View source for BMT West End Line

{{short description|New York City Subway line}}
{{For|the former surface line, also owned by the BMT|West End Line (Brooklyn surface)}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox rail line
| name            = BMT West End Line
| logo_alt        = The logo for the D train. It is composed of a orange circle with a white D in the center.
| image           = {{rint|nycs|D|size=50}}
| image_width     = 75
| caption         = The D train serves the entire BMT West End Line at all times.
| type            = [[Rapid transit]]
| system          = [[New York City Subway]]
| start           = [[Ninth Avenue (BMT West End Line)|Ninth Avenue]]
| end             = [[Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue (BMT West End Line)|Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue]]
| stations        = 13
| open            = 1916–1917
| locale          = [[Brooklyn]], [[New York City]]
| owner           = [[Government of New York City|City of New York]]
| operator        = [[New York City Transit Authority]]
| daily_ridership = 49,737 (2023)<ref name="ridership">{{NYCS const|riderref|weekday}}</ref>
| character       = Open Cut (<small>Ninth Avenue only</small>)
/Surface along Coney Island Yard/<br>Elevated
| linelength      = {{convert|4.5|mi|km}}<ref name="Track Length">{{cite web |title=BMT West End Line |url=https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/BMT_West_End_Line |website=BMT West End Line |publisher=Mark S. Feinman, Peggy Darlington, David Pirmann, and Ed Sachs |access-date=September 19, 2019}}</ref>
| tracks          = 3–6
| gauge           = {{RailGauge|ussg|allk=on}}
| electrification = [[Direct current traction|600 V DC]] [[third rail]]
| map             = {{switcher
|{{maplink-road|from=BMT West End Line.map}}
|Show interactive map
|{{BMT West End Line|inline=yes}}
|Show route diagram
}}
| map_state       = collapsed
}}

The '''BMT West End Line''' is a line of the [[New York City Subway]], serving the [[Brooklyn]] communities of [[Sunset Park, Brooklyn|Sunset Park]], [[Borough Park, Brooklyn|Borough Park]], [[New Utrecht]], [[Bensonhurst]], [[Bath Beach, Brooklyn|Bath Beach]] and [[Coney Island]]. The [[D (New York City Subway service)|D]] train operates local on the entire line at all times. There is a center express track and three express stations along the line, but there is no regular express service. The center track is used during the morning rush hour by one southbound [[R (New York City Subway service)|R]] train and two southbound [[W (New York City Subway service)|W]] trains.

The elevated line, originally mapped as the '''New Utrecht Avenue Line''' (though the common name prevailed after construction), replaced the surface [[West End Line (Brooklyn surface)|West End Line]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|publisher=New York State Public Service Commission|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05clAQAAIAAJ|title=Report of the Public Service Commission For The First District of the State of New York For The Year Ending December 31, 1916 Vol. 1|date=1917|page=48|language=en}}</ref>

== Extent and service ==
The following services use part or all of the BMT West End Line:<ref>{{NYCS const|serviceguide}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!&nbsp;
!Time period
!Section of line
|-
|{{rint|newyork|D}}
|all times
|full line
|-
|{{rint|newyork|R}}
|weekday mornings
|north of [[Bay Parkway (BMT West End Line)|Bay Parkway]]
|-
|{{rint|newyork|W}}
|weekday mornings
|north of [[Bay Parkway (BMT West End Line)|Bay Parkway]]
|}
The line begins as a branch of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line south of the 36th Street station, and it extends through a cut described as the 38th Street cut to Ninth Avenue. Then it becomes an elevated structure over New Utrecht Avenue, before subsequently turning through private property near 79th Street into 86th Street. The line then continues over 86th Street to Stillwell Avenue and to the line's terminal at Coney Island.<ref name=":0" />

==History==
The line was originally a surface excursion railway to [[Coney Island]], called the [[Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad]], which was established in 1862, but did not reach Coney Island until 1864.<ref>Opening of the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad, ''[[The New York Times]]'' June 9, 1864, page 2</ref> Under the [[Dual Contracts]] of 1913, an elevated line was built over New Utrecht Avenue, 86th Street and Stillwell Avenue.

