IND Fulton Street Line

IND Fulton Street Line
Legend
IND Sixth Avenue Line IND Eighth Avenue Line Jay Street–MetroTech BMT Fourth Avenue Line Court Street New York Transit Museum IND Crosstown Line Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets IND Culver Line Lafayette Avenue Clinton–Washington Avenues Franklin Avenue Nostrand Avenue Kingston–Throop Avenues Utica Avenue Ralph Avenue Rockaway Avenue Broadway Junction Liberty Avenue Van Siclen Avenue Shepherd Avenue Euclid Avenue Pitkin Yard Grant Avenue former Fulton Street elevated 80th Street 88th Street Rockaway Boulevard IND Rockaway Line 104th Street 111th Street Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard

The IND Fulton Street Line is a rapid transit line of the IND Division of the New York City Subway, running from the Cranberry Street Tunnel under the East River through all of central Brooklyn to a terminus in Ozone Park, Queens. The IND Rockaway Line branches from it just east of Rockaway Boulevard. The A train runs express during daytime hours and local at night on the underground portion of the line; it runs local on the elevated portion of the line at all times. The C train runs local on the underground portion of the line at all times except late nights.

The line runs primarily along Fulton Street, Pitkin Avenue, and Liberty Avenue. The underground portion, which constitutes the majority of the line, was built for the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND), opening between 1936 and 1956. The elevated portion in Queens was originally part of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT)'s Fulton Street elevated line; the El in Brooklyn was closed and demolished in stages with the opening of the subway line.

Description and service

Under Fulton Street, the line is mainly single level. Nostrand Avenue is the exception, with the express tracks on the upper level and local tracks on the lower level.^[2] During construction, the old, now-demolished BMT Fulton Street Elevated (which the IND line replaced) had to be supported.

The stations along Liberty Avenue in Queens, from 80th Street–Hudson Street through Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard, as well as the current three-track elevated structure, were built for the elevated Fulton Street Line in 1915 as part of the BMT's portion of the Dual Contracts. This was the only section of the Fulton El that was built specifically to handle steel subway cars, as opposed to lighter wooden elevated cars.^[3]

Route

Entering Brooklyn via the Cranberry Street Tunnel as a two-track line, the IND Eighth Avenue Line travels east on Cranberry Street, then south on Jay Street. It becomes the Fulton Street Line at an interlocking north of Jay Street–MetroTech while briefly running parallel with the IND Culver Line. It turns away from the Culver Line onto Schermerhorn Street to the six-track Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station, which it shares with the Brooklyn–Queens Crosstown Line. The local tracks are unused at Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets, but connect to the abandoned Court Street station which is now the site of the New York City Transit Museum. At this point, the line becomes a four-track system until Euclid Avenue.^[2]

The line continues east under Schermerhorn Street to the intersections of Third Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, across them onto Lafayette Avenue and then finally onto Fulton Street until Broadway Junction.^[2]

After Broadway Junction, the line leaves Fulton Street via Truxton Street, crosses Broadway, curves through a corner of the East New York Yard, crosses Jamaica Avenue and then south on Pennsylvania Avenue. It then turns east onto Pitkin Avenue until Euclid Avenue station. East of Euclid Avenue there are track connections to Pitkin Yard, and from either the express or local tracks to the two-track line towards Grant Avenue station. The four mainline trackways continue east on Pitkin Avenue, disused, and end at approximately Elderts Lane.^[2][4]

Past Grant Avenue, the line joins the former Fulton Street elevated via a ramp as it enters Queens, swinging somewhat north until it is over Liberty Avenue.^[2][5][6] Here, it becomes a three-track line, with the center track coming from Pitkin Yard. Just past Rockaway Boulevard, the IND Rockaway Line branches southward while the Fulton Street Line continues over Liberty Avenue to its terminus at Lefferts Boulevard.^[2][5][7]

