The BMT Sea Beach Line is a
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
line of the
BMT division of the
New York City Subway, connecting the
BMT Fourth Avenue Line
The BMT Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The line is served by the D, N, and R at all times; the R typically runs local, while the D and N run express duri ...
at
59th Street via a four-track wide open cut to
Coney Island in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. It has at times hosted the fastest express service between
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and Coney Island, since there are no express stations along the entire stretch, but now carries only local trains on the
N service, which serves the entire line at all times. During rush hours, select
Q trains serve the full line in the northbound direction only, while several
W trains serve the line north of
86th Street.
Extent and service
The following services use part or all of the BMT Sea Beach Line:
Route description
The modern line begins as a split from the
BMT Fourth Avenue Line
The BMT Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The line is served by the D, N, and R at all times; the R typically runs local, while the D and N run express duri ...
at a
flying junction
A flying junction or flyover is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements. A more technical term is " g ...
immediately south of
59th Street. Between the station and the split,
crossover switches are provided between the local and express tracks of the Fourth Avenue Line, and then the express tracks curve east under the northbound local track to become the beginning of the Sea Beach Line. After emerging from the tunnel under Fourth Avenue, the two separate Sea Beach tracks rise on either side of a ramp which formerly connected to the original line to the Brooklyn shore at 65th Street in
Bay Ridge
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base an ...
.
After passing the former junction with the line to the shore, the Sea Beach widens to the width of four tracks. All stations have two side platforms with no platform access to the express tracks anywhere on the Sea Beach right-of-way.
Before and after
Kings Highway, there are crossover switches to the southbound express track from the northbound express track. On both sides of Kings Highway, crossovers exist to allow express trains to switch to the local tracks before the station or local trains to switch to express after the station. The express tracks end south of
86th Street as the line becomes double-tracked, and cut diagonally adjacent to the
Coney Island Yards
The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division (New York City Subway), A Division yards and 11 active B Division (Ne ...
. After several
yard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly ...
connections, the line ends at the
Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
Coney may refer to:
Places
* Côney, a river in eastern France
* Coney, Georgia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Coney Island (disambiguation)
People
* Dean Coney (born 1963), English footballer
* Hykiem Coney (1982–200 ...
terminal.
Express tracks
The express tracks were originally intended to host the ''Coney Island Express''. Service was carried on these tracks twice in the line's history — for summer weekend service to
Chambers Street from 1924 to 1952 and again from 1967–1968 to provide a fast rush-hour
Broadway Line express service for Coney Island riders (
NX). Though these expresses are thought of as being Sea Beach Expresses, they did not serve a single station on the Sea Beach Line.
The express tracks on the Sea Beach had other uses over the years. Most new equipment, especially experimental cars, was broken in on these tracks. The tracks were used for
motorman training and set up with a short stretch of 1950s-era
automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
to test the ill-fated system later used on one track of the
IRT 42nd Street Shuttle
The 42nd Street Shuttle is a New York City Subway shuttle train service that operates in Manhattan. The shuttle is sometimes referred to as the Grand Central/Times Square Shuttle, since these are the only two stations it serves. The shuttle runs ...
.
Historically, the two express tracks were an absolute block, that is, there was no signal control between one end of the tracks near Sixth Avenue and
Kings Highway. A train was not supposed to enter the block until any train in front of it had departed the block.
The express tracks' section on this block was allowed to deteriorate severely as did much of the system from the 1970s on. In 1998, it was decided to rehabilitate the express tracks in this area, with full signaling. Only the northbound (E4) track was rehabilitated, however, for two-way traffic from its northern end to Kings Highway if needed. The southbound (E3) track remains unused, being disconnected from the other three tracks and inaccessible from
59th Street to Kings Highway.
History
Early history
![Bmt triplex no 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Bmt_triplex_no_4.png)
The New York and Sea Beach Railroad was organized on September 25, 1876, as a
steam-powered
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...
excursion railroad. It opened from a junction with the
Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad
The West End Line or New Utrecht Avenue Line was a surface transit line in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, running along New Utrecht Avenue and other streets between Coney Island and Sunset Park. Built by the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney I ...
(West End Line) and concurrently-opened
New York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad
The Manhattan Beach Branch, Manhattan Beach Line, or Manhattan Beach Division was a line of the Long Island Rail Road, running from Fresh Pond, Queens, south to Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It opened in 1877 and 1878 ...
