Franklin Avenue Shuttle

infobox NYCS service
service=S
shuttle=Franklin
name=Franklin Avenue Shuttle
terminals=Franklin Avenue to Prospect ParkThe Franklin Avenue Shuttle is a service of the New York City Subway operating in Brooklyn.

The shuttle's fleet consists of four 2-car train R68s from the Avenue X/Stillwell Avenue Yard with one as a spare in at the Coney Island Yard or on the northbound local track between Prospect Park and Parkside Avenue, one in storage on the unused "southbound local" track at Prospect Park and two in service. As opposed to regular R68s in the fleet, the shuttle's information signs are stickers instead of rollsigns and car 2923 uses three-piece windows. The shuttle also runs One Person Train Operation with the motorman also being a conductor meanwhile, at the end of each run the motorman/conductor will go to the opposite car to make another run.

The current service is co-extensive with the BMT Franklin Avenue Line. It parallels Franklin Avenue, hence its name. It was originally a part of the mainline of the BMT Brighton Beach Line and opened as part of that steam railroad line in 1878. The mainline was shifted in 1920, and the Franklin line was reduced to a full-time shuttle in the early 1960s. The line was fully two tracks (with only one track used at Prospect Park) before the 1998-1999 rehabilitation with the stations deteriorating and the then closed Dean Street visible. There is a connection with the Brighton Line. Trains usually pass each other at Botanic Garden, the only 2-track station on the line.

The north terminus is Franklin Avenue, and is at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street, with a transfer available to the IND Fulton Street Line. The south terminus is Prospect Park.

There are currently 4 stops on this line, as two of the existing stations, Dean Street and Consumers Park closed — Dean Street in 1995 due to low paid fare entrance and fare beating, and Consumers Park (Botanic Garden) in 1928, which was replaced by the current Botanic Garden station 5 blocks to the north.

In 1981 the MTA proposed abandoning the line, but due to community opposition to the plan, the line was completely rebuilt and renovated in 1998–99. During renovation, a temporary shuttle bus and the B48 replaced shuttle service.

Originally, the transfer at Fulton Street was made (in both directions) by retrieving a small cardboard transfer ticket from the token booth or a ticket machine, exiting to the street, and entering the other rail line and depositing the ticket in a box and walking onto the platform. With reconstruction, there is now a staircase and elevator between the elevated Franklin Shuttle and the underground Fulton Street (C Line) subway completely in the paid fare area.

On November 1, 1918, in the worst rapid transit accident to date, a speeding Brooklyn Rapid Transit train crashed inside a new tunnel leading into the Prospect Park station, killing at least 93. This became known as the Brighton Line Accident or Malbone Street Wreck.

tations

NYCS service legend
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External links

* [http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/sline.htm#franklin MTA NYC Transit Franklin Avenue Shuttle's official page]
* [http://thethirdrail.net/0003/index.htm Illustrated article about the line's 1999 reopening]
* [http://www.forgotten-ny.com/SUBWAYS/Franklin%20Ave%20station/franklin.html Forgotten NY's article about the shuttle]
* [http://www.stationreporter.net/fstrain.htm Station Reporters article about the shuttle]
* [http://nycsubway.org/perl/stations?213:3358 NYCSubway.org's article about the shuttle]