BMT Franklin Avenue Line

BMT Franklin Avenue Line
The Franklin Avenue Shuttle serves the entire BMT Franklin Avenue Line at all times.
Overview
Owner	City of New York
Termini	Franklin Avenue Prospect Park
Stations	4
Service
Type	Light metro
System	New York City Subway
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Daily ridership	19,118[1]
History
Opened	1878
Technical
Number of tracks	1–2
Character	Elevated, Embankment Open cut
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	600V DC third rail
Route map Legend former Fulton Street Elevated Franklin Avenue (Fulton Street Line) Bedford Dean Street Park Place Botanic Garden (Eastern Parkway Line) Consumers Park Brighton Line Prospect Park Brighton Line This diagram: view talk edit

The BMT Franklin Avenue Line (also known as the Brighton–Franklin Line) is a lower capacity rapid transit line of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York, running between Franklin Avenue and Prospect Park. Service is full-time, and provided by the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. The line serves the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, and allows for easy connections between the Fulton Street Line and the Brighton Line.

The line was originally part of the Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railway, which was created to connect Downtown Brooklyn with Coney Island. This Franklin Avenue Line opened in 1878 as part of the railway. Trains continued via the Long Island Rail Road to get to Downtown Brooklyn. In 1896, a connection was built with the Fulton Street Elevated, providing direct service to Manhattan. In 1905 and 1906, the line was elevated near Park Place to eliminate the last remaining grade crossings.

In 1913, the line was acquired by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT), which consolidated various railroad lines in Brooklyn. As part of the Dual Contracts of 1913, the BRT planned to connect the Brighton Line to a more direct subway route under Flatbush Avenue as part of Contract 4. The worst rapid transit wreck in the New York City Subway's history, the Malbone Street Wreck, occurred on November 1, 1918, when a five-car wooden elevated train derailed while approaching the Prospect Park station, killing at least 93 people. In 1920, the Franklin Avenue Line was severed from the Fulton Street Elevated, and Brighton Line trains started using the new subway under Flatbush Avenue.

The line's condition deteriorated in the 1980s and 1990s, and as a result it was nearly abandoned. One station, Dean Street, was closed in 1995 due to low ridership. After pleas from the local community and transit advocacy groups, the MTA agreed to spend $74 million to rehabilitate the line. The line was closed for eighteen months in 1998 and 1999, during which the track layout was changed and the stations were rebuilt.