| Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company | |
|---|---|
 Brooklyn Rapid Transit logo on a 1907Brooklyn Union Elevated car | |
| Service | |
| Type | Rapid transit andStreetcar |
| History | |
| Opened | 1896; 129 years ago (1896) |
| Closed | 1923; 102 years ago (1923) (acquisition by theBrooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation) |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
| Minimum radius | ? |
TheBrooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was apublic transitholding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines inBrooklyn andQueens,New York City,United States. It was a prominent corporation and industry leader using the single-letter symbolB on theNew York Stock Exchange.
It operated both passenger and freight services on its rail rapid transit, elevated andsubway network, making it unique among the three companies which built and operated subway lines in New York City. It became insolvent in 1919. It was restructured and released from bankruptcy as theBrooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation in 1923.
The BRT was incorporated January 18, 1896,[1] and took over thebankruptLong Island Traction Company in early February[2] acquiring theBrooklyn Heights Railroad and the lessee of theBrooklyn City Rail Road. It then acquired theBrooklyn, Queens County and Suburban Railroad leased on July 1, 1898.[3]
The BRT took over the property of a number of surface railroads, the earliest of which, the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad orWest End Line, opened for passenger service on October 9, 1863, between Fifth Avenue at 36th Street at the then border ofBrooklyn City andBath Beach in theTown ofGravesend, New York. A short piece of surface route of this railroad, nearConey Island Creek, is the oldest existing piece ofrapid transit right-of-way in New York City, and in the U.S., having opened on June 8, 1864.
Initially the surface and elevated railroad lines ran onsteam power. Between 1893 and 1900 the lines were converted to electricity operation. An exception was the service on theBrooklyn Bridge. Trains were operated bycables from 1883 to 1896, when they were converted to electric power[4]
By 1900, it had acquired virtually all of therapid transit andstreetcar operations in its target area:
Only theConey Island and Brooklyn Railroad and the short Van Brunt Street and Erie Basin Railroad remained independent; the former was acquired in 1913 or 1914.[11]
BRT opened its first short subway segment, consisting only of an underground terminal at the foot of theWilliamsburg Bridge at Delancey andEssex Streets in Manhattan on June 16, 1908.[14] This line was extended under Delancey Street and Centre Street to a new five-platform complex atChambers Street beneath theManhattan Municipal Building at the foot of theBrooklyn Bridge on August 4, 1913.[15] In addition to BRT trains,Long Island Railroad (LIRR) commuter trains also used the new Chambers Street station from its opening until 1917. The elevated railroads were operated by a new corporation, theNew York Consolidated Railroad.
In 1913, the BRT, through another subsidiary, theNew York Municipal Railway, signed theDual Contracts with thegovernment of New York City, to construct and operate new subways and other rapid transit lines to be built or improved under these contracts.[16] Almost all subsequent BRT lines were built as part of the contracts. The BRT opened its first Brooklyn subway underFourth Avenue on June 22, 1915, running over theManhattan Bridge to a junction with the aforementioned Nassau Street Line atCanal Street.[17] The BRT opened the first segment of its Manhattan main line subway, theBroadway Line, as far as14th Street–Union Square on September 4, 1917.[18] The Broadway Line was completed in 1920.[19] The BRT's only crosstown Manhattan line, theCanarsie Line, opened in 1924.[20][21]
During the beginning of the BRT's existence, the LIRR was a competitor of the BRT for passengers in Brooklyn and Queens. Despite competing with nearby lines, the BRT and its predecessors also hosted LIRR passenger trains via track sharing agreements and interchanged freight with them. LIRR Passenger service to the BRT's Brooklyn Bridge terminal began after an agreement in 1895, utilizing BRT elevated lines. LIRR passenger service to downtown Manhattan via the BRT subway and Williamsburg Bridge began with the opening of the Chambers Street Station.[22] Both LIRR and BRT motormen were represented by the same union. Today, BRT successor MTA New York City Transit still receives freight deliveries from LIRR freight successor the New York & Atlantic Railroad in Sunset Park and at Linden Yard.
World War I and the attendant massiveinflation associated with the war put New York transit operators in a tough position, since their contracts with the City required a five-cent fare be charged, while inflation made the real value of the fare less than three cents in constant currency value. On November 1, 1918, theMalbone Street wreck, the second worst rapid transit train wreck to occur in the United States, occurred on the BRT'sFranklin Avenue/Brighton Beach line, killing at least 93 people.[23][24] This further destabilized the financially struggling company, and the BRT filed bankruptcy on December 31, 1918.[25] In 1923 the BRT was restructured and released from bankruptcy as theBrooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT).
Some of the former elevated system of the BRT, dating to 1885, remains in use today. The largest section is the part of today'sBMT Jamaica Line running above Fulton Street from theAlabama Avenue station to a small section turning north after theCrescent Street station. Most of the other surviving structures were either built new or rehabilitated between 1915 and 1922 as part of theDual Contracts. One piece of structure – the elevated portion of theFranklin Avenue Shuttle, built in 1896 and 1905 – was extensively rebuilt in 1999.
Several BRT-era equipment have been preserved. This includes nine BU cars and five AB Standard cars, all which were also operated by the BMT upon the company's creation in 1923.
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