BMT Jamaica Line

The Jamaica Line (also known as Broadway Line or Broadway (Brooklyn) Line) is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southeast over Broadway to East New York, Brooklyn, and then east over Fulton Street and Jamaica Avenue to Jamaica, Queens. In western Jamaica, the line goes into a tunnel, becoming the lower level of the Archer Avenue Line in central Jamaica. J and Z trains serve the entire length of the Jamaica Line, and the M serves the line west of Myrtle Avenue.

The Jamaica Line includes the oldest existing elevated line on the subway system - the original 1885 line of the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad - between Gates Avenue and Van Siclen Avenue, as well as the newest elevated structure - the 1988 ramp into the underground Archer Avenue Line.

When the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) operated the line railroad directions were east and west, generally in agreement with compass direction. However under NYCT, the directions used are north and south, which replaced the BMT's old west and east respectively. This reclassification resulted in services which ran through the BMT Nassau Street Line to Downtown Brooklyn having two south ends. To eliminate any confusion, the directions of train services in the eastern division were switched, with trains running towards Jamaica being considered Northbound.^[1] The KK (later K) was an exception to this, with Jamaica remaining the south terminal, since it used the Chrystie Street Connection from the Jamaica Line to the IND Sixth Avenue Line.

Description

The Jamaica Line includes a variety of structures. The original BMT Jamaica Line started from Broadway Ferry, Brooklyn. The line was a two tracks, and connected with Marcy Avenue,from the western direction.What is left of it is the now called,the "Broadway Spur". From Marcy Avenue to a point just before Alabama Avenue the line operates on the structure of old elevated railways, but substantially rebuilt and upgraded to a three-track line around World War I under the Dual Contracts of 1913. From Alabama Avenue to just before the current Cypress Hills station, the Jamaica Line operates on the oldest elevated structure in New York City, a steel-reinforced cast iron line opened in 1893. Interestingly enough, west of Alabama Avenue, a third middle trackway exists and elevates over the other two tracks, ending just west of the Alabama Avenue station. This track was intended to be an express track, but engineering studies completed after the work started indicated that the vibration of trains passing over the stations would be too severe and would literally shake the stations apart.

At Cypress Hills, the line turns northeast onto Jamaica Avenue on what was known as the Jamaica Avenue Line, a Dual Contracts structure. This structure has provisions on its entire length for three tracks, but a center track was never built, with the exception of a layup track at 111th Street and another between 160th Street and 168th Street on the now-demolished original end of the line.

History

The Union Elevated Railroad, leased to the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad, opened an elevated line above Broadway from Gates Avenue northwest to Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg on June 25, 1888.^[2] This was a branch of the existing Lexington Avenue Elevated, which then ended at Van Siclen Avenue; Broadway trains ran between Driggs and Van Siclen Avenues. A popular free transfer was available at Gates Avenue to Lexington Avenue trains towards Downtown Brooklyn.^[3] The Broadway Elevated was extended to Broadway Ferry on July 14, 1888.^[4]

An extension of the Broadway Elevated east to Cypress Hills, over Fulton Street and Crescent Street, opened on May 30, 1893,^[5] and the company extended both Lexington Avenue and Broadway trains to the new terminal. This extension incorporated portions of the recently-demolished Park Avenue Elevated.^[6]

Service patterns

The line has had two major service patterns - the 14 Broadway (Brooklyn) Line (earlier called the Canarsie Line, before that line was connected to the 14th Street Line) and the 15 Jamaica Line. Eventually the 14 became the K and the 15 the J; the K was eliminated in 1976. The Z was introduced in 1988 to provide skip-stop service, which had been done by the 14/K and 15/J at times.

The line name

From its accession by the BRT to and beyond city ownership in 1940, the portion of the line from its western terminus to Cypress Hills was known as the Broadway El or the Broadway-Brooklyn Line. Beyond that point it was known as the Jamaica Avenue El or the Jamaica Line. Subsequent to city takeover, the dividing line between the Broadway and Jamaica Avenue Lines was often considered to be the more westerly station at Eastern Parkway, now known as Broadway Junction.

Since the discontinuance of separate Broadway-Brooklyn services, the entire line is now known as the Jamaica Line.

Station listing

References

Gallery