BMT Nassau Street Line

BMT Nassau Street Line

Train services that use the BMT Nassau Street Line through downtown have been colored brown since 1979. One station is also served by the M train, which is now part of the IND Sixth Avenue Line.
Overview
Type Rapid transit
System New York City Subway
Termini Essex Street
Broad Street
Stations 6
Daily ridership 126,833[1]
Operation
Opened 1908-1931
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 third rail
BMT Nassau Street Line
Legend
 ← Manhattan ■ Brooklyn →
IND Sixth Avenue Line
Essex Street BMT Jamaica Line
IND Sixth Avenue Line
Chrystie Street Connection
 Bowery
Canal Street BMT Broadway Line
former Manhattan Bridge connection
 Chambers Street
Fulton Street IND Eighth Avenue Line
 Broad Street
BMT Broadway Line
BMT Fourth Avenue Line

The BMT Nassau Street Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system in Manhattan. It is a continuation of the BMT Jamaica Line in Brooklyn after crossing the Williamsburg Bridge; it continues to a junction with the BMT Broadway Line just before the Montague Street Tunnel after which the line reenters Brooklyn (no revenue service south of Broad Street since June, 2010).

The line is served at all times by the J train. The Z provides supplemental rush hour service, operating in the peak direction.

While the line is officially recognized as the Nassau Street Line, it only serves one station on Nassau Street: Fulton Street.

The M service has historically served the Nassau Street Line. Since June 28, 2010, the M has been rerouted via the Chrystie Street Connection to run on the IND Sixth Avenue Line, as a replacement for the V. The M continues to serve one Nassau Street Line station: the Essex Street station.

Service

The following services use part or all of the Nassau Street Line. The trunk line's bullets are colored terra cotta brown:

  Time period Section of line
Rush hours Middays,
evenings,
weekends		 Late nights
local
local no service
local in
peak direction		 no service
  • north of Broad Street

History

After the original IRT opened, the city began planning new lines. Two of these were extensions of that system, to Downtown Brooklyn and Van Cortlandt Park, but the other two - the Centre Street Loop Subway (or Brooklyn Loop Subway) and Fourth Avenue Subway (in Brooklyn) - were separate lines for which construction had not progressed as far. The Centre Street Loop, approved on January 25, 1907 as a four-track line (earlier proposed as two tracks),[2] was to connect the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and Williamsburg Bridge via Centre Street, Canal Street, and Delancey Street. An extension south from the Brooklyn Bridge under William Street to Wall Street was also part of the plan, as were several loops towards the Hudson River and a loop connecting the bridges through Brooklyn. Construction contracts for the main line in Manhattan were awarded in early 1907, despite no determination of the operator once completed. The line was assigned to a proposed Tri-borough system in early 1908 and to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) in the Dual Contracts, adopted on March 4, 1913.[3][4]

1908 plan for Chambers Street and the Brooklyn Bridge connection

The BRT began operating through a short piece of subway, coming off the Williamsburg Bridge under Delancey Street to Essex Street, on September 16, 1908.[5] The Centre Street Loop was opened to Chambers Street (at the Brooklyn Bridge) on August 4, 1913,[6] with temporary operation at first on the two west tracks.[7] The south tracks on the Manhattan Bridge, also running into Chambers Street, were placed in service on June 22, 1915. An extension south from Chambers Street to the Montague Street Tunnel, known as the Nassau Street Loop, was not completed until May 30, 1931, as part of the Dual Contracts.[8]

Plans for the Chambers Street area changed several times during construction, always including a never-completed connection to the Brooklyn Bridge tracks. By 1910, only the west two tracks were to rise onto the bridge, and the east two were to continue south to the Montague Street Tunnel. As actually built for the 1931 opening south of Chambers Street, the two outer tracks ran south to the tunnel, while the two inner tracks continued several blocks in a lower level stub tunnel to allow trains to reverse direction.[9]

On September 20, 2004, northbound trains began running on the second track from the west (serving the former southbound platform), and the former northbound platforms at Canal Street and Bowery were closed off. The second track from the east was removed.[10][11]

Station listing

Station service legend
Stops all times
Stops all times except late nights
Stops late nights only
Stops weekdays only
Stops rush hours only
Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Time period details
Neighborhood
(approximate) 		Station Services Opened Transfers and notes
Begins as the BMT Jamaica Line comes off the Williamsburg Bridge (J  M  Z )
Lower East Side Essex Street J  M  Z  September 16, 1908[5] IND Sixth Avenue Line (F ) at Delancey Street
Split to Chrystie Street Connection (M )
Bowery J  Z  August 4, 1913[6]
Chinatown Canal Street J  Z  August 4, 1913[6] BMT Broadway Line (N  Q  R )
IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4  6  <6>)
Former Connection to Manhattan Bridge south tracks
Civic Center Chambers Street J  Z  August 4, 1913[6] IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4  5  6  <6>) at Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall
Financial District Fulton Street J  Z  May 30, 1931[8] IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line (2  3 )
IRT Lexington Avenue Line (4  5 )
IND Eighth Avenue Line (A  C )
Connection to BMT Broadway Line (N  R ) at Cortlandt Street via Dey Street Passageway
Broad Street J  Z  May 30, 1931[8]
Terminus of all service
Line merges with the BMT Broadway Line (N  R ) and becomes the BMT Fourth Avenue Line via the Montague Street Tunnel

References

Route map: Bing / Google

  1. ↑ MTA. "Average weekday subway ridership". Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  2. ↑ New York Times, Subway Loop Approved, January 26, 1907, page 16
  3. ↑ James Blaine Walker, Fifty Years of Rapid Transit, 1864-1917, published 1918, pp. 203-239
  4. ↑ Engineering News, A New Subway Line for New York City, Volume 63, No. 10, March 10, 1910
  5. 1 2 New York Times, Mayor Runs a Train Over New Bridge, September 17, 1908, page 16
  6. 1 2 3 4 New York Times, Passenger Killed on Loop's First Day, August 5, 1913, page 2
  7. ↑ Public Service Commission For the First District, New Subways For New York: The Dual System of Rapid Transit, Chapter 1
  8. 1 2 3 New York Times, Mayor Drives Train in New Subway Link, May 30, 1931, page 11
  9. ↑ Joseph Brennan, Abandoned Stations: Chambers St closed platforms, accessed March 22, 2007
  10. ↑ Joseph Brennan, Abandoned Stations: Canal St platform, accessed April 18, 2007
  11. ↑ Peter Dougherty, Tracks of the New York City Subway, Centennial Commemorative Edition 3.7a, ©2004, page 65
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