Western end
22 (local service)
18 (express service)
8 (super express service)
1915
7 trains operate at all times between Main Street in Flushing, Queens and 34th Street–Hudson Yards in Chelsea, Manhattan. Local service, denoted by a (7) in a circular bullet, operates at all times, while express service, denoted by a <7> in a diamond-shaped bullet, runs only during rush hours and early evenings in the peak direction and during special events.
The 7 route started running in 1915 when the Flushing Line opened. Since 1927, the 7 has held largely the same route, except for a one-stop western extension from Times Square to Hudson Yards on September 13, 2015.
Nickname
The 7 is unofficially nicknamed the "International Express"[85] and the "Orient Express",[86] in part because it travels through several different ethnic neighborhoods populated by immigrants, especially along Roosevelt Avenue, and also because it was the principal subway route to the 1964–65 New York World's Fair.[87][88] On June 26, 1999, First Lady Hillary Clinton and U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater designated the 7 route as a National Millennium Trail (under the name "International Express"), along with 15 other routes including the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the Underground Railroad.[89][90]
Route
Service pattern
The following table shows the line used by the 7 and <7>, with shaded boxes indicating the route at the specified times:[91]