IND Sixth Avenue Line

Infobox rail line
name=IND Sixth Avenue Line

---

image_width=200px
caption=The B, D, F, and V, which use the Sixth Avenue Line through Midtown Manhattan, are colored orange.
type=Rapid transit
system=New York City Subway
start=South of 59th Street–Columbus Circle; 57th Street
end=North of Jay Street–Borough Hall; south of Grand Street
stations=14
open=1936-1968
owner=City of New York
operator=New York City Transit Authority
character=Underground
linelength=
notrack=2-4
gauge=RailGauge|ussg
el=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.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 wheelchair, 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 NYCS service|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.New York Times, La Guardia Opens New Subway Link, January 2, 1936, page 1] Two express tracks were built on the portion under Houston Street, intended to connect with the never-built IND Worth Street Line.Fact|date=April 2007

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.New York Times, Two Subway Links Start Wednesday, April 6, 1936, page 23] [New York Times, New Subway Link Opened by Mayor, April 9, 1936, page 25]

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. [New York Times, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60C11FA3A59107A93CAA91783D85F418385F9 6th Av. Tube Work to be Begun Oct. 1] , August 8, 1935, page 15]

The stubs that now become the IND 63rd Street Line were built for a proposed extension under Central Park to Harlem. [New York Times, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F2061EF7355A167A93C7A81789D95F448485F9 New Subway Line on 6th Ave. Opens at Midnight Fete] , December 15, 1940, page 1]

The local tracks on the main part of the line opened at 00:01 on December 15, 1940. The following service changes were made:
*NYCS service|AA (Washington Heights Local) was brought back for non-rush-hour service between 168th Street and Hudson Terminal via the Eighth Avenue Line.
*NYCS service|BB (Washington Heights Local) was added for rush-hour only service between 168th Street and Hudson Terminal via the Sixth Avenue Line.
*NYCS service|D (Bronx Concourse Express) was added for service between Norwood–205th Street and Hudson Terminal via the Sixth Avenue Line.
*NYCS service|E (Queens–Manhattan Express) service was cut back from Church Avenue to Broadway–Lafayette Street.
*NYCS service|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.

ervice patterns

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.

tation listing

NYCS service legend
alltimes = show
allexceptrush =
allexceptnights = show
nightsonly = show
nightsweekends =
weekdaysonly = show
rushonly =
rushpeak = show

References

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

External links

* [http://nycsubway.org/ind/6thave/ nycsubway.org - IND 6th Ave./63rd St. Line]