From 39th Street to Coney Island, the old route was abandoned as a rapid transit line, and it was turned into a surface car line. Surface car operation began on the line once the new elevated service started.<ref name=":0" />

The first portion of the line, between the 36th Street station on Fourth Avenue and 62nd Street station, opened on June 24, 1916, with two tracks.<ref>{{cite news|title=Parade, Pageant Mark Celebration: Borough Park Civic Bodies and School Children Join in Festivities: West End Line Opened: First Train From Manhattan Over New "L" Extension of Dual System to Sixty-Second Street|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/55221837/?terms=subway|access-date=September 16, 2015|publisher=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=June 24, 1916}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Realty Boom Is Predicted for Borough Park Section|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/55221837/?terms=subway|access-date=September 16, 2015|publisher=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=June 24, 1916}}</ref> On the same date, the line opened three more stations to 18th Avenue, but with only one track in service. The second track between 62nd Street and 18th Avenue opened on July 8, 1916. The line was then extended to 25th Avenue on July 29, 1916. The line opened to and fully opening to Coney Island on July 21, 1917. The original surface right-of-way was retained for use by trolley cars to provide local service and protect the company's franchise.<ref name=":0" />

As part of an 18-month capital budget that took effect on January 1, 1963, the wooden platforms at the stations on the West End Line were replaced with concrete platforms.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web|url=http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/pages/FileBrowser.aspx?LinkToFile=FILES_DOC/WAGNER_FILES/06.023.0000.141.1637.PDF|title=For Release Sunday, July 12, 1964|date=July 12, 1964|publisher=New York City Office of the Mayor|access-date=August 28, 2019}}</ref>

On November 13, 1985, the New York City Transit Authority announced that an almost four-year-long renovation of the line would begin in spring 1986. As part of the project, tracks and girders would be repaired, and stations would be rehabilitated. To enable sections of the local tracks to be taken out of service for long periods of time for the work, trains would operate on the center express track and stop at local stations through the use of temporary platforms that would be constructed atop the local track.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 14, 1985 |title=Repairs on the BMT To Start Next Spring |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/14/nyregion/repairs-on-the-bmt-to-start-next-spring.html |access-date=February 22, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Service history===
[[File:Bay Parkway (BMT West End Line).jpg|left|thumb|Elevated line over 86th Street at [[Bay Parkway (BMT West End Line)|Bay Parkway]] station]]
[[File:Bmt triplex no 3.png|thumb|Route designation on BMT Triplex equipment|90px|left]]
The West End Line has had an express (on the [[BMT Fourth Avenue Line]]) service – labeled [[BMT 3|3]] in 1924 –  since it opened in 1916, passing over the [[Manhattan Bridge]] and onto the [[BMT Broadway Line]] express tracks. In the late 1950s, midday trains were switched to the local Fourth Avenue tracks and through the [[Montague Street Tunnel]], and late night and Sunday service became a shuttle between Coney Island and [[36th Street (BMT Fourth Avenue Line)|36th Street]]. The express and local services were assigned the designations {{NYCS|T}} and {{NYCS|TT}} in the early 1960s. With the opening of the [[Chrystie Street Connection]] in late 1967, the {{NYCS|B}} train from Manhattan was extended to Coney Island, absorbing the T and TT (both the B and T ran express on Fourth Avenue). The TT late night and Sunday shuttle survived until 1968, when the B became full-time. It ran local on Fourth Avenue during late night hours, but express at all other times. Late night operation was cut back to a shuttle to 36th Street in 1976.

In 2001, when reconstruction of the [[Manhattan Bridge]] north tracks resumed, the B service in Brooklyn was replaced by the new {{NYCS|W}} train, which ran as a shuttle not only to 36th Street during nighttime hours, but also to [[Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center (New York City Subway)|Atlantic Avenue–Pacific Street]] on weekends. In 2002, reconstruction of [[Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue (New York City Subway)|Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue]] resulted in the West End Line being the only line to serve the terminal and the W was extended full-time into Manhattan, using the local Fourth Avenue tracks and Montague Street Tunnel on weekends and late nights hours.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/21/nyregion/manhattan-bridge-service-changes.html Manhattan Bridge Service Changes] – ''[[The New York Times]]''</ref>

