BMT Franklin Avenue Line

This article is about the physical trackage and its history. For the subway service, see Franklin Avenue Shuttle.
BMT Franklin Avenue Line

The Franklin Avenue Shuttle serves the entire BMT Franklin Avenue Line at all times.
Overview
Type Rapid transit
System New York City Subway
Termini Franklin Avenue
Prospect Park
Stations 4
Operation
Opening 1878
Owner City of New York
Operator(s) New York City Transit Authority
Character Elevated
Open Cut
Technical
No. of tracks 1-2
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification 600V DC third rail
Route map
Legend
former BMT Fulton Street Line

Franklin Avenue
 Bedford(demolished)
 Dean Street(demolished)

 Park Place
Botanic Garden

Consumers Park(demolished)

BMT Brighton Line

 Prospect Park

 BMT Brighton Line
Franklin Avenue Shuttle track map
Northbound in open cut

The BMT Franklin Avenue Line (also known as the Franklin Avenue Shuttle and the Brighton-Franklin Line) is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York. All service is provided full-time by Franklin Avenue Shuttle trains.

History

The Franklin Avenue Line was part of the original main line of the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway or Brighton Beach Line, later known as the BMT Brighton Line. It formally opened on August 18, 1878, about six weeks after the rest of the Brighton Line opened. This portion of the Brighton Beach Line represented a routing compromise. The BF&CI would have preferred a more direct route to downtown Brooklyn, but instead had to settle for a route which took it north to the Bedford station of the Long Island Rail Road, where Brighton trains could operate to the latter railroad's terminal at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. The LIRR, however, gained control of the New York and Manhattan Beach Railway, a competitor of the BF&CI, and breached its agreement to provide equal access to the Flatbush Avenue terminal. After the 1882 season, the Brighton was forced to end its trains at Bedford, a situation which soon led to bankruptcy.

In 1896, the Brighton, now the Brooklyn and Brighton Beach Railroad gained a connection with the Kings County Elevated Railway by means of a ramp and short elevated railway, connecting to the former line at Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street. This enabled the KCERR to operate its steam-powered elevated trains on the Brighton Road via the Franklin Avenue right-of-way, providing Brighton riders with direct service to downtown Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge. The KCERR connection was still less than ideal, and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit company, which ended up as the lessor of both the KCERR and B&BB roads, negotiated a more direct subway route under Flatbush Avenue as part of Contract 4 of the Dual Contracts of 1913. Construction of this new connection indirectly contributed to the worst rapid transit wreck in world history, known as the Malbone Street Wreck or Brighton Beach Line Accident when, on November 1, 1918, a five-car wooden elevated train left the tracks and crashed into one of the new tunnel walls, killing at least 93.

Route designation on BMT Triplex equipment

On August 1, 1920, the new subway opened and became the new main line for the Brighton Line. At that time, the Franklin Avenue alignment was established as the Brighton-Franklin Line and disconnected from the trackage to Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan. The line continued to operate elevated train service on the Brighton Beach main line until 1928, after which similar services were continued with steel subway cars. For the summer excursion season of 1924, the Franklin Avenue Line was upgraded for the operation of six-car subway trains, and assigned the BMT number 7. Services used the Brighton Line during most daytime hours. During warm weather, express services ran to Coney Island on weekend days. After the city gained ownership of the line in 1940, Brighton-Franklin services gradually declined. A major blow to through service viability occurred in 1954 when the D train of the IND Division was extended to Coney Island via the Culver Line, deprived the Franklin of a major source of transfer traffic, consisting of passengers from Harlem and the Bronx, who now had a more direct route to Coney Island. Brighton-Franklin express service ended by 1959, and the Franklin Avenue Line became a full-time shuttle in 1963.

