| BMT Sea Beach Line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Overview | |||
| Owner | City of New York | ||
| Locale | Brooklyn,New York City | ||
| Termini | |||
| Stations | 10 | ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Rapid transit | ||
| System | New York City Subway | ||
| Operator(s) | New York City Transit Authority | ||
| Daily ridership | 45,909 (2023)[1] | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 1915–1918 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Number of tracks | 2–4 | ||
| Character | Open-Cut /At-Grade ( Coney Island Yard stretch) /Elevated (at Stillwell Avenue) | ||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
| Electrification | 600V DC third rail | ||
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TheBMT Sea Beach Line is arapid transit line of theBMT division of theNew York City Subway, connecting theBMT Fourth Avenue Line at59th Street via a four-track wide open cut toConey Island inBrooklyn. It has at times hosted the fastest express service betweenManhattan and Coney Island, since there are no express stations along the entire stretch, but now carries only local trains on theN service, which serves the entire line at all times. During rush hours, severalW trains serve the line north of86th Street.
The following services use part or all of the BMT Sea Beach Line:[2]
| Time period | Section of line | |
|---|---|---|
 | all times | full line |
 | five rush-hour trains[3][4] | north of86th Street |
The modern line begins as a split from theBMT Fourth Avenue Line at aflying junction immediately south of59th 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 inBay Ridge.[5]
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.[5]
Before and afterKings 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 of86th Street as the line becomes double-tracked, and cut diagonally adjacent to theConey Island Yards. After severalyard connections, the line ends at theConey Island–Stillwell Avenue terminal.[5]
The express tracks were originally intended to host theConey Island Express. Service was carried on these tracks twice in the line's history — for summer weekend service toChambers Street from 1924 to 1952 and again from 1967–1968 to provide a fast rush-hourBroadway 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 formotorman training and set up with a short stretch of 1950s-eraautomation to test the ill-fated system later used on one track of theIRT 42nd Street Shuttle.
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 andKings 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 from59th Street to Kings Highway.[5]
TheNew York and Sea Beach Railroad was organized on September 25, 1876, as asteam-powered excursion railroad. It opened from a junction with theBrooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad (West End Line) and concurrently-openedNew York, Bay Ridge and Jamaica Railroad (Manhattan Beach Line) to Coney Island on July 18, 1877.[6][7] After a delay of two years, it was opened to the Bay Ridge Ferry (toSouth Ferry, Manhattan) on July 17, 1879, at which time the Sea Beach Palace opened at the Coney Island end.[8][9][10]
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 theLong 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 theBMT Brighton Line at around West 10th Street.[10]
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 theSea Beach Railway, which was incorporated on August 29, 1896. TheBrooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) bought the company's stock on November 5, 1897, along with the shortelevated Sea View Railway on Coney Island, and assigned it by lease to the Brooklyn Heights Railroad. It was soon fitted withtrolley 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 theBMT West End Line fromBath Junction to Coney Island, with trains coming fromPark Row in Manhattan via theBrooklyn Bridge andBMT Fifth Avenue Line.Streetcars 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 ofConey Island Creek in order to bring Sea Beach trains intoWest End Depot. The original alignment was retained for freight service only.[10]
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.[10]
As part of theDual Contracts, 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 andChambers Street inLower 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 theBMT Fourth Avenue Line 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.[10]
The tracks over the north side of theManhattan Bridge opened on September 4, 1917, along with part of theBMT Broadway Line. All Sea Beach service was moved to the new line, ending at14th Street–Union Square.[11] This was extended toTimes Square–42nd Street on January 5, 1918.
In 1924, theBMT assigned numbers to its services. TheSea Beach Line service became the4. This has since become theN train. In general, Sea Beach service has always run express in Manhattan and on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn, ending at 42nd Street and later57th Street. TheNX began on November 27, 1967, as a "super-express" fromBrighton Beach on theBMT Brighton Line throughConey Island–Stillwell Avenue, 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.[12][13][14]
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.[15] Funding was allocated for the line's infrastructure improvements in 1975.[16] More than $20 million was earmarked for New York City Subway projects in 1977, including for upgrades to the Sea Beach line.[17]
In 1986, theNew York City Transit Authority launched a study to determine whether to close 79 stations on 11 routes, including the entire Sea Beach Line, due to low ridership and high repair costs.[18][19] Numerous figures, including New York City Council memberCarol Greitzer, criticized the plans.[19][20]
WhenConey Island–Stillwell Avenue 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.[21][13][22]
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In October 2013, it was announced that the line would undergo extensive renovation. All stations would be waterproofed, with theirhouses and passageways remodeled and stairways rebuilt; they would also getHelp Points, and turnstiles would be added to each station. In addition,graffiti, 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 andNew Utrecht Avenue/62nd Street would get wheelchair-accessibleelevators. The $395,700,000 project was scheduled to begin in the winter of 2015,[23] but work began in late June 2015.[24]
Funding for the renovation was provided for in the 2010–2014 Capital Program.[25] 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.[26][27] After a two-month halt in construction, the Coney Island bound platforms closed on July 31, 2017.[28][29] 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.[30] 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.[31] The elevators at New Utrecht Avenue/62nd Street opened on July 19, 2019.[32] The northbound elevator at Eighth Avenue opened on November 4, 2019,[33] with the southbound elevator opening on July 30, 2023. 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 atAvenue X station.[34]
| Station service legend | |
|---|---|
 | Stops 24 hours a day |
 | Stops during weekday rush hours only |
| Time period details | |
 | Station is compliant with theAmericans with Disabilities Act |
| ↑ | Station is compliant with theAmericans with Disabilities Act in the indicated direction only |
| ↓ | |
 | Elevator access to mezzanine only |
| Neighborhood | | Station | Tracks | Services | Opened | Transfers and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| splits from theBMT Fourth Avenue Line (N W ) | ||||||
| Two center express tracks begin (no regular service) (Southbound track disconnected from line; northbound track bi-directional) | ||||||
| Sunset Park | | Eighth Avenue | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | |
| Borough Park | Fort Hamilton Parkway | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | ||
| New Utrecht Avenue | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | BMT West End Line (D R  W ) at62nd Street | |
| Mapleton[35] | 18th Avenue | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | ||
| 20th Avenue | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | |||
| Bensonhurst | Bay Parkway | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | ||
| Southbound express track reconnects to line (no regular service) | ||||||
| Gravesend | Kings Highway | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | B82 Select Bus Service | |
| Avenue U | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | |||
| 86th Street | local | N W | June 22, 1915 | |||
| Center express tracks end | ||||||
| connecting tracks toConey Island Yard | ||||||
| Coney Island | | Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue | all | N | December 13, 1918 | BMT Brighton Line (Q ) IND Culver Line (F <F> )BMT West End Line (D ) |
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| Stations (List) |
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| Miscellaneous | |||||||||||||
| Other rapid transit in NYC |
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