In 2004, the Manhattan Bridge reconstruction project was completed, and the W was replaced with an extended {{NYCS|D}} train, running over the bridge at all hours and express on Fourth Avenue except late nights. D service was moved to the West End Line instead of returning to the [[BMT Brighton Line|Brighton Line]], where it ran on from 1967 to 2001, because West End Line residents from Chinatowns in Brooklyn wanted full-time access to [[Grand Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line)|Grand Street]], on the Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan's Chinatown. This also eliminated the need to run late-night and/or weekend shuttles on either the Concourse Line or the West End Line.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/20/nyregion/20subway.html|title=A Subway Map Remade, in Hopes of Matching Routes and Riders|work=The New York Times|date=February 20, 2004|access-date=June 9, 2014}}</ref>

The other service pattern was the "West End Short Line", a rush-hour local (on Fourth Avenue) service between the [[BMT Nassau Street Line]] in [[Lower Manhattan]] and [[62nd Street (BMT West End Line)|62nd Street]] or [[Bay Parkway (BMT West End Line)|Bay Parkway]]. It became part of the TT in the early 1960s and was discontinued in 1967. In 1987, the short line service was essentially recreated when the rush-hour {{NYCS|M}} extension to Brooklyn was moved from the [[BMT Brighton Line]] to the West End Line terminating at [[Bay Parkway (BMT West End Line)|Bay Parkway]]. It terminated at [[Ninth Avenue (BMT West End Line)|Ninth Avenue]] during midday hours until 1995, when it was cut back to [[Chambers Street (BMT Nassau Street Line)|Chambers Street]]. It was extended again from 2001–2004 while the Manhattan Bridge was closed for reconstruction. In 2010, as part of a series of MTA budget cuts, rush-hour M service was discontinued.

On July 19, 2019, a project to install elevators at the [[62nd Street/New Utrecht Avenue station]] was completed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mta.info/press-release/nyc-transit/mta-installs-four-elevators-other-ada-features-new-utrecht-av62-st-station|title=MTA Installs Four Elevators, Other ADA Features at New Utrecht Av/62 St Station Complex|date=July 19, 2019|website=mta.info|publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority|access-date=July 19, 2019|archive-date=January 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110100435/https://www.mta.info/press-release/nyc-transit/mta-installs-four-elevators-other-ada-features-new-utrecht-av62-st-station|url-status=dead}}</ref> Starting on September 18, 2021, and continuing until January 3, 2022, southbound D trains terminated at Bay 50th Street so work could be completed to protect Coney Island Yard from flooding.<ref>{{cite web | last=Duggan | first=Kevin | title=D train service cuts coming to southern Brooklyn for three months | website=amNewYork | date=August 17, 2021 | url=https://www.amny.com/transit/d-train-service-cuts-coming-to-southern-brooklyn-for-three-months-this-fall/ | access-date=September 20, 2021}}</ref>