(Manhattan Beach Line) to Coney Island on July 18, 1877. After a delay of two years, it was opened to the Bay Ridge Ferry (to
South Ferry, Manhattan
South Ferry is at the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City and is the embarkation point for ferries to Staten Island (Staten Island Ferry, through the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal) and Governors Island. Battery Park, abutting ...
) on July 17, 1879, at which time the Sea Beach Palace opened at the Coney Island end.
![Station AvenueU](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Station_AvenueU.jpg)
Except at its two ends, the railroad used the same route as the current Sea Beach Line. At the Bay Ridge end, the railroad ran just north of the
Long Island Rail Road's Bay Ridge Branch, ending at the Bay Ridge Channel around 64th Street. The current line joins this alignment near Fifth Avenue. The old railroad crossed the Bay Ridge Branch with a pronounced S-curve just east of Seventh Avenue; the crossing is now much straighter with the Bay Ridge Branch in a deeper cut. On the Coney Island end, the original path curved left soon after the curve to the right at the northern edge of the Coney Island Yards, ending at the combined Sea Beach Palace hotel and depot, on the north side of the
BMT Brighton Line
The BMT Brighton Line, also known as the Brighton Beach Line, is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Local service is provided at all times by the Q train, but is joined ...
at around West 10th Street.
On May 22, 1883, the company was reorganized as the New York and Sea Beach Railway Company and was allowed to operate from New York Harbor to the Sea Beach Palace in Coney Island. The company went bankrupt, and a receiver was appointed on January 15, 1896, before the company was sold at foreclosure by the Sea Beach Railway, which was incorporated on August 29, 1896. The
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It was a prominent corporation and industry leader using ...
(BRT) bought the company's stock on November 5, 1897, along with the short
elevated
An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks ...
Sea View Railway on Coney Island, and assigned it by lease to the Brooklyn Heights Railroad. It was soon fitted with
trolley wire for electric operation. A March 1, 1907 agreement allowed the company to operate through service from 38th Street and New Utrecht Avenue to Coney Island. Starting around 1908, electric trains began operating as a branch of the
BMT West End Line from
Bath Junction to Coney Island, with trains coming from
Park Row in Manhattan via the
Brooklyn Bridge and
BMT Fifth Avenue Line
The Fifth Avenue Line, also called the Fifth Avenue Elevated or Fifth Avenue–Bay Ridge Line, was an elevated rail line in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It ran above Hudson Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, Fifth Avenue, 38th Street, and Thir ...
.
Streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
s ran over the rest of the line to Bay Ridge, from New Utrecht Avenue and 62nd Street to 65th Street and Third Avenue. In 1907, connecting tracks were built connecting to the West End Line just north of
Coney Island Creek in order to bring Sea Beach trains into
West End Depot. The original alignment was retained for freight service only.
The portion of the line between 62nd Street and New Utrecht Avenue and Third Avenue and 65th Street was replaced by bus service between December 1, 1913, and June 23, 1914, when trolley service resumed service before being eliminated on June 22, 1915.
![Sea Beach Line](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Sea_Beach_Line.png)
As part of the
Dual Contracts
The Dual Contracts, also known as the Dual Subway System, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the City of New York. The contracts were signed on March 19, 1913, by the Interborough Ra ...
, and while the Fourth Avenue Subway Line was being constructed the BRT dug a four-track open cut and built high-level platforms for subway operation on the Sea Beach Line. Trolley cars started using the new open cut between Avenue T and 86th Street on January 9, 1914. Service was gradually extended until the new Sea Beach Line opened for full subway service. Two subway cars with poles were run between Third Avenue and New Utrecht Avenue and started operating on March 16, 1915. Additional cars were equipped with poles and operated service on the line from May 1, 1915, until the line opened for full subway service on June 22, 1915, with trains running between Coney Island and
Chambers Street in
Lower Manhattan. Service started with two- and three-car trains operating via the Fourth Avenue local track and the Manhattan Bridge south tracks. The express tracks were finished several weeks later. When the
BMT Fourth Avenue Line
The BMT Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The line is served by the D, N, and R at all times; the R typically runs local, while the D and N run express duri ...
was extended south from the Sea Beach Line on January 15, 1916, the Sea Beach trains were shifted to the express tracks on Fourth Avenue, with Fourth Avenue trains providing local service.
The tracks over the north side of the
Manhattan Bridge opened on September 4, 1917, along with part of the
BMT Broadway Line
The BMT Broadway Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan. , it is served by four services, all colored : the on the express tracks and the on the local tracks during weekdays (the N and Q train ...
