59th Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)

59th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station
The uptown platform looking towards 95th Street in Bay Ridge.
Station statistics
Address	59th Street & Fourth Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11220
Borough	Brooklyn
Locale	Sunset Park
Coordinates	40°38′27.88″N 74°1′5.45″W / 40.6410778°N 74.0181806°W / 40.6410778; -74.0181806Coordinates: 40°38′27.88″N 74°1′5.45″W / 40.6410778°N 74.0181806°W / 40.6410778; -74.0181806
Division	B (BMT)
Line	BMT Fourth Avenue Line
Services	N  (all times)       R  (all times)       W  (limited rush hour service only)
Transit connections	New York City Bus: B9, B63 (on Fifth Avenue)
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 island platforms cross-platform interchange
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	June 22, 1915 (1915-06-22)[1]
Station code	035[2]
Accessible	not ADA-accessible; accessibility planned
Accessibility	Cross-platform wheelchair transfer available
Other entrances/ exits	Fourth Avenue & 60th Street, Fourth Ave & 59th Street
Traffic
Passengers (2016)	4,169,280[3]  0.3%
Rank	122 out of 422
Station succession
Next north	36th Street (express): N  45th Street (local): N  R  W  53rd Street (local): ZZZtemporarily closed for renovation
Next south	Eighth Avenue (Sea Beach): N  W  77th Street (local): R  Bay Ridge Avenue: ZZZtemporarily closed for renovation
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times Stops late nights only Stops rush hours only Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York Show map of the US

59th Street is an express station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at 59th Street and Fourth Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park, it is served by the N and R trains at all times, as well as some W trains during rush hours.

Station layout

Track layout
to 36 St to 53 St to Bay Ridge Av to 8 Av

G	Street Level	Exit/Entrance
M	Mezzanine	Fare control, station agent
B	Northbound local	← toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue (Whitehall Street late nights) (45th Street) ← late nights, rush hours toward Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard (45th Street) Temporarily closed, no service: 53rd Street
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Northbound express	← toward Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard (36th Street)
	Southbound express	→ toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue (Eighth Avenue) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Southbound local	→ toward Bay Ridge–95th Street (77th Street) Temporarily closed, no service: Bay Ridge Avenue → → toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue late nights (Eighth Avenue) → → toward 86th Street–Gravesend rush hours (Eighth Avenue) →

Western street stairs

This station opened on June 22, 1915.^[1] This is the southernmost four-track express station with two island platforms. The outer local tracks continue along Fourth Avenue to Bay Ridge–95th Street while the center express tracks turn east to become the BMT Sea Beach Line. South of the station are two diamond crossovers, allowing trains to cross from the outer track to the center track or vice versa.^[4]

This station was overhauled in the late 1970s.

Exits

The street-level entrances are at the southern end of the station, with one entrance along either side of Fourth Avenue between 60th and 61st Streets. There are also four exits to Fourth Avenue and 59th Street, with two each to either northern corner, at the north end of the station.^[5]

Notable places nearby

The Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a major architectural landmark of Brooklyn, is nearby.^[5]

Provisions for proposed extensions

Immediately south of the station, one can see tunnel stub headings running straight from the local tracks. They run for about 150 feet and would have been for a line to Staten Island via the Staten Island Tunnel under The Narrows, which was aborted by Mayor Hylan before it was completed.^[6][7] There is a Maintenance of Way shed that was built on the southbound trackway.^[8] The northbound trackway is unobstructed, albeit much darker.^[9] The northbound trackway ends on a brick wall, with evidence of some sort of space beyond. South of this station, the bridge over the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch has four trackways, with the outer tracks occupying the two western ones. The tracks of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line are under the western half of Fourth Avenue at this point so that two additional tracks could be laid in the future if traffic ever warranted it.

Portions of what was to be two additional tracks for the Fourth Avenue subway south of this station were constructed by the then Brooklyn Edison Company initially for use as circuit breaker chambers.

The originall proposal planned a connection from a point between 65th and 67th Streets, just south of the station, running to Arrietta Street in Tompkinsville, Staten Island near the Tompkinsville Station on Staten Island.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 59th Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org – BMT 4th Avenue Line: 59th Street
• Station Reporter — N Train
• Station Reporter — R Train
• The Subway Nut — 59th Street Pictures
• 59th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Fourth Avenue entrance, midblock between 60th and 61st Streets, from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View

New York City Subway stations, by service
	Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard Astoria Boulevard 30th Avenue Broadway 36th Avenue 39th Avenue Queensboro Plaza Lexington Avenue/59th Street Fifth Avenue–59th Street 57th Street–Seventh Avenue 49th Street Times Square–42nd Street 34th Street–Herald Square 28th Street* 23rd Street* 14th Street Eighth Street–New York University* Prince Street* Canal Street City Hall* Cortlandt Street* Rector Street* South Ferry–Whitehall Street* Court Street* Jay Street–MetroTech* DeKalb Avenue* Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center Union Street* Ninth Street* Prospect Avenue* 25th Street* 36th Street 45th Street* 53rd Street* 59th Street–Fourth Avenue Eighth Avenue Fort Hamilton Parkway New Utrecht Avenue 18th Avenue 20th Avenue Bay Parkway Kings Highway Avenue U 86th Street Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
	71st Avenue 67th Avenue 63rd Drive–Rego Park Woodhaven Boulevard Grand Avenue–Newtown Elmhurst Avenue Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue 65th Street Northern Boulevard 46th Street Steinway Street 36th Street–Northern Boulevard Queens Plaza Lexington Avenue/59th Street Fifth Avenue–59th Street 57th Street–Seventh Avenue 49th Street Times Square–42nd Street 34th Street–Herald Square 28th Street 23rd Street 14th Street Eighth Street–New York University Prince Street Canal Street City Hall Cortlandt Street Rector Street South Ferry–Whitehall Street Court Street Jay Street–MetroTech DeKalb Avenue Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center Union Street Ninth Street Prospect Avenue 25th Street 36th Street–Fourth Avenue 45th Street 53rd Street 59th Street–Fourth Avenue Bay Ridge Avenue 77th Street 86th Street Bay Ridge–95th Street
See also Lists by borough (The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens) Accessible Closed Terminals Transfer Commons category Note: Temporary reroutes on the 2, 5, and M trains are not reflected here. Stations with asterisks are served by that service during off-peak hours only. See linked articles for more information.