IND Sixth Avenue Line

IND Sixth Avenue Line
The B, D, F, and V, which use the Sixth Avenue Line through Midtown Manhattan, are colored orange.
Info
Type	Rapid transit
System	New York City Subway
Termini	South of 59th Street–Columbus Circle; 57th Street North of Jay Street–Borough Hall; south of Grand Street
Stations	14
Operation
Opened	1936-1968
Owner	City of New York
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Character	Underground
Technical
No. of tracks	2-4
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	600V DC using a third rail

The Sixth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in the United States. It runs mainly under Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and continues south through the Rutgers Street Tunnel to Brooklyn. It was the last trunk line of the Independent Subway System, completed in 1940.

The majority of the line has four tracks, two local and two express. At each end, these pairs of tracks split, giving the line two north and two south ends. The two express services, the B (weekdays) and D (all times) come off the IND Eighth Avenue Line south of 59th Street–Columbus Circle, curving east under 53rd Street and south into Sixth Avenue. The local tracks begin at 57th Street, carrying the F (all times) from the IND 63rd Street Line. The V (weekdays) merges onto the local tracks via a connection from the IND Queens Boulevard Line near 53rd Street.

The four-track line heads south under Sixth Avenue to West Fourth Street–Washington Square, where passengers can transfer to the IND Eighth Avenue Line. South of that station, a flying junction (not used for revenue service) connects the local Sixth Avenue and Eighth Avenue Line tracks, and the Sixth Avenue Line turns east under Houston Street. The express tracks (still carrying the B and D) turn south after Broadway–Lafayette Street, passing under Chrystie Street via the Chrystie Street Connection to the Manhattan Bridge north tracks, while an unused local connection ties into the BMT Nassau Street Line towards the Williamsburg Bridge. The V ends at the next station, Second Avenue, where they reverse direction on a stub of the express tracks intended for the never-built IND Worth Street Line, and the rest of the Sixth Avenue Line, as it turns south under Essex Street, Rutgers Street, and Jay Street (Brooklyn), is a two-track line carrying only the F. The Sixth Avenue Line becomes the IND Culver Line on the two outer tracks at Jay Street–Borough Hall; the two inner tracks are used by the Eighth Avenue Line as it becomes the IND Fulton Street Line. Thus the Sixth and Eighth Avenue Lines meet three times.

Description

The Sixth Avenue Line can be considered as having two north ends. One is at 57th Street station, where two tracks lead south under Sixth Avenue from the IND 63rd Street Line. The other is just south of 59th Street–Columbus Circle, where a two-track line splits from the IND Eighth Avenue Line at a flying junction (with connections to the local and express tracks), immediately turns east under 53rd Street, and crosses the IND Queens Boulevard Line, which parallels it just to the north. At the Seventh Avenue station, the southbound track is above the northbound track; the same is true on the Queens Boulevard Line (though north is the opposite direction from the Sixth Avenue Line). This line then turns south to go under Sixth Avenue, merging with the branch from 57th Street and a connection to the IND Queens Boulevard Line to become a four-track line. The southbound track becomes the westernmost track, and the northbound track becomes the second track from the east; the other lines merge to become the second track from the west and the easternmost track, with connections only between the 63rd Street Line and the two main tracks. After passing through 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center, the two southbound tracks cross; the main tracks have become two center express tracks and the tracks from the other lines are the two outside local tracks.

IND Sixth Avenue Line

Legend IND Eighth Avenue Line IND 63rd Street Line 57th Street Seventh Avenue IND Queens Boulevard Line 47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center IRT 42nd Street Shuttle 42nd Street – Bryant Park IRT Flushing Line 34th Street – Herald Square BMT Broadway Line PATH at 33rd Street 23rd Street /PATH at 23rd Street 14th Street /PATH at 14th Street BMT Canarsie Line Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) IND Eighth Avenue Line West Fourth Street – Washington Square     Sixth Avenue on lower level; Eighth Avenue on upper level IND Eighth Avenue Line BMT Broadway Line Broadway – Lafayette Street IRT Lexington Avenue Line Chrystie Street Connection Lower East Side – Second Avenue Delancey Street BMT Nassau Street Line Grand Street East Broadway Manhattan Bridge / Rutgers Street Tunnel York Street IND Culver Line BMT Fourth Avenue Line / BMT Brighton Line

