Everything about Bmt West End Line totally explained
The
West End Line, now a
subway line in
Brooklyn,
New York City, is a branch line from the Broadway (
Manhattan)-Fourth Avenue (Brooklyn) subway, serving the communities of
Borough Park,
New Utrecht,
Bensonhurst,
Bath Beach and
Coney Island. It is served full time by the, and rush hours by the, which provides direct access to the
financial district.
The elevated line, originally mapped as the
New Utrecht Avenue Line (though the common name prevailed after construction), replaced the surface
West End Line.
History
Under the
Dual Contracts of 1913, an elevated line was built over New Utrecht Avenue, 86th Street and Stillwell Avenue, fully opening to Coney Island on
July 21,
1917. The original surface right-of-way was retained for use by trolley cars to provide local service and protect the company's franchise. Over the years, the West End line has been featured in movies and television shows. The famous chase scene from "The French Connection" (1971) was filmed under the West End line in Brooklyn, and the opening scene of "Saturday Night Fever" (1977) features Tony Manero (John Travolta) walking down 86th Street, with the West End elevated line above. Additionally, the opening credits of the television show "
Welcome Back, Kotter" (1975) also featured the West End line.
Service patterns
The West End Line has had an express (on the
BMT Fourth Avenue Line) service - labeled
3 in 1924 - since it opened in 1916, passing over the
Manhattan Bridge and onto the
BMT Broadway Line express tracks. In the late 1950s, midday trains were switched to the local Fourth Avenue tracks and through the
Montague Street Tunnel, and late night and Sunday service became a shuttle between Coney Island and
36th Street. The express and local services were assigned the designations
T and
TT in the early 1960s. With the opening of the
Chrystie Street Connection in late 1967, the
B was extended to Coney Island, absorbing the T and TT (both express on Fourth Avenue). The TT late night and Sunday shuttle survived until 1968, when the B became full-time; it ran local on Fourth Avenue at late nights but express otherwise. Late night operation was cut back to the shuttle - now B - in the mid-1980s, and in 2001, during the reconstruction of the
Manhattan Bridge subway tracks, the portion of the B in Brooklyn became the
W, running as a shuttle not only to 36th Street at nights but also to
Atlantic Avenue–Pacific Street on weekends. But in 2002 the West End Line became the only line to serve
Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue during its reconstruction, and the W was extended full-time into Manhattan, using the local Fourth Avenue tracks and tunnel at late nights and on weekends. Finally, in 2004, the Manhattan Bridge reconstruction was completed, and the W was replaced with an extended
D, running over the bridge at all hours and express on Fourth Avenue except late nights.
The other service pattern was the "West End Short Line", a rush-hour local (on Fourth Avenue) service between the
BMT Nassau Street Line in
Lower Manhattan and
62nd Street or
Bay Parkway. It became part of the TT in the early 1960s and was discontinued in 1967. However, in 1987 the short line service was essentially recreated when the rush-hour
M extension was moved from the
BMT Brighton Line to the West End Line, and it has extended to Bay Parkway during rush hours since then. (At times, the M has extended to
Ninth Avenue middays.)
Station listing
|
Station |
Tracks |
Services |
Opened |
Transfers and notes |
| splits from the BMT Fourth Avenue Line |
|
Ninth Avenue |
all |
|
June 24, 1916 |
|
|
Fort Hamilton Parkway |
local |
|
June 24, 1916 |
|
|
50th Street |
local |
|
June 24, 1916 |
|
|
55th Street |
local |
|
June 24, 1916 |
|
|
62nd Street |
all |
|
September 15, 1916 |
BMT Sea Beach Line at New Utrecht Avenue |
|
71st Street |
local |
|
September 15, 1916 |
|
|
79th Street |
local |
|
September 15, 1916 |
|
|
18th Avenue |
local |
|
September 15, 1916 |
|
|
20th Avenue |
local |
|
September 15, 1916 |
|
|
Bay Parkway |
all |
|
December 29, 1916 |
|
|
25th Avenue |
all |
|
December 29, 1916 |
|
|
Bay 50th Street |
all |
|
December 21, 1917 |
|
Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue |
all |
|
December 23, 1918 |
BMT Brighton Line BMT Culver Line BMT Sea Beach Line |
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bmt West End Line'.
|
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