BMT Broadway Line

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Services that use the BMT Broadway Line through midtown and downtown have been colored yellow since 1979.

The BMT Broadway Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan, New York City, United States. As of 2007, it is served by four services, all colored yellow: the N and Q on the express tracks and the R and W on the local tracks. The line is often referred to as the "N and R",^[1][2] since those were the only services on the line during the long years that the Manhattan Bridge south tracks were closed for rebuilding. The Broadway Line was built to give the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (later the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation) access to Midtown Manhattan.

The line is named for its location under Broadway between Vesey Street and Seventh Avenue (Times Square). It also passes under Whitehall Street, Trinity Place, and Church Street in Lower Manhattan, and Seventh Avenue, 59th Street, and 60th Street in Midtown. The local tracks stretch the entire length between the two East River tunnels: the Montague Street Tunnel to the BMT Fourth Avenue Line in Brooklyn and the 60th Street Tunnel to the BMT Astoria Line and 60th Street Tunnel Connection in Queens. Center express tracks exist between Canal Street and 57th Street, turning off at Canal Street to feed the south tracks on the Manhattan Bridge, and continuing north and east under Central Park as the BMT 63rd Street Line (presently unused, but planned to connect with the Second Avenue Subway). The Broadway Line was the only Manhattan outlet north of Delancey Street for the BMT's Brooklyn lines until 1967, when most BMT Brighton Line and BMT West End Line trains were moved to the IND Sixth Avenue Line via the new Chrystie Street Connection.

[edit] Extent and service

The BMT Broadway Line begins at the 60th Street Tunnel from Queens. It runs west under 60th Street as a two-track subway line, with stations at Lexington Avenue–59th Street and Fifth Avenue/59th Street. It then turns south to Seventh Avenue into the local tracks at 57th Street. This segment of the line carries the N and W services from the BMT Astoria Line and the R service from the IND Queens Boulevard Line.

At the 57th Street station, the line joins two express tracks that enter the station from the north via the BMT 63rd Street Line. There is no scheduled BMT service on the 63rd Street Line at present. The BMT 63rd Street Line will carry the Q service across 63rd Street and up the proposed Second Avenue Line, when and if it is built. The express tracks at 57th Street are currently used as terminal tracks for the Q train.

The BMT Broadway Line proceeds as a four-track subway down Seventh Avenue to its intersection with Broadway, and then continues down Broadway to a point north of Canal Street, where the express tracks carrying the N and Q services are lowered and turn sharply east into the Canal Street (formerly Broadway) station of the BMT Broadway Bridge Line.

Immediately after Canal Street, the express tracks resume again (originally they had been intended to run through) and serve as storage and turning tracks, bypassing the Canal Street local station and ending in the disused lower level of City Hall. The local tracks continue south as a two-track subway to Whitehall Street–South Ferry station. Whitehall Street–South Ferry is a three track, two-platform station, with the center track set up as a terminal track, currently used as the south terminal for W trains.

The BMT Broadway Line then curves east carrying the R service to a trailing junction with the BMT Nassau Street Line and enters the Montague Street Tunnel to Brooklyn.

[edit] History

The Public Service Commission adopted plans for what was known as the Broadway–Lexington Avenue route on December 31, 1907. This route began at the Battery and ran under Greenwich Street, Vesey Street, Broadway to Ninth Street, private property to Irving Place, and Irving Place and Lexington Avenue to the Harlem River. After crossing under the Harlem River into the Bronx, the route split at Park Avenue and 138th Street, with one branch continuing north to and along Jerome Avenue to Woodlawn Cemetery, and the other heading east and northeast along 138th Street, Southern Boulevard, and Westchester Avenue to Pelham Bay Park. In early 1908, the Tri-borough plan was formed, combining this route, the under-construction Centre Street Loop Subway in Manhattan and Fourth Avenue Subway in Brooklyn, a Canal Street Subway from the Fourth Avenue Subway via the Manhattan Bridge to the Hudson River, and several other lines in Brooklyn.^[3][4]

The BRT proposal

The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company submitted a proposal to the Commission, dated March 2, 1911, to operate the Tri-borough system (but under Church Street instead of Greenwich Street), as well as a branch along Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 59th Street from Ninth Street north and east to the Queensboro Bridge; the Canal Street Subway was to merge with the Broadway Line instead of continuing to the Hudson River. The city, the BRT, and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (which operated the first subway and four elevated lines in Manahattan) came to an agreement, and sent a report to the Board of Estimate on June 5, 1911. The line along Broadway to 59th Street was assigned to the BRT, while the IRT obtained the Lexington Avenue line, connecting with its existing route at 42nd Street–Grand Central. Construction began on Lexington Avenue on July 31, and on Broadway the next year. The Dual Contracts, two operating contracts between the city and the BMT and IRT, were adopted on March 4, 1913.^[5]

Because of the complicated history, the Broadway Line includes several remnants of earlier plans. The line was built as four tracks south to City Hall, where the local tracks were to end at the upper level, and the express tracks were to pass through the lower level, curving through Vesey Street into Church Street. However, the final plan had the express tracks splitting at Canal Street and passing under the northbound local track to the Manhattan Bridge. The tunnel south of City Hall was rebuilt to bring the upper local tracks down to the lower level north of Vesey Street, and the lower level at City Hall was never used for passenger service.^[6]