South of 42nd Street is a large interlocking with many crossover tracks. The original express tracks ended just to the south at 34th Street–Herald Square, and some services switched to the local tracks at the interlocking. This was done because the PATH subway already existed under Sixth Avenue south of 33rd Street; the Sixth Avenue Line local tracks were built on each side of PATH. Deeper express tracks were later built and opened for service in 1968. The Section between West Fourth Street and 34th Street–Herald Square was originally built as a two track subway with the provision to expand to four tracks later (the express tracks were added in the 1960s during the Chrystie Street Connection projects—as a result they are placed under the local tracks and PATH, which is in the space in which they could have been). The section at 34th Street–Herald Square in the heart of Midtown Manhattan was and probably still is the most complicated piece of subway construction ever attempted. When this station was built, several rail lines, streets, utilities and water lines had to be supported or avoided. The 34 St. Station has extreme grades at either end because of the construction and overlaying structures.

At West Fourth Street–Washington Square, the express tracks return to the same level as the local tracks. A flying junction just to the south connects the local tracks of the Eighth Avenue Line. The Sixth Avenue Line then turns east under Houston Street. After Broadway–Lafayette Street, the express tracks turn south to become the Chrystie Street Connection main tracks (to the Manhattan Bridge), and tracks split from the local tracks to become the other part of the connection (to the Williamsburg Bridge).

Just south (compass east) of the connection, the express tracks begin again; they had formerly gone straight through. The express tracks end past Lower East Side–Second Avenue, and are used to relay V trains; they were once planned to extend east towards the Rockaways as part of a massive system expansion.

The local tracks then turn south under Essex Street and Rutgers Street before crossing under the East River via the Rutgers Street Tunnel to become the IND Culver Line.

History

The IND Sixth Avenue Line was built to replace the elevated IRT Sixth Avenue Line (which closed and was demolished in 1939). The first portion of the IND line to open was the part not under Sixth Avenue. What was then known as the Houston–Essex Street Line began operations at noon on January 1, 1936, with two local tracks from a junction with the Washington Heights, Eighth Avenue and Church Street Line (Eighth Avenue Line) south of West Fourth Street–Washington Square east under Houston Street and south under Essex Street to a temporary terminal at East Broadway. E trains, which had run from Jackson Heights to Hudson Terminal, were shifted to the new line to East Broadway.^[1] Two express tracks were built on the portion under Houston Street, intended to connect with the never-built IND Worth Street Line.^{[citation needed]}

Just after midnight on April 9, 1936, trains began running under the East River in the Rutgers Street Tunnel, which connected the Houston-Essex Street Line with the north end of the Jay–Smith–Ninth Street Line at a junction with the Eighth Avenue Line north of Jay Street–Borough Hall. E trains were sent through the connection and to Church Avenue. Simultaneously, the Fulton Street Line was opened to Rockaway Avenue, and the A and C, which had used Smith Street, were rerouted to use Fulton Street.^[2][3]

At first the city intended to take over the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (PATH) tunnel in Sixth Avenue for express tracks at a future time, building a new subway at a lower level for the H&M.^[4]

The stubs that now become the IND 63rd Street Line were built for a proposed extension under Central Park to Harlem.^[5]

IND services immediately after the main part of the line opened

The local tracks on the main part of the line opened at 00:01 on December 15, 1940. The following service changes were made:

• AA (Washington Heights Local) was brought back for non-rush-hour service between 168th Street and Hudson Terminal via the Eighth Avenue Line.
• BB (Washington Heights Local) was added for rush-hour only service between 168th Street and Hudson Terminal via the Sixth Avenue Line.
• D (Bronx Concourse Express) was added for service between Norwood–205th Street and Hudson Terminal via the Sixth Avenue Line.
• E (Queens–Manhattan Express) service was cut back from Church Avenue to Broadway–Lafayette Street.
• F (Queens–Manhattan Express) was added for service between Parsons Boulevard and Church Avenue via the Sixth Avenue Line.

