 The Metropolitan used the line to experiment with conduit electrification, opening on July 9, 1895.From opening, the main line began at Columbus Avenue and 108th Street, where the cable-powered Columbus Avenue Line ended, and ran along Columbus Avenue, 109th Street, Manhattan Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue to the river (148th Street).Franchises for the tracks other than on Lenox Avenue had been granted to the Lexington Avenue and Pavonia Ferry Railroad in 1892 and the Columbus and Ninth Avenue Railroad in 1894.