History

The Fulton Street subway was the city-owned Independent System (IND)'s main line from Downtown Brooklyn to southern Queens.^[8] Along with the IND Eighth Avenue Line, it was also alternately known as the Washington Heights − East New York Line.^[9] The groundbreaking for the line was held on April 16, 1929, at Fulton Street and Arlington Place, near the future Nostrand Avenue station.^[10] The line was opened from Jay Street to Rockaway Avenue on April 9, 1936, including the stub terminal at Court Street.^[11][12] Further construction was delayed by funding problems due to the Great Depression in the 1930s.^[4] This was temporarily solved by federal Works Progress Administration funding starting in 1936. The portion continuing from east of Rockaway Avenue along Pennsylvania and Pitkin Avenues to Crystal Street began construction in 1938.^[9][13] The next portion east from Crystal Street to around Grant Avenue, including the Euclid Avenue terminal and the Pitkin Yard, began construction in 1940.^[13][14] The progress lasted only a few years, as all work on the last portions in Brooklyn was stopped by December 1942 shortly after the United States entered World War II, with Broadway−East New York complete but not in operation due to lack of signal equipment, and the remaining stations to Euclid Avenue as unfinished shells.^{[4][9][13][15][16]}

The Court Street station was closed on June 1, 1946 due to low ridership.^[15][17] After World War II ended, workers and materials became available for public use again. The badly needed extension to the more efficient terminal at Broadway − East New York (the current Broadway Junction station) opened on December 30, 1946.^[4][18]

The extension of the Fulton Street Line, the completion of which had been delayed due to war priorities, was finished by funds obtained by Mayor William O'Dwyer and was placed in operation on November 28, 1948, running along Pennsylvania Avenue and Pitkin Avenue to Euclid Avenue near the Queens border. Forty additional R10 cars were placed into service for the extension. The cost of the extension was about $46,500,000. It included the construction of the new Pitkin Avenue Storage Yard, which could accommodate 585 subway cars on 40 storage tracks.^{[3][4][9][18][19]} Because these stations were completed later than the rest of the line, they received different design features than other IND stations, including different wall tiles and fluorescent lighting.^[4][9][20] In 1953, the platforms were lengthened at Ralph Avenue and Broadway–East New York to 660 feet to allow E trains to run eleven car trains. The E began running eleven car trains during rush hours on September 8, 1953. The extra train car increased the total carrying capacity by 4,000 passengers. The lengthening project cost $400,000.^[21][22][23]

In late 1952, the Board of Transportation began construction on a connection between the IND and both the Fulton El and the Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, which included a new underground station at Grant Avenue.^{[24][25][26][27]} The connection from the 80th Street elevated station to the rest of the BMT Fulton El was severed on April 26, 1956 and the IND was extended east (track direction south) from Euclid Avenue via the intermediate station at Grant Avenue, and a connecting ramp (known as the Grant Avenue ramp).^[3][5][28] The new service to Lefferts Boulevard began three days later.^{[3][5][7][29]} On June 28, 1956, the connection to the IND Rockaway Line east of Rockaway Boulevard was opened.^{[3][7][30][31][32][33]}

Second System planned route

The IND Fulton Street Line was supposed to be extended farther east into Queens as part of the IND Second System, via an extension of the Fulton Elevated or a new subway. The line would have gone as far as Springfield Boulevard in Queens Village or 229th Street in Cambria Heights, both near the Nassau County border. The line would have also had a spur to the Rockaways.^{[4][8][34][35][36]}

The 1929 Second System plan suggested recapturing and extending the Fulton elevated along Liberty, Brinkerhoff and Hollis Avenues to Springfield Boulevard, near Hempstead Turnpike, Belmont Park, and the Queens Village LIRR Station.^[4][8][35] The 1939 plan, meanwhile, proposed extending the subway along Pitkin Avenue to Cross Bay Boulevard in South Ozone Park, then along Linden Boulevard to Cambria Heights near the Cross Island Parkway. A spur would have branched off east of Cross Bay Boulevard, turning south to join with the former Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road (now the IND Rockaway Line).^[4][34][36] This extended Fulton Street Line would have also facilitated service from the planned Second Avenue Subway via a river tunnel from Lower Manhattan to the then-terminal station at Court Street.^[34][36][37]

