The Canarsie Line, sometimes called the 14th Street-Canarsie Line, is a rapid transit line of the Division of the New York City Subway system, named after its Brooklyn terminus in the Canarsie neighborhood. Trains of the L service run over it, and are assigned the color gray.

Extent and service

The Canarsie Line runs from Eighth Avenue and 14th Street in the borough of Manhattan to Rockaway Parkway in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is completely double-tracked.

The current line is a two-track subway from its Manhattan terminal to Broadway Junction in the East New York section of Brooklyn, with the exception of a short stretch at Bushwick Avenue-Aberdeen Street where it is a double-decked structure with the east-bound track outdoors directly above the underground west-bound track.

At Broadway Junction, a combination of the raising of the line and the lowering of terrain has the line emerge as an elevated line, passing over the Jamaica Line. Transfer can be made to the Jamaica Line () and the Fulton Street Line (). Between Broadway Junction and Atlantic Avenue are the only track connections to the rest of the /BMT system, with ramps connecting the Canarsie-bound line to the city-bound Jamaica Line and the East New York Yard (and until 1956, the Fulton Street Elevated ). The Canarsie Line used to share its structure at Atlantic Avenue with the connection from the Broadway and Fulton Street Elevateds to the Liberty Avenue Elevated (still extant further east as part of the IND Fulton Street Line ).

East of Pitkin Avenue, the Canarsie Line enters the original two-track elevated structure on which the line was originally grade-separated in 1906, entering Sutter Avenue station. At the next station Livonia Avenue , the Livonia Avenue Elevated of its Eastern Parkway Line passes overhead, and just beyond this point is a single track connection to the Linden Shops , which is now a track and structures facility. This non-electrified yard connection is the only other connection to the rest of the subway system as it is indirectly a connection to the IRT Eastern Parkway Line. BMT passenger car equipment cannot access this line, however, because of IRT width restrictions.

Beyond the next station, New Lots Avenue , the elevated ends and an incline brings the Canarsie down to the original 1865 surface right-of-way, second oldest such right-of-way on the New York City Transit Authority system. The line operates on this ground-level route to the end of the line at Rockaway Parkway .

Automation

The Canarsie Line is one of only two New York City non-shuttle subway lines that hosts only a single service and does not share operating trackage with any other line or service; the other is the IRT Flushing Line, carrying the . Because of this, it was chosen as the location of the first fully-automated line of the New York City Subway. In Spring 2005, the current automation-enabled R143 class equipment was expected to run under full automation with a single operator (known as OPTO, or "One Person Train Operation ") acting as an attendant to monitor the train's operation and take over manual operation if necessary. However, technical mishaps including the test train rolling away by itself has postponed the start of Automation, also known as Computer Based Train Control (CBTC) to a later unkown date.

Background

The Canarsie Line had three distinct phases. It was first a steam railroad, then a elevated line, and was then extended into Manhattan via subway.

Steam and elevated era

Before becoming a BRT elevated line in 1906, the Canarsie line operated as a steam dummy line. It was first owned by the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad, chartered December 24, 1863 and opened October 21, 1865 from the Long Island Rail Road in East New York to a pier at Canarsie Landing , very close to the current junction of Rockaway Parkway and the Belt Parkway, where ferries continued on to Rockaway. The line was single-tracked until 1894.[1]

The Canarsie Railroad was chartered on May 8, 1906 as a BRT subsidiary (leased to the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad ) and acquired the line on May 31, 1906. The line was partly elevated, and electrified with third rail on the elevated part and trolley wire on the rest, south of New Lots Avenue . The Long Island Rail Road, which had used the line north of New Lots to access their Bay Ridge Branch , built a new line just to the west. The East New York terminus was extended several blocks along a section of line formerly used for "East New York Loop " service to the Fulton Street Elevated and the Broadway Elevated (now the Jamaica Line), at a point known as Manhattan Junction (now Broadway Junction).

Service, first run on July 28, 1906, ran from Canarsie Landing to the Broadway Ferry at the foot of Broadway in Williamsburg, at the East River. This route still exists as the Flushing Line except for the last piece to the East River, where the Flushing Line runs over the Williamsburg Bridge. The route was later extended over the bridge and along the Nassau Street Line to Canal Street and then Chambers Street .

Dual contracts rebuilding

The Dual Contracts subway expansion scheme around World War I saw the rebuilding of the complex train junction at Manhattan Junction into an even more complex flyover junction now known as Broadway Junction. The expansion extended south to the point at which the Canarsie and Fulton Street Elevateds diverged, including a six-track, three-platform station at Atlantic Avenue . The complex was rebuilt under traffic and opened in stages, reaching completion in 1919.

At the same time, the BRT moved to eliminate remaining operations that require elevated trains to operate under overhead wire. In most cases this meant using third rail on fully grade-separated lines. When third rail was extended on the Canarsie Line it was decided to extend this power mode only as far as the important station at Rockaway Parkway and Glenwood Road. Beyond that point, frequent grade crossings made third rail impractical. This portion of the line was converted to a shuttle operation using elevated cars in 1917 and converted to trolley cars in 1920.

