The Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue station (announced as the Metropolitan Avenue-Middle Village station on trains and signed as Metropolitan Avenue) is a

terminal station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such ...

of the

BMT Myrtle Avenue Line The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully elevated railroad, elevated line of the New York City Subway as part of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, BMT division. The line is the last surviving remnan ...

of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

. It is located at the intersection of

Metropolitan Avenue Metropolitan Avenue is a major east-west street in Queens and northern Brooklyn, New York City. Its western end is at the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the eastern end at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. The avenue was construc ...

and Rentar Plaza in the neighborhood of

Middle Village, Queens Middle Village is a neighborhood in the central section of the Borough (New York City), borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and t ...

. The station is served by the M train at all times.

History

The station originally opened on October 1, 1906, to serve the adjacent Lutheran cemetery. It was part of an extension of the line past

Wyckoff Avenue This article provides a listing (with simple descriptions, where possible) of the streets in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, including Fort Hamilton, the last active-duty military post in New York City. State-name ...

along a former steam dummy surface line. A second station, west of the original facility, opened on August 9, 1915, with the other former surface stations having been recently elevated. This station was relocated due to the original being located in the right-of-way of the then-future

New York Connecting Railroad The New York Connecting Railroad or NYCR is a rail line in the borough (New York City), borough of Queens in New York City. It links New York City and Long Island by rail directly to the North American mainland. Amtrak, CSX, Canadian Pa ...

. On July 16, 1974, a fire completely destroyed the original wooden platform and station house along with three R27 cars and one R30 car, along with some fire damage done to four R32 cars, and the station had to be completely rebuilt. It reopened in 1980 with the current concrete platform and brick stationhouse. By railroad and service directions, the station is the southern terminal of both the Myrtle Avenue Line and full-length M train. It was the northern terminal of the M train by service direction before its reroute on June 27, 2010. Even though this is the M southern terminal by railroad direction, the service's late-night terminus,

Myrtle Avenue Myrtle Avenue is a street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States. Myrtle is a main thoroughfare through the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton ...

, is geographically further south, but the weekend and weekday terminals at

Essex Street Essex Street is a north–south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, which goes north to 14th Street. South of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street, ...

and Forest Hills–71st Avenue, respectively, are geographically further north.

Station layout

The station, built on an embankment with the north end at street level, has two tracks and a concrete

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

with benches. The tracks end at

bumper block A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track. The design of the buffer stop is dependent, in part, on the kind of couplings ...

s at the north end of the platform. A steel canopy with fluorescent lights and supported by silver columns covers the entire platform. On the side of the westernmost track opposite from the platform is an employee-only facility. The control tower for the Myrtle Avenue Line is at the south end of the platform. Just to the south of the station lies the

Fresh Pond Yard The New York City Transit Authority operates 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared between divisions ...

. It is only accessible from this station, so trains coming from Manhattan and Brooklyn must first enter the station, then reverse into the yard.

Exit

The grade-level station house, the station's only entrance, is located at the eastern corner of Rentar Plaza and Metropolitan Avenue. It is made of bricks with glass windows. There are two pairs of doors leading to the platform,

turnstile A turnstile (also called a gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce One-way traffic#One-way traffic of people, one-way ...

bank and token booth. Also, there are two pairs of doors out to the street corner and another door along Metropolitan Avenue. Because the station house is at ground level and the platform extends out of the station house, this station is fully

ADA-accessible The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

, without an elevator or ramp.

Points of interest

The New York Connecting Railroad travels in an open-cut, directly east of and parallel to the station. A station on the planned

Interborough Express The Interborough Express (IBX) is a proposed 24/7 light rail line in New York City. As proposed, the line would operate on dedicated tracks within the existing Right-of-way (transportation), right-of-way from the Bay Ridge Branch and New York ...

light-rail line, which will use the New York Connecting Railroad right of way, has been proposed next to the existing subway station. A little further east is

Christ the King Regional High School Christ the King Regional High School is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic high school for grades 9–12 located in Middle Village, Queens, New York, United States and established in 1962. It is located within the Roman Catholi ...

. Directly to the west of the station is Metro Mall, a large

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

opened in the early 1970s with now relatively few stores. The station is located at Metropolitan Avenue's intersection with Rentar Plaza, which is the access road to the mall's parking lots. The Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery is located across Metropolitan Avenue and near the eastern side of the station.

References

External links

* * Station Reporter �
M train
* The Subway Nut �
Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue Pictures

Metropolitan Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View

Platform from Google Maps Street View
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middle Village - Metropolitan Avenue (BMT Myrtle Avenue Line) BMT Myrtle Avenue Line stations New York City Subway stations in Queens, New York New York City Subway terminals Railway stations in the United States opened in 1915 1915 establishments in New York City Middle Village, Queens