B Division (New York City Subway)
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The B Division is a division of the New York City Subway, consisting of the lines operated with services designated by letters (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, L, M, N, Q, R, V, W, and Z), in addition to the Franklin Avenue Shuttle and Rockaway Park Shuttle. These lines and services were operated by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation and city-owned Independent Subway System before the 1940 city takeover of the BMT. B Division cars are wider, longer, and heavier than those of the A Division, measuring 9.75 by 60 or 75 feet (3 by 18 or 23 meters).[1]
The two former systems are still sometimes referred to as the IND Division and BMT Division.[2]
Contents |
[edit] List of lines
The following lines are part of the B Division (only services that normally use the line are shown):
- BMT Fourth Avenue Line (D N R)
- IND Sixth Avenue Line (B D F V)
- IND Eighth Avenue Line (A C E)
- 60th Street Tunnel Connection (R)
- BMT 63rd Street Line (no service yet)
- IND 63rd Street Line (F)
- BMT Archer Avenue Line (J Z)
- IND Archer Avenue Line (E)
- BMT Astoria Line (N W)
- BMT Brighton Line (B Q)
- BMT Broadway Line (N Q R W)
- BMT Canarsie Line (L)
- Chrystie Street Connection (B D)
- IND Concourse Line (D)
- IND Crosstown Line (G)
- IND Culver Line (F G)
- BMT Franklin Avenue Line (S)
- IND Fulton Street Line (A C)
- BMT Jamaica Line (J M Z)
- BMT Myrtle Avenue Line (M)
- BMT Nassau Street Line (J M Z)
- IND Queens Boulevard Line (E F R V)
- IND Rockaway Line (A S)
- BMT Sea Beach Line (N)
- BMT West End Line (D)
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
The oldest line to become part of the B Division was the BMT Lexington Avenue Line, opened in 1885. A large system of elevated railways in Brooklyn was formed by 1908 by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge to Manhattan terminals. With the Dual Contracts, signed in 1913, the BRT acquired extensions outward into Queens, as well as through Lower and Midtown Manhattan. The BRT became the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation in 1923 after a bankruptcy.
The Independent Subway System (IND) was created by the city in the 1920s and 1930s as a third system operated by the city, competing with the BMT and Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). The city took over operations of the BMT and IRT in 1940, consolidating ownership of the three systems into one. Since the original IRT tunnels were smaller, it has remained a separate division to this day.
[edit] IND before 1967
IND services were labeled on maps and signs starting with the opening of the first line in 1932. Six letters - A to F - were assigned to the major services, sorted by the north terminal and midtown line, and express services had single letters, while local services had double letters. The following labels were used from 1940 to 1967:
| Name | North end/type | |
|---|---|---|
| A | Eighth Avenue Express (all times) | Washington Heights |
| AA | Eighth Avenue Local (non-rush hours) | Washington Heights |
| BB | Sixth Avenue Local (weekday rush hours) | Washington Heights |
| CC | Eighth Avenue Local (weekday rush hours) | Concourse |
| D | Sixth Avenue-Houston Street Express (all times) | Concourse |
| E | Eighth Avenue Express (all times; to Rockaway weekday rush hours starting in 1956) | Queens-Jamaica |
| F | Sixth Avenue Express (all times) | Queens-Jamaica |
| GG | Crosstown Local (all times) | Brooklyn-Queens |
| HH | Fulton Street Local (discontinued in 1946) | N/A |
| HH | Rockaway Local (non-rush hours; began in 1956) | N/A |
[edit] Consolidation of operations
Until 1954 and 1955, when the Culver Ramp and 60th Street Tunnel Connection opened, the BMT and IND trackage was not connected. The early joint services using these connections operated similarly to trackage rights; it was not until the Chrystie Street Connection opened in 1967 that the ex-BMT and IND systems were consolidated operationally.
