60th Street Tunnel Connection

60th Street Tunnel Connection
Legend
60th Street Tunnel Connection other lines BMT Astoria Line IND Queens Boulevard Line IRT Flushing Line Queens Plaza Queensboro Plaza 60th Street Tunnel Connection Court Square IND Crosstown Line Court Square IRT Flushing Line Court Square – 23rd Street IND Queens Boulevard Line 60th Street Tunnel under East River BMT Broadway Line

The 60th Street Tunnel Connection^[1][2] or 11th Street Connection^[3] is a short rapid transit line of the New York City Subway connecting the BMT 60th Street Tunnel under the East River (which connects to the BMT Broadway Line) with the IND Queens Boulevard Line west of Queens Plaza in Long Island City, Queens, New York City, United States. The 11th Street Connection name comes from the street above the split from the 60th Street Tunnel. The line does not have any stations, and carries R trains at all times but late nights.

The connection opened on December 1, 1955, and permitted BMT trains from Brooklyn to use the IND Queens Boulevard Line; the first service to do so was the Brighton Beach Local via Tunnel (1, now Q).^[4] Unlike the later Chrystie Street Connection, this was of the nature of a trackage rights operation, without the mixing of BMT and IND equipment or crews, as opposed to a true operating integration.

Service history

The first service to use the connection was the daytime 1 local via Montague Street Tunnel, which became the QT in the early 1960s. The QT was rerouted to Astoria – Ditmars Boulevard on January 1, 1961, and the RR was sent through the connection during daytime hours. The EE was created on November 26, 1967, when the Chrystie Street Connection opened and the RR moved back to Astoria. On August 27, 1976, the N was extended through the connection, absorbing the EE; this change sent late night and weekend trains through the tunnel for the first time. The N and R were swapped in Queens on May 24, 1987, taking the R through the connection in a move that reassigned a former BMT route (the R) to the IND's Jamaica Yard (it had heretofore used the Coney Island Yard).^[5] Late night service was later truncated to 36th Street in Brooklyn.

Routing

Station service legend
	Stops all times
	Stops all times except late nights
	Stops weekdays only
Time period details

	Station	Tracks	Services	Opened	Notes
begins as a split from the IND Queens Boulevard Line local tracks south of Queens Plaza
	(no stations)	local	R	December 1, 1955
merges with the BMT Astoria Line (N  Q ) south of Queensboro Plaza and enters the 60th Street Tunnel as the BMT Broadway Line local tracks

References

1. New York City Transit Authority, Rapid Transit Construction Program, Map, File No. 72, Dwg. No. 699, dated June 14, 1954
2. Bennett, Charles G. (October 13, 1952). "Tunnel in Queens to Speed Transit". New York Times. p. 23. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
3. Gene Sansone, New York Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars, ISBN 0-8018-6886-6, pp. 184 and 292
4. "Straphangers Sit As Tunnel Opens". New York Times. December 2, 1955. p. 29. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
5. New York City Transit Authority. "Announcing Service Changes on the N and R Routes Advertising Supplement to The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and Newsday, © 1987 New York City Transit Authority". Subway Nut.