Dual Contracts
The Dual Contracts of 1913 were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the City of New York. The majority of the lines of the present-day New York Subway were built or reconstructed under these contracts.
The contracts were "dual" in that they were signed between the City and two separate private companies. Contract 3 was signed between the City and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company or IRT, operator of the original subway line in New York City. Contract 4 was signed between the City and the Municipal Railway Company, a subsidiary of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company or BRT, formed especially for the purpose of contracting with the City for construction of the lines.
Contracts 1 and 2 were the original subway contracts between the City and the IRT for the famous first subway, which celebrates its centennial in 2004. These contracts predated the Dual Contracts.
Under the terms of contracts 3 and 4, the City would build new subway and elevated lines and rehabilitate certain existing elevated lines and lease them to the private companies for operation. The cost would be borne more or less equally by the City and the companies. The City's contribution was in cash raised by bonded indebtedness, while the companies' contributions were variously by supplying cash, facilities and equipment to run the lines.