Unused construction is also present near the west end of the Queensboro Bridge. The original plan there was to build two one-track tunnels under 59th and 60th Streets, rising onto the bridge to Queens. However, plans were changed in 1915 to place both tracks in 60th Street and cross the East River in the 60th Street Tunnel, in part due to heavy vehicular traffic over the bridge. A piece of the 59th Street tunnel had already been built, concurrent with the construction of the IRT Lexington Avenue Subway, and became a walkway connecting the two side platforms of the IRT's 59th Street station.^[7]

Another unused provision existed for many years north of 57th Street, where the two express tracks ended before being connected to the BMT 63rd Street Line in 1989. Plans were made, but never carried through, to build a line northwest through Central Park and under Eighth Avenue through the Upper West Side to Inwood, along the route later built as the IND Eighth Avenue Line.^[8]

A short portion of the line, coming off the north side of the Manhattan Bridge through Canal Street to 14th Street–Union Square, opened on September 4, 1917. An extension north to 42nd Street and south to Rector Street was completed on January 5, 1918.^[9] Further portions were opened south to Whitehall Street–South Ferry on September 20, 1918,^{[citation needed]} north to 57th Street on July 10, 1919,^[10] and east to Lexington Avenue on September 1, 1919.^[11] Both East River tunnels - the 60th Street Tunnel to Queensboro Plaza and the Montague Street Tunnel to DeKalb Avenue - opened on August 1, 1920, completing the Broadway Line.^[12][13]

[edit] Service history

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At most times, the Broadway Line has had four services - two local and two express - during the day, with a third express service until the 1967 opening of the Chrystie Street Connection.

• 1/QT (BMT Brighton Line) local trains ran until 1967, when the QT was discontinued. At that time, the EE was introduced, becoming part of the N in 1976; the N became express and the W became local in 2004.
• 1/Q (BMT Brighton Line) express trains were mostly moved to the IND Sixth Avenue Line as a relocated D in 1967, but a few trips stayed as the QB, later the Q again. During the Manhattan Bridge reconstruction, from the 1980s until 2001, the Q mostly used the IND Sixth Avenue Line. When restored in 2001, the Q became full-time, replacing the D on the Brighton Line.
• 2/RR (BMT Fourth Avenue Line) trains (later R) have run local over the Broadway Line since 1920.
• 3/T (BMT West End Line) trains ran express on the Broadway Line until 1967, when the T became part of the realigned B via the IND Sixth Avenue Line.
• 4/N (BMT Sea Beach Line) trains used the express tracks until the Manhattan Bridge reconstruction in the 1980s, when all N trips became local. (Some had run local since the EE was merged into the N in 1976.) When the Manhattan Bridge south tracks reopened in 2001, the W was introduced, at first running express; it became local in 2004, and the N moved back to the express tracks.
• Several other services have used the express tracks, including the NX (Sea Beach, 1967-1968) and the B (West End) and D (Brighton) during closures of the Manhattan Bridge north tracks in the 1980s and 1990s.

The current set of four services - N, Q, R, and W - have used the line since July 22, 2001, when the south tracks on the Manhattan Bridge reopened, but until February 22, 2004, when the north tracks reopened, the N was local and the W express.

[edit] Station listing

	Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
begins as a merge of the BMT Astoria Line (N W(123a)) and the 60th Street Tunnel Connection (R(1234)) and passes through the 60th Street Tunnel
	Lexington Avenue–59th Street	local	N R(1234) W(123a)	September 1, 1919[11]	Transfer to 4 5(1234) 6 <6>(1a2a)
	Fifth Avenue–59th Street	local	N R(1234) W(123a)	September 1, 1919[11]
express tracks begin from the BMT 63rd Street Line (no regular service)
	57th Street	all	N Q R(1234) W(123a)	July 10, 1919[10]
*	49th Street	local	N R(1234) W(123a)	July 10, 1919[citation needed]
	Times Square–42nd Street	all	N Q R(1234) W(123a)	January 5, 1918[9]	Transfer to 1 2 3(1234) 7 <7>(1a2a3c) S(1234) A C(1234) E
	34th Street–Herald Square	all	N Q R(1234) W(123a)	January 5, 1918[9]	Transfer to B(123a) D F V(123) Connection to PATH at 33rd Street
	28th Street	local	N(45) R(1234) W(123a)	January 5, 1918[9]
	23rd Street	local	N(45) R(1234) W(123a)	January 5, 1918[9]
	14th Street–Union Square	all	N Q R(1234) W(123a)	September 4, 1917[9]	Transfer to 4 5(1234) 6 <6>(1a2a) L
	Eighth Street	local	N(45) R(1234) W(123a)	September 4, 1917[citation needed]
	Prince Street	local	N(45) R(1234) W(123a)	September 4, 1917[citation needed]
	Canal Street	all	N Q R(1234) W(123a)	September 4, 1917[citation needed] (express) January 5, 1918[9] (local)	Transfer to 4 5(1234) 6 <6>(1a2a) J M(12) Z(1a) Express station originally known as Broadway
express trains continue into Brooklyn via Manhattan Bridge south tracks (N(1234) Q)
	City Hall	local	N(5) R(1234) W(123a)	January 5, 1918[9]
*	Cortlandt Street	local	N(5) R(1234) W(123a)	January 5, 1918[9]	Closed until spring 2007
	Rector Street	local	N(5) R(1234) W(123a)	January 5, 1918[9]
	Whitehall Street–South Ferry	all	N(5) R(1234) W(123a)	September 20, 1918[citation needed]
merges with BMT Nassau Street Line (M(1))
continues into Brooklyn via the Montague Street Tunnel and becomes the BMT Fourth Avenue Line (M(1) N(5) R(1234))

• *49th Street is accessible northbound only; Cortlandt Street is accessible southbound only

[edit] References