BMT Fourth Avenue Line

BMT Fourth Avenue Line
The D, N, and R trains are the primary service at most BMT Fourth Avenue Line stations. At least one station is also served by the B and Q trains.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit line
System	New York City Subway
Status	Operational
Locale	Brooklyn, New York City, NY
Termini	Court Street Bay Ridge – 95th Street
Stations	16
Operation
Opened	1915-1925
Owner	New York City
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Character	Underground
Technical
No. of tracks	2-6
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	600V DC third rail

BMT Fourth Avenue Line

Legend BMT Broadway Line Montague Street Tunnel Court Street IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line IND Culver Line Jay Street – MetroTech Manhattan Bridge subway tracks Myrtle Avenue (closed) DeKalb Avenue IND Crosstown Line IND Fulton Street Line BMT Brighton Line IRT Eastern Parkway Line Atlantic Avenue – Pacific Street Union Street Ninth Street IND Culver Line Prospect Avenue 25th Street 36th Street Ninth Avenue BMT Culver Line (demolished) BMT West End Line New York Cross Harbor Railroad 45th Street 53rd Street 59th Street BMT Sea Beach Line LIRR Bay Ridge Branch Bay Ridge Avenue 77th Street 86th Street Bay Ridge – 95th Street

The Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the BMT division of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. Fourth Avenue never had a streetcar line or elevated railway due to the provisions of the assessment charged to neighboring property owners when the street was widened. The line is served by the D, N and R trains.

Route

Coming south from DeKalb Avenue and off of Fulton Street, the four-track line runs entirely under Fourth Avenue to just past 59th Street. South of 36th Street, the West End Line (formerly the New Utrecht Avenue elevated line) branches off eastwards, running to its terminus at Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue. Until 1954, the BMT Culver Line also branched off from here.

South of 59th Street, after the Sea Beach Line branches off eastwards towards Coney Island via an open-cut right-of-way, the line becomes two-tracked and continues under Fourth Avenue to its terminus at Bay Ridge – 95th Street. While this section of the line was built has two tracks, there were provisions to add two additional express tracks between 59th and 85th Streets if the need was ever to arise.

Fourth Avenue Garfield Place substation

Neighborhoods served

In its upper section, the line serves Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn. The central section serves Park Slope east of Fourth Avenue, on the west side, Boerum Hill then Gowanus; and Sunset Park. In its lower section, it serves the community of Bay Ridge–Fort Hamilton.

Services

The Fourth Avenue Line normally carries the R service on the local tracks and the Sea Beach N and West End D services on the express tracks. Manhattan-bound from DeKalb Avenue, the local tracks run via the Montague Street Tunnel to Lower Manhattan, serving either Whitehall Street on the BMT Broadway Line (N, R) or Broad Street on the BMT Nassau Street Line (no service). The express tracks go to Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge to either the BMT Broadway Line's Canal Street express station (N) or the IND Sixth Avenue Line's Grand Street station (D).

History

The Fourth Avenue Line was built as part of the Dual Contracts. It replaced the parallel elements of an old, now long-ago-demolished elevated system running above Fifth Avenue and Third Avenue, and captured the BMT lines to the east of them.

Formerly, the Fourth Avenue Line served trains from the BMT Culver Line, which connected to the 36th Street station via the lower level of Ninth Avenue south of Green-Wood Cemetery from a now-demolished elevated structure. Service ended in 1975. Homes were built over the right-of-way in the 1980s. The barest stub of the old elevated line is still visible at Ditmas Avenue.

For the particular histories of these branching lines, see the articles on the Culver Shuttle, IND Culver Line, BMT West End Line, and BMT Sea Beach Line.

• Graphical New York City Subway timeline

Chaining information

The Fourth Avenue Line is chained BMT F.

Station listing

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops late nights only
	Stops late nights and weekends only
	Stops weekdays only
	Stops rush hours only
Time period details

	Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
Montague Street Tunnel branch (N  R )
	Court Street	local	N  R	March 11, 1920	2  3  (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line at Borough Hall) 4  5  (IRT Eastern Parkway Line at Borough Hall)
	Jay Street – MetroTech	local	N  R	March 11, 1920	formerly Lawrence Street A  C  (IND Fulton Street Line) F  (IND Culver Line)
Manhattan Bridge branch (B  D  N  Q )
	Myrtle Avenue	local		June 19, 1915	Closed 1956; only Manhattan-bound platform remains
Tunnel and Bridge tracks merge
	DeKalb Avenue	bridge, tunnel	B  D  N  Q  R	September 13, 1915	6 tracks, tunnel tracks and one set of bridge tracks stop at station; the other set of bridge tracks bypass through the middle
bridge & tunnel tracks stopping at DeKalb split to BMT Brighton Line (B  Q ); bypass tracks continue to 4th Ave Express
	Atlantic Avenue – Pacific Street	all	D  N  R	September 13, 1915	2  3  4  5  (IRT Eastern Parkway Line) B  Q  (BMT Brighton Line) Connection to LIRR at Atlantic Terminal
	Union Street	local	D  N  R	September 13, 1915
	Ninth Street	local	D  N  R	September 13, 1915	F  G  (IND Culver Line at Fourth Avenue)
	Prospect Avenue	local	D  N  R	September 13, 1915
	25th Street	local	D  N  R	September 13, 1915
	36th Street	all	D  N  R	September 13, 1915
split with BMT West End Line (D ) and former split with BMT Culver Line (abandoned)
	45th Street	local	N  R	September 13, 1915
	53rd Street	local	N  R	September 13, 1915
	59th Street	all	N  R	September 13, 1915
express tracks become BMT Sea Beach Line (N )
	Bay Ridge Avenue	local	R	September 13, 1915
	77th Street	local	R	April 14, 1916
	86th Street	local	R	April 14, 1916
	Bay Ridge – 95th Street	local	R	October 27, 1925