. All Sea Beach service was moved to the new line, ending at
14th Street–Union Square. This was extended to
Times Square–42nd Street on January 5, 1918.
In 1924, the
BMT assigned numbers to its services. The ''Sea Beach Line'' service became the
4. This has since become the train. In general, Sea Beach service has always run express in Manhattan and on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn, ending at 42nd Street and later
57th Street. The began on November 27, 1967, as a "super-express" from
Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach is a neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach is bounded by Coney Island proper at Ocean Parkway to the ...
on the
BMT Brighton Line
The BMT Brighton Line, also known as the Brighton Beach Line, is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Local service is provided at all times by the Q train, but is joined ...
through
Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
Coney may refer to:
Places
* Côney, a river in eastern France
* Coney, Georgia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Coney Island (disambiguation)
People
* Dean Coney (born 1963), English footballer
* Hykiem Coney (1982–200 ...
, and along the Sea Beach Line express tracks to 57th Street with only seven stops between Stillwell Avenue and 57th Street, three in Brooklyn and four in Manhattan. This service was discontinued on April 15, 1968, due to low ridership, and no regular trains have used the Sea Beach express tracks since.
Later years
In the 1970s, there was a proposal to renovate the Sea Beach open cut, which was deteriorating to the point that a retaining wall along the line was in danger of collapsing onto the tracks. Funding was allocated for the line's infrastructure improvements in 1975. More than $20 million was earmarked for New York City Subway projects in 1977, including for upgrades to the Sea Beach line.
![NYC Subway, Sea Beach Line](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/NYC_Subway%2C_Sea_Beach_Line.jpg)
When
Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
Coney may refer to:
Places
* Côney, a river in eastern France
* Coney, Georgia, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Coney Island (disambiguation)
People
* Dean Coney (born 1963), English footballer
* Hykiem Coney (1982–200 ...
was closed for reconstruction from 1993 to 1995 and November 4, 2001, to May 29, 2005,
86th Street was the southern terminal for the N train.
Typical station pre-renovation
Typical station post-renovation
In October 2013, it was announced that the line would under extensive renovation. All stations would be waterproofed, with their
houses and passageways remodeled and stairways rebuilt; they would also get
Help Points, and turnstiles would be added to each station. In addition,
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
, which is prevalent on the line, would be mitigated; this required going onto private property to remove graffiti and fix the roofs of the stations.
Eighth Avenue and
New Utrecht Avenue/62nd Street would get wheelchair-accessible
elevator
An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...
s. The $395,700,000 project was scheduled to begin in the winter of 2015, but work began in late June 2015.
Funding for the renovation was provided for in the 2010–2014 Capital Program. From January 18, 2016, to May 22, 2017, the Manhattan-bound platforms of all stations were closed. At Bay Parkway and Eighth Avenue, temporary wooden platforms were placed on the southbound express trackbed.
[
*
*] After a two-month halt in construction, the Coney Island bound platforms closed on July 31, 2017. The southbound platforms at Kings Highway, Avenue U, and 86th Street reopened on October 29, 2018, with closures lasting a month less than for their northbound counterparts. The southbound platforms between Eighth Avenue and Bay Parkway, however, were closed until July 1, 2019, six months longer than their northern counterparts and seven months longer than the other three southbound platforms. The elevators at New Utrecht Avenue/62nd Street opened on July 19, 2019. The northbound elevator at Eighth Avenue opened on November 4, 2019. From October 21, 2019, until April 27, 2020, N trains terminated at 86th Street so work could be completed to protect Coney Island Yard from flooding. An out-of-system transfer was made available between the N at 86th Street and the F at
Avenue X station.
Chaining information
The Sea Beach Line is
chained BMT E.
Station listing
References
Further reading
*Rapid Transit's Coney Island Route, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' November 30, 1897 page 4
*Brooklyn's Subway Will Open Today, ''The New York Times'' June 19, 1915 page 18
*New Subway Opens; Mayor Not Present, ''The New York Times'' June 20, 1915 page 6
*To Open New Subway Link, ''The New York Times'' January 14, 1916 page 16
*Open First Section of Broadway Line, ''The New York Times'' September 5, 1917 page 8
*New Subway Extension, ''The New York Times'' January 6, 1918 page 37
External links
nycsubway.org - BMT Sea Beach Line*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20050404084915/http://www.rapidtransit.net/net/faq/nyc/seabeach.html rapidtransit.net - BMT Sea Beach Express Tracks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sea Beach
Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation
New York City Subway lines
Railway lines opened in 1915
1915 establishments in New York City