IND Queens Boulevard Line
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The Queens Boulevard Line is a fully underground line of the New York City Subway, as part of the IND division. The line provides crosstown service across Manhattan under 53rd Street and east through Queens to Jamaica. The two-track section in Manhattan was once known as the 53rd Street Line. East of Queens Plaza, the line has four tracks, with express service on the inner tracks. This line is one of two (the IND Culver Line being the other) for which the express tracks deviate from the local tracks to provide a more direct route. It is the second busiest line in the system, after the IRT Lexington Avenue Line.
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[edit] Extent and service
The following services use part or all of the Queens Boulevard Line:
| service | section of line | |
|---|---|---|
| E | express (local east of Forest Hills evenings and weekends; late nights local along entire line) | west of Briarwood (some rush hour trips use the full line) |
| F | local east and express west of Forest Hills | east of split east of Queens Plaza |
| G | local (no service rush hours or middays) | Forest Hills to Queens Plaza |
| R | local (no service late nights) | Forest Hills to Queens Plaza |
| V | local (no service late nights or weekends) | Forest Hills to Fifth Avenue |
The Queens Boulevard Line begins at 179th Street (E (1) F) as a four-track subway under Hillside Avenue. Just after curving north under the Van Wyck Expressway, a flying junction joins the recent two-track Archer Avenue Line (E) to the local and express tracks. Soon after, the line turns west under Queens Boulevard.
East of Union Turnpike, another flying junction ties the eastward tracks to Jamaica Yard. The other side of the wye curves west to become a lower level of the subway just west of Union Turnpike. After passing through 75th Avenue, those tracks join the local and express tracks at another flying junction. Just west is 71st-Continental Avenue–Forest Hills, where several services (E (5) G (345) R (1234) V (123)) begin on the local tracks, and E (45) F service switches to the express tracks.
From here the line runs under Queens Boulevard until it turns north onto Broadway after Grand Avenue–Newtown. Near the Roosevelt Avenue-Jackson Heights transit hub, an abandoned trackless tunnel branches off into an unused upper part of the station which is used for storage. At the intersection of Broadway and Northern Boulevard, the express tracks turn west under Northern Boulevard. The local tracks take a longer route, remaining under Broadway, then turning south onto Steinway Street and west again onto Northern Boulevard, where they rejoin the express tracks. As the line approaches Queens Plaza, the two-track IND 63rd Street Line (F) splits from both sets of tracks at a flying junction, running to Manhattan under 41st Avenue. The Queens Boulevard Line continues under Northern Boulevard to Queens Plaza, where crossover switches allow V service to switch to the express tracks. Just west of Queens Plaza, the line splits into three parts at yet another flying junction. The express tracks continue towards Manhattan under 44th Drive, while the local tracks split two ways, with the 60th Street Tunnel Connection (R (1234)) turning northwest and the IND Crosstown Line (G (345)) remaining under Jackson Avenue (Northern Boulevard south of Queens Plaza). From this point on, the Queens Boulevard Line has only two tracks.
The line continues west through the 53rd Street Tunnel under the East River into Manhattan. After Lexington Avenue, the westbound tracks rise above the eastbound tracks. A flying junction after Fifth Avenue ties the westbound tracks into the southbound local tracks of the IND Sixth Avenue Line (F V (123)), which begin here as a merge of these connection tracks and the IND 63rd Street Line (F). At that junction, the Sixth Avenue Line turns west under 53rd Street, just to the south of the Queens Boulevard Line. The two lines share platforms at Seventh Avenue, but no connecting tracks are present. Then the Queens Boulevard Line turns south below the IND Eighth Avenue Line (A C (1234)) with separate platforms at 50th Street, and then the tracks split to join the local and express tracks of the Eighth Avenue Line north of 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal. At that station, a special unused lower platform serves a single southbound track from the Queens Boulevard Line, merging with both southbound tracks of the Eighth Avenue Line south of that station. It has been speculated that this platform and level was built to prevent the IRT from extending their Flushing Line west.
[edit] Background
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[edit] Station listing
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Station | Tracks | Services | Opened | Transfers and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jamaica–179th Street | all | F always some E rush hours only |
December 11, 1950 | |
| 169th Street | local | F always | April 24, 1937 | ||
| Parsons Boulevard | all | F always some E rush hours only |
April 24, 1937 | ||
| Sutphin Boulevard | local | F always | April 24, 1937 | ||
| IND Archer Avenue Line (E always) merges | |||||
| Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard | local | E evenings, nights, and weekends F always |
April 24, 1937 | ||
| Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike | all | E always F always |
December 31, 1936 | ||
| 75th Avenue | local | E evenings, nights, and weekends F always |
December 31, 1936 | ||
| 71st-Continental Avenue–Forest Hills | all | E always F always G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
December 31, 1936 | ||
| 67th Avenue | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
December 31, 1936 | ||
| 63rd Drive–Rego Park | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
December 31, 1936 | ||
| Woodhaven Boulevard–Slattery Plaza | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
December 31, 1936 | ||
| Grand Avenue–Newtown | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
December 31, 1936 | ||
| Elmhurst Avenue | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
December 31, 1936 | ||
|
Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue | all | E always F always G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | free transfer to IRT Flushing Line (7) |
| 65th Street | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | ||
| express tracks diverge | |||||
| Northern Boulevard | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | ||
| 46th Street | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | ||
| Steinway Street | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | ||
| express tracks rejoin | |||||
| 36th Street | local | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | ||
| IND 63rd Street Line (F always) splits | |||||
|
Queens Plaza | all | E late nights G evenings, weekends and late nights R all but late nights V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | |
| local tracks split to IND Crosstown Line (G evenings, weekends and late nights) and 60th Street Tunnel Connection (R all but late nights) | |||||
| 23rd Street–Ely Avenue | express | E always V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | free transfer to IND Crosstown Line (G) free MetroCard transfer to IRT Flushing Line (7 <7> (1a2a3c)) |
|
| Lexington Avenue–53rd Street | express | E always V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | free transfer to IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4 (5) 6 <6> (12)) | |
| Fifth Avenue–53rd Street | express | E always V rush hours, middays, and evenings |
August 19, 1933 | ||
| connection to IND Sixth Avenue Line (V rush hours, middays, and evenings) splits | |||||
| Seventh Avenue | express | E always | August 19, 1933 | free transfer to IND Sixth Avenue Line B (123a) D | |
| * |
50th Street | express | E always | August 19, 1933 | free transfer to IND Eighth Avenue Line A (5) C (1234) (in same direction only) |
| merges with IND Eighth Avenue Line (A always, C all but late nights) | |||||
* southbound only