One grade crossing was retained at East 105th Street despite the third rail, and was the last public rapid transit grade crossing in New York City. The crossing was removed in 1983.[2]

14th Street-Eastern Line built

On June 30, 1924, at what is now the other end of the line, a subway line initially known as the 14th Street-Eastern District Line, usually shortened to 14th Street-Eastern Line, was opened running beneath 14th Street in Manhattan, from Sixth Avenue under the East River and through Williamsburg to Montrose and Bushwick Avenues. A temporary ramp was built to the Long Island Rail Road's Bushwick Yard to get trains onto the line, which had no other connections to subway lines.

Four years later, on July 14, 1928, the line was extended further east beneath Wyckoff Avenue and then south paralleling the New York Connecting Railroad to a new station at Broadway Junction , above the existing station on the Broadway Elevated (Jamaica Line). At this time, it was connected to the Canarsie Line.

At noon on May 30, 1931, a two-block extension to 8th Avenue in Manhattan, connecting the Canarsie Line to the newly-opened IND Eighth Avenue Line. This station was built to look like the other Independent Subway stations. At this point, the Canarsie Line's route took the shape that it still has to this day.

After World War II, the Canarsie Shuttle trolley line to Canarsie Landing was replaced by the B42 bus; the right-of-way was abandoned and is now partly built over. This right-of-way ran between East 95th and East 96th Streets as far south as Seaview Avenue.

Service patterns

Service patterns over this line varied little through the years; initially trains ran over the Broadway Elevated from the ferry in Williamsburg (later extended into Manhattan), through Manhattan Junction and on to Canarsie. Then when the subway opened, two services ran from Canarsie to Manhattan: the original route on the Broadway Elevated and the route to 14th Street as the 14th Street-Canarsie Line.

In 1936, due to the institution of new lightweight subway-elevated equipment, a new rush-hour-only service was inaugurated from 8th Avenue and 14th Street to Lefferts Boulevard at the east end of the Liberty Avenue Elevated (the continuation of the Fulton Street Elevated ). The 8th Avenue-Canarsie route was given BMT marker 16, and trains running to Lefferts Boulevard usually were marked as 13. When the Fulton Street El was torn down, some rush-hour Broadway trains ran through from the Broadway Elevated (Jamaica Line) to Canarsie via the flyover at Broadway Junction; these were marked as 14. In 1967, when all BMT lines were given letters, the 16, which used the full Canarsie Line, was designated as . The rush-hour Broadway service (14) was designated JJ, and ran until 1968 when it was replaced by the KK which stayed on the Jamaica Line instead of switching to the Canarsie Line at Broadway Junction. The flyover connection has not been used for revenue service since then.

For more information, see the BMT 13, BMT 14 and BMT 16 articles.

Chaining information

• The entire line is chained BMT Q. This has no relation whatever to lettered train service that operates on the line, which is designated L.
• The tracks on the line are Q1 towards Canarsie and Q2 towards Manhattan.
• Chaining zero is BMT Q, now located at the compass western end of the line at 8th Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan. The entire Canarsie Line is coextensive with chaining letter BMT Q and this chaining letter is used for no other line.
• Railroad north on this line is towards Manhattan, and corresponds roughly to a northwesterly to westerly compass direction.

Chaining change

Prior to 2004, the chaining on the Canarsie Line reflected its historic origin. The original elevated right-of-way from the point where it split with the old BMT Fulton Street Line at Pitkin and Van Sinderin Avenues in 1906 was designated as BRT chaining line P, and chaining zero for that section was at the same location.

The portion of the 14th Stret-Canarsie Line built or rehabilitated under the Dual Contracts and opened in 1924 and 1928 was designated BMT Q beginning at 6th Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan and extending to the beginning of BMT P chaining at Pitkin Avenue. Chaining zero for the BMT Q chaining line was also at 6th Avenue.

When the line was extended to 8th Avenue in 1931, chaining zero for the BMT Q chaining line was not moved. Rather than change all the signal designations and chaining stations on the line, the new section was extended west from the same zero and designated chaining line BMT QW.

When the installation of automated train operation required the complete replacement of the signal system, the MTA decided to make the entire line BMT Q and move chaining zero to the current compass western end of the line. Therefore the chaining station of every location on the line had to be changed, a situation rarely seen since the Dual Contracts changes on the old BRT circa 1920.

Station listing

Every station is served by one service, the (not counting transfers to other lines).

External links

• NYCsubway.org - BMT 14th Street-Canarsie Line (text used with permission)

References

• Celebrate Opening of Subway Link, New York Times July 1, 1924 page 23
• Celebrate Opening of New B.M.T. Line, New York Times July 15, 1928 page 13
• Mayor Drives Train in New Subway Link, New York Times May 30, 1931 page 11
• Railroad History Database