• IRT Sixth Av. Rapid Transit Elevated Structure. (Demolished 1938)
• Intersection Of Broadway, Sixth Av, and 34 St. (including street car tracks—removed later)
• Underground Utilities including water pipes and mains, gas and electric lines
• PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson(Subway))
• BMT Broadway Subway
• IND Sixth Av. Subway
• Pennsylvania Rail Tunnels-To Queens and Pennsylvania (Penn) Station
• Sixth Av. Aqueduct, New York's main water supply 200 ft (60 m) Deep

Leaving this complicated area of rail lines the line continues as a four track subway to 53 St. Here the line splits. Two tracks continue North to the new 63 St. Subway opened in 1988, two others continue west under 53 St. to meet with the 8 Av. Subway, while still two others travel east to merge with the 53 St. Subway and head to Queens.

This line was completed in 1940.

Service patterns

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Between 1940 and 1967, the Sixth Avenue Line had one local service (originally F) through the Rutgers Street Tunnel to Brooklyn, one short-turn local service (originally D) that turned back at various point in Lower Manhattan, and one rush-hour short turn service to 34th Street (BB). With the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection in 1967, the short-turn local was sent through the connection to Brooklyn (as the KK during rush hours and the B at other times), a new express via the connection (D) was added, and the rush-hour BB was redesignated B and extended via the express tracks and connection to Brooklyn. Other than changes in letters, the only major change to this pattern was between 1988 and 2001, when the Manhattan Bridge south tracks were closed for reconstruction, and the short-turn local was replaced with another express to Brooklyn (Q and B). Since 2004, the full local has been the F, the short-turn local the V, the full-time express the D, and the part-time express the B.

Station listing

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

	Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Transfers and notes
Branch from the IND 63rd Street Line (F )
	57th Street		F	July 1, 1968
Express Tracks split from the IND Eighth Avenue Line (B  D )
	Seventh Avenue	express	B  D	August 19, 1933	IND Queens Boulevard Line (E )
Local Tracks split from the IND Queens Boulevard Line (V )
Branch line merges (F )
Main line (B  D  F  V )
	47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center	all	B  D  F  V	December 15, 1940
	42nd Street–Bryant Park	all	B  D  F  V	December 15, 1940	IRT Flushing Line (7  <7>) at Fifth Avenue
	34th Street	all	B  D  F  V	December 15, 1940	BMT Broadway Line (N  Q  R  W ) Connection to PATH at 33rd Street
	23rd Street	local	B  D  F  V	December 15, 1940	Connection to PATH at 23rd Street
	14th Street	local	B  D  F  V	December 15, 1940	BMT Canarsie Line (L ) Connection to PATH at 14th Street
	West Fourth Street–Washington Square	all	B  D  F  V	December 15, 1940	IND Eighth Avenue Line (A  C  E ) Connection to PATH at Ninth Street
local crossovers to/from IND Eighth Avenue Line (no regular service)
	Broadway–Lafayette Street	all	B  D  F  V	January 1, 1936[1]	IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4  6  <6>) at Bleecker Street (southbound only)
Express tracks split to Chrystie Street (B  D ); Local Tracks continue under Houston Street (F  V )
Branch under Chrystie Street (B  D )
	Grand Street	express	B  D	November 27, 1967
To north tracks of Manhattan Bridge (B  D )
Branch under Houston Street (F  V )
	Second Avenue	local layup tracks	F  V	January 1, 1936[1]	Southern terminal for V
	Delancey Street	local	F	January 1, 1936[1]	BMT Nassau Street Line (J  M  Z ) at Essex Street
	East Broadway	local	F	January 1, 1936[1]
Rutgers Street Tunnel under the East River
	York Street	local	F	April 9, 1936[2]
Continues as the IND Culver Line (F )

References

• 6th Ave. Tube Adds Two New Services, New York Times December 5, 1940 page 27

External links

• nycsubway.org - IND 6th Ave./63rd St. Line