Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company

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The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate lines in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States.

[edit] History

The BRT was incorporated January 18, 1896,^[1] and took over the bankrupt Long Island Traction Company in early February.^[2] Thus it started out by owning the Brooklyn Heights Railroad, lessee of the Brooklyn City Rail Road, and the Brooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad. The BHRR leased the BQC&S on July 1, 1898.^[3]

By 1900, it had acquired virtually all of the rapid transit and streetcar operations in its target area:

Sea Beach Railway, acquired in November 1897^[4] and leased to the BHRR^{[citation needed]}
Sea View Railroad (Coney Island Elevated), acquired in November 1897^[4] and leased to the BHRR^{[citation needed]}
Nassau Electric Railroad (lessee of the Atlantic Avenue Railroad, Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad, Coney Island and Gravesend Railway, and South Brooklyn Railway), acquired in November 1898^[5] and leased to the BHRR in April 1899^[6]
Brooklyn Elevated Railroad, acquired in March 1899^[7] and leased to the BHRR in April 1899^[6]
Brooklyn and Brighton Beach Railroad (Brighton Beach Line), acquired in March 1899^[8]
Kings County Elevated Railroad (Fulton Street Line), acquired in November 1899^[9]^[10] and merged into the Brooklyn Union Elevated on May 24, 1900^[11]
Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad (Culver Line), leased to the BHRR on June 18, 1899^[12]

Only the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad and the short Van Brunt Street and Erie Basin Railroad remained independent; the former was acquired in 1913 or 1914.^[10]

Though the BRT was the public face of the consolidated companies, it left it to the acquired companies or newly formed companies to carry out the actual operation of the system, to provide power and services for the system, and even to design and acquire rolling stock. Until 1907, the only operating company was the Brooklyn Heights Railroad.^{[citation needed]}

The elevated railroads were operated by a new corporation, the New York Consolidated Railroad. In 1913, the BRT, through another subsidiary, the New York Municipal Railway, signed the Dual Contracts with the City of New York, to construct and operate new subways and other rapid transit lines to be built or improved under these contracts.

World War I and the attendant massive inflation associated with the war put New York transit operators in a difficult position, since their contracts with the City required a five-cent fare be charged, while inflation made the real value of the fare less than three cents in constant currency value. On November 1, 1918, the BRT suffered the Malbone Street Accident, the second worst rapid transit train wreck to occur in the United States, killing at least 93 people.

Though the claims from the wreck didn't, in themselves, force the company into bankruptcy, they further destabilized the financially struggling company, and the BRT became insolvent in 1919.

During its short history, the BRT rose to become a prominent corporation and industry leader in the railroad field, winning the prestigious single-letter symbol B on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1923 the BRT was restructured and released from bankruptcy as the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation.