BMT Jamaica Line

BMT Jamaica Line
Train services that use the BMT Jamaica Line through Brooklyn and Queens have been colored brown since 1979, except for the M Train, which has been colored orange since 2010.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	New York City Subway
Termini	Marcy Avenue 121st Street
Stations	24
Operation
Opened	1885-1918
Owner	City of New York
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Character	Elevated
Technical
No. of tracks	2-3
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	600V DC third rail

BMT Jamaica Line

Legend 168th Street (demolished) 160th Street (demolished) Sutphin Boulevard (demolished) Queens Boulevard (demolished) Metropolitan Avenue (demolished) BMT Archer Avenue Line 121st Street 111th Street 104th Street Woodhaven Boulevard 85th Street – Forest Parkway 75th Street – Elderts Lane Cypress Hills Crescent Street Norwood Avenue Cleveland Street Van Siclen Avenue Alabama Avenue East New York Yard BMT Canarsie Line Broadway Junction IND Fulton Street Line Chauncey Street Halsey Street Gates Avenue former connection to BMT Lexington Avenue Line Kosciuszko Street BMT Myrtle Avenue Line Myrtle Avenue (upper level abandoned) Park Avenue (demolished) Flushing Avenue Lorimer Street IND Crosstown Line Hewes Street Marcy Avenue Driggs Avenue (demolished) Broadway Ferry (demolished) Williamsburg Bridge BMT Nassau Street Line

Elevated ramp to Archer Avenue

Powerhouse formerly adjacent to elevated tracks

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.^{[citation needed]} 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. 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. 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.^{[citation needed]} A popular free transfer was available at Gates Avenue to Lexington Avenue trains towards Downtown Brooklyn. The Broadway Elevated was extended to Broadway Ferry on July 14, 1888.

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

Service patterns

Main articles: J/Z (New York City Subway service) and K (Broadway Brooklyn Local)

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

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops weekdays only
	Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction
	Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Time period details

	Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
demolished section of original line
	168th Street			July 3, 1918	Closed September 10, 1977
	160th Street			July 3, 1918	Closed September 10, 1977
	Sutphin Boulevard			July 3, 1918	Closed September 10, 1977
	Queens Boulevard			July 3, 1918	Closed April 15, 1985
	Metropolitan Avenue			July 3, 1918	Closed April 15, 1985
begins as continuation of BMT Archer Avenue Line (J  Z )
	121st Street	all	J  Z	July 3, 1918	Q10 bus to JFK Airport
	111th Street	all	J	May 28, 1917[citation needed]
	104th Street	all	J  Z	May 28, 1917[citation needed]	Earlier 102nd Street
	Woodhaven Boulevard	all	J  Z	May 28, 1917[citation needed]
	85th Street – Forest Parkway	all	J	May 28, 1917[citation needed]
	75th Street – Elderts Lane	all	J  Z	May 28, 1917[citation needed]	Earlier Elderts Lane
	Cypress Hills	all	J	May 30, 1893
	Crescent Street	all	J  Z	May 30, 1893
	Norwood Avenue	all	J  Z	May 30, 1893
	Cleveland Street	all	J	May 30, 1893	Earlier Cleveland Avenue
	Van Siclen Avenue	all	J  Z	December 3, 1885
	Alabama Avenue	all	J	September 5, 1885
connecting tracks to East New York Yard
Center Express track begins (No Regular Service to Myrtle Ave)
merge to local tracks with connection from BMT Canarsie Line (no regular service)
	Broadway Junction	all	J  Z	June 14, 1885	A  C  (IND Fulton Street Line) L  (BMT Canarsie Line) Connection to LIRR at East New York Earlier Manhattan Beach Crossing or Manhattan Junction or Eastern Parkway
connecting track to East New York Yard
	Chauncey Street	local	J  Z	July 18, 1885
	Halsey Street	local	J	August 19, 1885
	Gates Avenue	local	J  Z	May 13, 1885
	Kosciuszko Street	local	J	June 25, 1888[citation needed]
merge with BMT Myrtle Avenue Line (M )
	Myrtle Avenue	all	J  M  Z	June 25, 1888[citation needed]	moved from Stuyvesant Avenue for the Myrtle Avenue Elevated transfer in April 1889
	Park Avenue			June 25, 1888[citation needed]	Closed and demolished
	Flushing Avenue	local	J  M	June 25, 1888[citation needed]
	Lorimer Street	local	J  M	June 25, 1888[citation needed]
	Hewes Street	local	J  M	June 25, 1888[citation needed]
Crossovers to local tracks (J  Z )
	Marcy Avenue	local	J  M  Z	June 25, 1888[citation needed]
Center Express track ends as stub within Marcy Ave station
continues over Williamsburg Bridge and becomes the BMT Nassau Street Line (J  M  Z )
demolished section of original line
	Driggs Avenue			June 25, 1888	Closed 1916[citation needed]
	Broadway Ferry			July 14, 1888	Closed 1916[citation needed]