IND Queens Boulevard Line

The Queens Boulevard Line is a fully underground line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line provides crosstown service across Manhattan under 53rd Street and east through Queens to Jamaica. The two-track section in Manhattan is also known as the 53rd Street Line. East of Queens Plaza, the line has four tracks, with express service on the inner tracks. This line is one of two (the IND Culver Line being the other) for which the express tracks deviate from the local tracks to provide a more direct route. It is the second busiest line in the system, after the IRT Lexington Avenue Line.Fact|date=April 2007

During the daytime, the portion of the line between the various junctions in Long Island City and Forest Hills–71st Avenue is served by trains of four services: the NYCS|E and NYCS|F express and the NYCS|R and NYCS|V local. The NYCS|R and NYCS|V services end at Forest Hills, where the NYCS|F switches to the local tracks to the end at 179th Street in Jamaica; the NYCS|E stays on the express tracks to the IND Archer Avenue Line junction, where it splits to Jamaica Center. The NYCS|F and NYCS|R split onto the IND 63rd Street Line and BMT Broadway Line (via the 60th Street Tunnel Connection) in Long Island City, while the NYCS|E and NYCS|V continue west into Manhattan to the IND Eighth Avenue Line and IND Sixth Avenue Line respectively.

The NYCS|F is the only service that uses the same route at all times. The NYCS|R stops running in Manhattan and Queens after 11:00 p.m., while the NYCS|V does not run after midnight or on weekends. After 9:00 p.m. and on weekends, the NYCS|E switches to the local tracks east of Forest Hills, and after midnight, it runs completely local. One extra service—the NYCS|G—only serves the Queens Boulevard Line after 9:00 p.m. and on weekends, running local between Long Island City (from the IND Crosstown Line) and Forest Hills.

Description

The Queens Boulevard Line begins at 179th Street (NYCS Queens far east) as a four-track subway under Hillside Avenue. Just after curving north under the Van Wyck Expressway, a flying junction joins the recent two-track Archer Avenue Line (NYCS Archer upper) to the local and express tracks. Soon after, the line turns west under Queens Boulevard.

East of Union Turnpike, another flying junction ties the eastward tracks to Jamaica Yard. The other side of the wye curves west to become a lower level of the subway just west of Union Turnpike. After passing through 75th Avenue, those tracks join the local and express tracks at another flying junction. Just west is Forest Hills–71st Avenue, where several services (NYCS Queens local) begin on the local tracks, and NYCS Queens east local service switches to the express tracks.

From here the line runs under Queens Boulevard until it turns north onto Broadway after Grand Avenue–Newtown. Near the Roosevelt Avenue–Jackson Heights transit hub, an abandoned trackless tunnel branches off into an unused upper part of the station which is used for storage. At the intersection of Broadway and Northern Boulevard, the express tracks turn west under Northern Boulevard. The local tracks take a longer route, remaining under Broadway, then turning south onto Steinway Street and west again onto Northern Boulevard, where they rejoin the express tracks. As the line approaches Queens Plaza, the two-track IND 63rd Street Line (NYCS 63rd IND) splits from both sets of tracks at a flying junction, running to Manhattan under 41st Avenue. The Queens Boulevard Line continues under Northern Boulevard to Queens Plaza, where crossover switches allow NYCS service|V service to switch to the express tracks. Just west of Queens Plaza, the line splits into three parts at yet another flying junction. The express tracks continue towards Manhattan under 44th Drive, while the local tracks split two ways, with the 60th Street Tunnel Connection (NYCS 60th Connection) turning northwest and the IND Crosstown Line (NYCS Crosstown north) remaining under Jackson Avenue (Northern Boulevard south of Queens Plaza). From this point on, the Queens Boulevard Line has only two tracks.

The line continues west through the 53rd Street Tunnel under the East River into Manhattan. After Lexington Avenue, the westbound tracks rise above the eastbound tracks. A flying junction after Fifth Avenue ties the westbound tracks into the southbound local tracks of the IND Sixth Avenue Line (NYCS Sixth local), which begin here as a merge of these connection tracks and the IND 63rd Street Line (NYCS 63rd IND west). At that junction, the Sixth Avenue Line turns west under 53rd Street, just to the south of the Queens Boulevard Line. The two lines share platforms at Seventh Avenue, but no connecting tracks are present. Then the Queens Boulevard Line turns south below the IND Eighth Avenue Line (NYCS Eighth 50th) with separate platforms at 50th Street, and then the tracks split to join the local and express tracks of the Eighth Avenue Line north of 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal. At that station, a special lower platform formerly served a single southbound track from the Queens Boulevard Line, merging with both southbound tracks of the Eighth Avenue Line south of that station. It was speculated that this platform and level was built to prevent the IRT from extending their Flushing Line west. Recently, the MTA announced plans to extend the Flushing Line. The track through the lower level has been disconnected,Fact|date=April 2008 and the lower level will be partially demolished to make way for the new Flushing Line tunnel.

Background

tation listing

NYCS service legend
alltimes = show
allexceptrush =
allexceptnights = show
nightsonly = show
nightsweekends = show
weekdaysonly = show
rushonly = show
rushpeak = show^* southbound only

External links

* [http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/qblvd.html nycsubway.org — IND Queens Boulevard Line]