Franklin Avenue Shuttle

This article is about the subway service. For the physical trackage and its history, see BMT Franklin Avenue Line.
Franklin Avenue Shuttle
Northern end Franklin Avenue
Southern end Prospect Park
Stations 4
Rolling stock R68
Depot Coney Island Yard

The Franklin Avenue Shuttle is a shuttle service of the New York City Subway operating in Brooklyn. The north terminus is Franklin Avenue, with a transfer available to the IND Fulton Street Line. The south terminus is Prospect Park, with a transfer available to the BMT Brighton Line. The shuttle runs One Person Train Operation with the motorman also being the conductor. The motorman will go to the opposite end to make another run at each terminal. NYCT Rapid Transit operations refer to it internally as the S. Like the other two shuttles, 42nd Street in Manhattan and Rockaway Park in Queens, its route bullet is colored dark slate gray on route signs, station signs, rolling stock, and the official subway map. The S has four stations as of 1999.[1] Consumers Park was closed in 1928 and replaced by the current Botanic Garden station five blocks to the north. There is a visible clearing at the former station location. Dean Street was closed in 1995 due to low paid fare entrance and fare beating.

History

The current service is co-extensive with the BMT Franklin Avenue Line. It parallels Franklin Avenue, hence its name. It was originally a part of the mainline of the BMT Brighton Beach Line and opened as part of that steam railroad line in 1878. The mainline was shifted in 1920, and the Franklin line was reduced to a full-time shuttle in the early 1960s. The line was fully two tracks (with only one track used at Prospect Park) before the 1998-1999 rehabilitation with deteriorating stations and the then-closed Dean Street still visible, leaving the Park Place and Franklin Avenue stations served by only one track. There is a connection with the Brighton Line south of Prospect Park. Trains usually pass each other at Botanic Garden, the only 2-track station on the line, leaving a passing loop while en route to Park Place.

On November 1, 1918, in the worst rapid transit accident to date in the United States, a speeding Brooklyn Rapid Transit train crashed inside a new tunnel leading into the Prospect Park station, killing at least 93. This became known as the Brighton Line Accident or Malbone Street Wreck.[2]

In 1981, the MTA proposed abandoning the severely deteriorated line under the failed Program for Action, but due to community opposition, it was completely rebuilt and renovated in 1998-99.[3][4][1] During renovation, a temporary shuttle bus and the B48 bus replaced train service.

Originally, the transfer at Fulton Street was made (in both directions) by retrieving a small cardboard transfer ticket from the token booth or a ticket machine, exiting to the street, and entering the other rail line and depositing the ticket in a box and walking onto the platform. With reconstruction, there is now a staircase and elevator between the elevated Franklin Shuttle and the underground Fulton Street Line completely within the paid fare area.[3][4]

Stations

Franklin Avenue Shuttle train of R68s at Prospect Park

For a more detailed station listing, see BMT Franklin Avenue Line.

Station service legend
Stops all times
Stops all times except late nights
Stops late nights only
Stops weekdays only
Time period details
Stations Subway transfers Connections
Brooklyn
Franklin Avenue A  C  (IND Fulton Street Line at Franklin Avenue)
Park Place
Botanic Garden 2  3  4  5  (IRT Eastern Parkway Line at Franklin Avenue)
Prospect Park B  Q  (BMT Brighton Line)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 (Wilson 2008)
  2. ↑ (Diamond 2000, p. 4)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 (Diamond 2000, p. 1)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 (Faison 1993)

Further reading

External links

Official websites

Fan sites