Today in History: The K Train Ghosts New York

by M.C. Millman 

While many New Yorkers today have never heard of or barely remember the K train, that would be because, mid-December 1988, the K train was discontinued after a short, three-year career on the rails.

The K line was so named when the MTA replaced old signage after discontinuing the use of double letters as names in 1985. Previously, the MTA used single letters to name express train routes and double letters for local routes.

The K line came into existence when the local Eighth Avenue route, AA, was renamed K on May 5, 1985. Three years later, the line merged into the C only to ride again in March of 2016, when a "ghost" K train made a short appearance. That was when an F train with a sign reading "K Washington Hts 8 Ave" appeared on the roll sign of the subway train before it was removed, as per a report by DNA Info. 

The subway with the K line designation was captured in a YouTube video after someone changed the electronic signage of an F train's end-car sign.

The prank was credited to a group of teenage vandals who called themselves the Subway Conquestors. The vandals were infamous for breaking into out-of-service cars, replacing signs, and additionally setting off explosions on the rails.

Before the K was discontinued, its route bullet was blue on station signs and route maps. It ran on today's A/C/E track. It doubled C train service, transporting passengers during midday, evenings, and weekends. It made local stops between 168th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and the World Trade Center. It was discontinued in 1988, along with a series of major subway service changes at the time.