==Station listing==
{{NYCS service legend
| alltimes = show
| rushonly =
}}
{| class="wikitable"
!Neighborhood
!{{Access icon}}
!Station
!Tracks
!Services
!Opened
!Transfers and notes
|-
!colspan=7 style="background-color: silver;"|splits from the [[BMT Fourth Avenue Line]] ({{NYCS West End|time=show}})
|-
!colspan=7 style="background-color: silver;"|Center Express track begins (No Regular Service)
|-
!colspan=7 style="background-color: silver;"|connecting tracks to former [[BMT Culver Line]] (demolished)
|-
!colspan=7 style="background-color: silver;"|connecting tracks to [[36th–38th Street Yard]] from local tracks
|-
|[[Sunset Park, Brooklyn|Sunset Park]]
|
|{{stl|NYCS|Ninth Avenue}}
|all
|{{NYCS West End|time=show}}
|June 24, 1916
|former transfer to [[BMT Culver Line]]
|-
|rowspan=3|[[Borough Park, Brooklyn|Borough Park]]
|
|{{stl|NYCS|Fort Hamilton Parkway|West End}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End local|time=show}}
|June 24, 1916
|
|-
|
|{{stl|NYCS|50th Street|West End}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End local|time=show}}
|June 24, 1916
|
|-
|
|{{stl|NYCS|55th Street}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End local|time=show}}
|June 24, 1916
|
|-
|rowspan=7|[[Bensonhurst, Brooklyn|Bensonhurst]]
| align=center | {{Access icon}}
|{{stl|NYCS|62nd Street}}
|all
|{{NYCS West End|time=show}}
|June 24, 1916
|[[BMT Sea Beach Line]] ({{NYCS Sea Beach local|time=show}}) at {{stl|NYCS|New Utrecht Avenue}}
|-
|
|{{stl|NYCS|71st Street}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End local|time=show}}
|June 24, 1916
|
|-
|
|{{stl|NYCS|79th Street|West End}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End local|time=show}}
|June 24, 1916
|
|-
|
|{{stl|NYCS|18th Avenue|West End}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End local|time=show}}
|June 24, 1916
|
|-
|
|{{stl|NYCS|20th Avenue|West End}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End local|time=show}}
|July 29, 1916
|
|-
|{{Access icon}}
|{{stl|NYCS|Bay Parkway|West End}}
|all
|{{NYCS West End|time=show}}
|July 29, 1916
| [[B82 SBS (New York City bus)|B82 Select Bus Service]]
|-
|
|{{stl|NYCS|25th Avenue}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End south|time=show}}
|July 29, 1916
|
|-
!colspan=7 style="background-color: silver;"|connecting track to [[Coney Island Complex|Coney Island Yard]]
|-
|rowspan=1|[[Gravesend, Brooklyn|Gravesend]]
|
|{{stl|NYCS|Bay 50th Street}}
|local
|{{NYCS West End south|time=show}}
|July 21, 1917
|
|-
!colspan=7 style="background-color: silver;"|connecting track to [[Coney Island Complex|Coney Island Yard]]
|-
!colspan=7 style="background-color: silver;"|Center Express track ends
|-
|[[Coney Island, Brooklyn|Coney Island]]
|{{Access icon}}
|{{stl|NYCS|Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue}}
|all
|{{NYCS West End far south|time=show}}
|July 21, 1917
|[[BMT Brighton Line]] ({{NYCS Brighton south|time=show}})<br>[[IND Culver Line]] ({{NYCS Culver IND south|time=show}})<br>[[BMT Sea Beach Line]] ({{NYCS Sea Beach south|time=show|exclude=W}})
|}

==In popular culture==
Over the years, the West End line has been featured in movies and television shows. 
*The famous chase scene from ''[[The French Connection (film)|The French Connection]]'' (1971) was filmed under the West End Line.<ref name="movie-locations.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/f/frenchconn.html|title=Film locations for The French Connection (1971)|work=The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations|access-date=June 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230349/http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/f/frenchconn.html|archive-date=March 3, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*The opening scene of ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'' (1977) features Tony Manero ([[John Travolta]]) walking down 86th Street, with the West End elevated line above.<ref name="movie-locations.com"/>
*The opening credits of the television show ''[[Welcome Back, Kotter]]'' (1975) also featured the West End Line.<ref>{{youTube|id=QVS3WNt7yRU|title=Opening credits}}</ref>
{{clear}}
{{wide image|Underneath the tracks between 50 St and FHP vc.jpg|1100px|Under the structure, between [[50th Street (BMT West End Line)|50th Street]] and [[Fort Hamilton Parkway (BMT West End Line)|Fort Hamilton Parkway]] stations}}

==See also==
*[[Transportation to Coney Island]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{attached KML|display=inline,title}}
{{Commons category|BMT West End Line}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20151104155926/http://www.earlpleasants.com/search_1.asp Railroad History Database]}}<!--not completely accurate-->
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110927115925/http://www.3drail.com/9909/westend1.htm Gunther and His Railroad by Morton Morris]
*[http://nycsubway.org/lines/westend.html BMT West End Line on NYCSubway.org]

{{NYCS lines navbox}}
{{NYCS navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:West End}}
[[Category:Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation]]
[[Category:New York City Subway lines]]
[[Category:Railway lines opened in 1916]]