Beginning in 1924,[citation needed] BMT services were designated by number. The city assigned letters - generally following the IND pattern of double letters for local services - in the early 1960s to prepare for the 1967 Chrystie Street Connection. Only Southern Division routes (1-4) were labeled on maps, but all services except remnants of the old els were assigned letters:[3][4]
| Old | New | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Q | Brighton Express via Bridge (weekdays) |
| QB | Brighton Local via Bridge (weekdays) | |
| QT | Brighton Local via Tunnel (other times) | |
| 2 | RR | Fourth Avenue Local via Tunnel (all times) |
| 3 | T | West End Express via Bridge (weekday rush hours and Saturday) |
| TT | West End Local via Tunnel (weekdays; shuttle in Brooklyn at other times) | |
| 4 | N | Sea Beach Express via Bridge (all times) |
| 5 | N/A | Culver Shuttle (all times) |
| 6 | N/A | Fifth Avenue-Bay Ridge Line (discontinued in 1940) |
| 7 | N/A | Franklin Shuttle (all times) |
| 8 | N/A | Astoria Line (discontinued in 1949) |
| 9 | N/A | Flushing Line (discontinued in 1949) |
| 10 | M | Myrtle Express (weekday rush hours) |
| 11 | N/A | Myrtle Local (all times) |
| 12 | N/A | Lexington Avenue Line (discontinued in 1950) |
| 13 | N/A | Fulton Street Line (discontinued in 1956) |
| 14 | KK | Broadway Brooklyn Local (weekday rush hours) |
| 15 | J | Jamaica Express (weekday rush hours) |
| JJ | Jamaica Local (all times except weekday rush hours) | |
| 16 | L | 14th Street Express (never ran) |
| LL | 14th Street Local (all times) |
In 1967, the Culver and Franklin Shuttles became SS - the standard shuttle designation - and the Myrtle Local ("Myrtle (Jay)",[5] discontinued in 1969) was labeled MJ.
[edit] After 1967
The 1967 opening of the Chrystie Street Connection resulted in a number of changes. The following services have been operated since then:
- A Eighth Avenue Express, 1967 - present
- B Sixth Avenue Local, 1967 - present
- C Eighth Avenue Local, 1967 - present (CC until 1986)
- D Sixth Avenue Express, 1967 - present
- E Eighth Avenue Local, 1967 - present
- EE Broadway Local, 1967 - 1976
- F Sixth Avenue Local, 1967 - present
- G Brooklyn-Queens Crosstown Local, 1967 - present (GG until 1986)
- J Nassau Street Express, 1967 - present (QJ until 1973)
- K Broadway Brooklyn Local, 1967 - 1976 (JJ from 1967 to 1968; KK from 1968 to 1973)
- K Eighth Avenue Local, 1967 - 1988 (AA until 1986)
- L 14th Street-Canarsie Local, 1967 - present (LL until 1986)
- M Nassau Street Local, 1967 - present
- MJ Myrtle Local, 1967 - 1969
- N Broadway Express, 1967 - present
- NX Broadway Express, 1967 - 1968
- Q Broadway Express, 1967 - present (QB until 1986)
- R Broadway Local, 1967 - present (RR until 1986)
- RJ Nassau Street Local, 1967 - 1968
- S Franklin Avenue Shuttle, 1967 - present (SS until 1986)
- S Rockaway Park Shuttle, 1967 - 1972, 1986 - present (HH from 1967 to 1972 and H from 1986 to 1994; part of the A and CC in between)
- SS Culver Shuttle, 1967-1975
- TT West End Shuttle, 1967 - 1968
- V Sixth Avenue Local, 2001 - present
- W Broadway Local, 2001 - present
- Z Nassau Street Express, 1988 - present
[edit] References
- ^ Second Avenue Subway Draft Environmental Impact Statement, GlossaryPDF (45.6 KiB)
- ^ MTA New York City Transit, Employment Opportunities: "During the first phase of the project, NYC Transit installed SONET nodes in the three subway divisions: IRT, BMT, and IND."
- ^ New York City Transit Authority, 1966 Map and Station Guide
- ^ Joseph Cunningham and Leonard DeHart, A History of the New York City Subway System Part 2: Rapid Transit in Brooklyn, 1977
- ^ New York City Transit Authority, 1959 Official New York City Subway Map and Station Guide
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