The vast majority of current subway lines in Brooklyn trace their lineage back to the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit (BMT) and Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT), as well as earlier predecessors. The oldest right-of-way in the entire subway system is that of the West End Line. Its right-of-way began passenger service on October 9, 1863, as a surface steam railroad called the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island.[1][2] It was later rebuilt under the Dual Contracts, opening as the current elevated road on June 24, 1916.[3] The West End line is not the oldest elevated in Brooklyn. That honor goes to the BMT Jamaica Line with the section from Gates Avenue to Van Siclen Avenue to an opening on May 13, 1885.[4] The oldest un-rebuilt section still in use, is from Alabama Avenue to Cypress Hills. That section opened between September 5, 1885, and May 30, 1893.[5][6] Both segments were originally part of the demolished BMT Lexington Avenue Line. The rest of the line from Marcy Avenue to Broadway Junction was rebuilt during the Dual Contracts. It was also extended past Cypress Hills towards Jamaica, Queens during that time.
Both the BMT Franklin Avenue Line and BMT Brighton Line began as another excursion railroad to Coney Island called the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway. Originating on July 2, 1878, the BF&CI ran from the former Bedford Station on the Atlantic Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, to Brighton Beach. It also had a spur to the Sheepshead Bay Race Track southeast of Neck Road. Losing their connection to the LIRR in 1893, the railroad almost collapsed until it was acquired by the Kings County Elevated Railway in 1896, which electrified the line by 1899 for both rapid transit and streetcar lines, and itself became part of Brooklyn Rapid Transit in 1900. Grade elimination projects took place during the mid-1900s and late-1910s. A subway connection between Prospect Park and DeKalb Avenue on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line was completed by 1920.
The BMT Canarsie Line began on October 21, 1865, as the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad, a surface steam excursion railroad line for beachgoers. Once acquired by the BRT in 1906, it was split between a mostly elevated rapid transit line from Rockaway Boulevard and Broadway Junction, and the Canarsie Shuttle streetcar line south of Rockaway Boulevard to Jamaica Bay by 1920. A subway extension to Manhattan from Broadway Junction known as the "14th Street–Eastern District Line" was built in 1928. The Liberty Avenue extension of the Fulton Street Elevated opened on September 25, 1915, and the extension of the Jamaica Avenue Elevated to Walnut Street opened on May 28, 1917. A further extension of the latter line opened to Cliffside Avenue on July 2, 1918.[7]
Also on June 22, 1915, the BRT opened the Fourth Avenue Subway from Myrtle Avenue to 59th Street as well as the BMT Sea Beach Line, which provided service to Coney Island. The Fourth Avenue Line was then extended the line south to 86th Street in Bay Ridge on January 15, 1916. The West End Line opened in stages. The line opened from Ninth Avenue to 18th Avenue on June 24, 1916, to 25th Avenue on July 29, 1916, and to Coney Island on July 21, 1917. Culver Line service was inaugurated on March 16, 1919, to Kings Highway. Service was extended to Avenue X on May 10, 1919, before running through to Coney Island on May 1, 1920. The Montague Street Tunnel opened on August 1, 1920, connecting Brooklyn directly to Lower Manhattan. On the same date, the connection between the Brighton Line connection between Prospect Park and DeKalb Avenue was opened.[7] Two additional stations along the Fourth Avenue Line were opened at a later date by the BMT. An in-fill station, Lawrence Street, was opened in Downtown Brooklyn on June 11, 1924, and the line was extended to its new terminal at 95th Street in Fort Hamilton on October 31, 1925. The Fourth Avenue Line would replace the elevated BMT Fifth Avenue Line on June 1, 1940, and inherited the connections to the West End and Sea Beach Lines. The Myrtle Avenue station was closed in 1956 as part of the reconstruction of the DeKalb Avenue junction.
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There are 170 New York City Subway stations in Brooklyn (171 if 75th Street–Elderts Lane, which is located in both Brooklyn and Queens, is included).[^ 1] When transfer stations with two or more non-adjacent platforms are counted as one station, the number of stations is 157. The physical trackage lines within Brooklyn include:
BMT Elevated (& streetcars)
Original right-of-way:
BMT Franklin Avenue Line
BMT Jamaica Line
BMT Canarsie Line
BMT Brighton Line
IRT Eastern Parkway Line
BMT Jamaica Line
BMT Myrtle Avenue Line
BMT Fourth Avenue Line
BMT Sea Beach Line
BMT West End Line
BMT/IND Culver Line
IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line
IRT Nostrand Avenue Line
IRT New Lots Line
IND Eighth Avenue Line
IND Brooklyn (Culver) Line
IND Crosstown Line
IND Fulton Street Line
IND Sixth Avenue Line
Lines and services
There are 170 New York City Subway stations in Brooklyn, per the official count of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority; of these, 22 are express-local stations. If the 10 station complexes are counted as one station each, the number of stations is 157. In the table below, lines with colors next to them indicate trunk lines, which determine the colors that are used for services' route bullets and diamonds. The opening date refers to the opening of the first section of track for the line. In the "division" column, the current division is followed by the original division in parentheses.
20 (6 express-local stations (1 shared with Franklin Avenue Line), 1 part of a station complex, 1 shared with Fourth Avenue Line, 1 shared with Culver Line, 1 shared with Culver, Sea Beach, and West End Lines)
13 (1 part of a station complex, 1 shared with Brighton, Culver & Sea Beach Lines)
June 24, 1916
—
Stations
Permanently closed subway stations, including those that have been demolished, are not included in the list below. The 95th Street station is listed under "Bay Ridge–95th Street."
Station service legend
Stops all times
Stops all times except late nights
Stops late nights only
Stops weekdays during the day
Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction
Stops all times except nights and rush hours in the peak direction
Transfer stations either between local and express services or that involve the terminus of a service on the same line; may also be part of a station complex as defined above
***
Multi-level or adjacent-platform transfer stations on different lines considered to be one station as classified by the MTA
^As the J/Z combined in a skip-stop service, an "express-local" station in this sense means both services stop at the station during the hours of skip-stop operation. 2 of the express-local stations on the Jamaica line fit this definition.
^The 2 and 5 operate limited services on the IRT New Lots Line during rush hours.
^At the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays CenterEastern Parkway Line station, the single inner island platform for express trains is separated from the two outer side platforms for local trains. Transfers between local and express trains can be done by walking through a crossunder, but it is more convenient to do so at either Nevins Street or Franklin Avenue.