In 1981, the MTA proposed abandoning the severely deteriorated line under the failed Program for Action. In the 1990s the Franklin Avenue Shuttle was known as the "ghost train". It was shrunk in size to only two cars and the Dean Street station was closed. The entire line was under consideration for abandonment, but community pressure forced the MTA to rebuild rather than abandon the line, and as a result most of the supporting infrastructure and stations were completely rehabilitated in 1998/1999 at a cost of $74 million and reopened in 1999.[1][2][3] During renovation, a temporary shuttle bus and the B48 bus replaced train service.

Timeline

Description

At Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street, where the BMT Fulton Street Line elevated railway had given way to the IND Fulton Street Line subway, a large station is present with modern conveniences, elevators and escalators, providing an easier transfer between the shuttle and the IND line. From that station, most of the original steelwork from elevated days has been removed and replaced with heavier construction. The line runs on a single track from Franklin/Fulton to another new station at Park Place. Though this portion of the line uses much of the reinforced viaduct from 1903-1905, it is virtually new as of 1999. After Park Place, the line broadens from one to two tracks and the right-of-way transforms from 1999 reconstruction to near-original 1878 right-of-way, including the original railroad-style tunnel under Eastern Parkway, at the south end of which is the rehabilitated Botanic Garden station of 1928. All three of the above stations have been attractively rebuilt or rehabilitated, including distinctive artwork, masonry and ironwork funded by MTA New York City Transit's "Arts in Transit" program. From Botanic Garden, the line continues on original 1878 roadbed to its connection with the main part of the Brighton Beach Line at Prospect Park. Before entering Prospect Park, most trains switch to the northbound track to enter the station, where the shuttle terminates.

As of 2008, the Franklin Avenue shuttle is the most punctual train in the New York City Subway system with a 99.7 percent on-time average. The shuttle averages 20,000 riders per day.[1]

Service and chaining

Chaining and railroad directions

The Franklin Avenue Line is chained BMT O (letter "O"). Chaining zero is BMT Eastern, located at the intersection of the line of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Chambers Street station on the Nassau Street Line by way of the now-dismantled original BMT Brooklyn Bridge Elevated Line and the former BMT Fulton Street Line. The chaining ties at Franklin Avenue station. Railroad north is toward Franklin Avenue, generally corresponding to compass north.

Track numbering

From To Track arrangement Comments
Franklin Avenue through Park Place O2 bi-directional single track
S. of Park Place Prospect Park north end O1-O2 O1 is southbound
Prospect Park A1-A3-A4-A2 A1 is rarely used
A3 and A4 are Brighton main line
A2 is the regular Franklin stub

Services

Service Time period Section of line
Franklin Avenue Shuttle all times entire line

Station listing

Station service legend
Stops all times
Time period details
Neighborhood
(approximate)		 Station Services Opened Transfers and notes
Bedford–Stuyvesant Franklin Avenue S  August 15, 1896 A  C  (IND Fulton Street Line)
Bedford August 18, 1878 Superseded as terminal in 1896 by Franklin Avenue station; location served by Dean Street (closed). Track connection and some facilities retained until disconnected during 1904–5 rebuilding.
Dean Street August 15, 1896 Closed c. 1899; re-opened August 28, 1901; closed in 1995; now demolished
Crown Heights Park Place S  c. 1900
Botanic Garden (2nd) S  1928 2  3  4  5  (IRT Eastern Parkway Line at Franklin Avenue)
Consumers Park June 19, 1899 Renamed Botanic Garden (1st) c.1924; Closed in 1928; now demolished
Flatbush Prospect Park S  July 2, 1878 B  Q  (BMT Brighton Line)
merges with BMT Brighton Line (no regular service)


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wilson, Michael (24 July 2008), "In Brooklyn, It’s the Little Train That Can", New York Times, ISSN 0362-4331, retrieved 2008-07-27
  2. ↑ Diamond, Douglas (March 26, 2000). "The Third Rail - The New Franklin Shuttle". The Third Rail. Retrieved September 2013.
  3. ↑ Faison, Seth (June 20, 1993). "Hope for Overhaul Dims on a Crumbling Subway Line". The New York Times. Retrieved September 2013.
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