In a 1940 plan, which was revised in 1945, the IND Fulton Street Line would connect to the IND Rockaway Line in a similar manner to the 1939 plan, via an extension of the subway under Pitkin Avenue. The line, east of Euclid Avenue, would be 4 tracks, with local stations at 76th Street and 84th Street, and an express station at Cross Bay Boulevard. At Cross Bay Boulevard, a flying junction would let the local tracks cross over to the inside and the express tracks cross over to the outside. The layout would be similar to that of Manhattan's 168th Street station. East of Cross Bay Boulevard, another flying junction would bring a two-track branch over the line to a pair of portals north of Aqueduct – North Conduit Avenue station. Meanwhile, the Fulton Street Line's four tracks would merge into two tracks, and end at 105th Street (today's Aqueduct Racetrack), where a scissors crossover would be present just west of the station. Crossovers would also be located between the local and express pair of tracks east of 76th Street, and between the two express tracks east of Cross Bay Boulevard.^[38]

Currently the line ends at Lefferts Boulevard in Ozone Park (the former end of the Fulton El), and only the Rockaway extension was completed.^[5][7] The mainline tracks that go past the Euclid Avenue station were to be part of a 4-track line to Cambria Heights.^[4]

Station listing

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops late nights only
	Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Time period details

Neighborhood (approximate)		Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
Begins as a continuation of the IND Eighth Avenue Line express tracks (A  C ); with connecting tracks to the IND Sixth Avenue Line local tracks (no regular service)
Downtown Brooklyn		Jay Street–MetroTech	express	A  C	February 1, 1933	IND Culver Line (F ) BMT Fourth Avenue Line (N  R )
	Local tracks begin
		Court Street	local		April 9, 1936	Closed 1946, reopened 1976 as the New York Transit Museum
	Local tracks continue east from Court Street; Express tracks continue south then east from Jay Street–MetroTech
		Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets	all	A  C	April 9, 1936	IND Crosstown Line (G ) Local tracks & platforms between local and express tracks unused
Fort Greene		Lafayette Avenue	local	A  C	April 9, 1936
Clinton Hill		Clinton–Washington Avenues	local	A  C	April 9, 1936
Bedford-Stuyvesant		Franklin Avenue	local	A  C	April 9, 1936	BMT Franklin Avenue Line (S )
		Nostrand Avenue	all	A  C	April 9, 1936	local–lower level express–upper level B44 Select Bus Service
		Kingston–Throop Avenues	local	A  C	April 9, 1936
		Utica Avenue	all	A  C	April 9, 1936	B46 Select Bus Service
		Ralph Avenue	local	A  C	April 9, 1936
		Rockaway Avenue	local	A  C	April 9, 1936
East New York		Broadway Junction	all	A  C	December 30, 1946	BMT Canarsie Line (L ) BMT Jamaica Line (J  Z ) originally Broadway-East New York
		Liberty Avenue	local	A  C	November 28, 1948
		Van Siclen Avenue	local	A  C	November 28, 1948
		Shepherd Avenue	local	A  C	November 28, 1948
		Euclid Avenue	all	A  C	November 28, 1948
Connecting tracks to Pitkin Yard and Grant Avenue spurs; mainline tracks dead-end
City Line		Grant Avenue		A	April 29, 1956
Single express track begins from Pitkin Yard (no regular service)
Ozone Park		80th Street	local	A	September 25, 1915[39]
		88th Street	local	A	September 25, 1915[39]
		Rockaway Boulevard	local	A	September 25, 1915[39]
	IND Rockaway Line splits (A )
		104th Street	local	A	September 25, 1915[39]
Richmond Hill		111th Street	local	A	September 25, 1915[39]
		Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard		A	September 25, 1915[39]	Q10 bus to JFK Airport

References

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

• Media related to IND Fulton Street Line at Wikimedia Commons
• An architectural drawing of the connection between the Liberty Avenue elevated and the IND Rockaway Line

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