Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station

Origins Rail transportation to Coney Island had been available since 1864. The Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad was the first steam railroad to Coney Island. It ran from Fifth Avenue and 36th Street in what is now Sunset Park, to its West End Terminal, at the present-day Coney Island Terminal's location, along what is now the right-of-way of the West End Line. The nearby Culver Depot, along the Atlantic Ocean waterfront near the site of the present-day West Eighth Street station, served the Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railway (now the Brighton Line) and Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad (now the Culver Line). Other rail transportation included The Manhattan Beach Railroad; The Sea Beach Railroad; The Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad; a route to Long Island City via the Long Island Rail Road; These railroads were not all connected to each other, resulting in a series of spur lines crossing the island. New West End Terminal In the late 1910s, a completely reconstructed New West End Terminal station (which gradually became better known as Coney Island Terminal station) was built on an elevated structure. The new terminal unified the terminals of most of the former steam railroad lines terminating at Coney Island, aside from the Long Island Rail Road-controlled New York and Manhattan Beach Railway. and the BRT West End Line had been similarly inaugurated on December 23, 1918. With the opening of the Culver Line on May 1, 1920, the terminal was finally completed. As a result of the Culver Line extension, the BRT's double fare to Coney Island expired, and was cut from 10 cents to 5 cents, In 1929, the BMT announced a new entrance for the station. This new entrance would have retail space that would be "periodically inspected." In June 1933, a new Brighton–Franklin weekday service was announced. This service would operate express (except in evening rush hours) providing a direct route from Franklin Avenue to Coney Island. Culver elevated trains would operate to either Sands Street or Park Row depending on the time of day. There was a transfer from the Coney Island Terminal to the Norton's Point Trolley to Sea Gate, via an elevated footbridge across Stillwell Avenue to the elevated trolley station. The trolley ramp spanning Stillwell Avenue and West 15th Street was torn down around this time. Matters became more complicated in 1954, when the Independent Subway System (IND) started operating D trains on the Culver Line. At the time, the tracks had lettered names (i.e. Track A, Track B, all the way to Track H from east to west). However, the IND also used lettered designations for its routes (i.e. A, B, all the way to H as well). The BMT had used numbered route designations up to this point, so this had not been a problem. However, the D route was now using the Culver Line, which departed from tracks E and F. To avoid confusion, the tracks were given numbered designations. In 1979, the City Planning Commission proposed something similar, in that Coney Island residents would get a free transfer between the /B74 bus routes and the subway station. The experimental free transfer was instituted in November 1980, following three years of continuous advocacy by a Coney Island tenants' group. At the time, subway and bus fares were separate and cost a combined $1.20. The first phase of the program allowed riders to transfer for free, paying a 60-cent combined fare, while the second phase allowed for a half-price transfer, with the combined fare being 90 cents. Schedules showing trains' departure times were installed at the Coney Island Terminal in 1965. Station renovation Once a grand hub, the Coney Island Terminal had started deteriorating by the 1960s. The steel and concrete station was badly corroded by the effects of salt water and poor maintenance. In 1983, the MTA added funding for a renovation of the Stillwell Avenue station to its 1980–1984 capital plan. The New York Times wrote in 2008: "The old station was a gaping masterpiece of stalactited decrepitude [...] nicely mirroring the seedy ambience of the Coney Island Boardwalk." Initial renovation attempts Plans to renovate the Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station were brought up again in the late 1980s, after restaurant mogul Horace Bullard proposed rebuilding the nearby Steeplechase Park. The Steeplechase Park reconstruction was later canceled. Nonetheless, plans for the station renovation moved forward, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) indicated in 1988 that it would spend $30,000 to study what to do with the station building. At the time, The Washington Post characterized the shops around the entrance as being arranged around a dark alley that smelled like urine; according to the Post, it had been 15 years since the station had been repainted. By the mid-1990s, the MTA had finalized plans to overhaul the station completely. On December 23, 1992, a contract was awarded for $21.14 million to rehabilitate the viaduct at the station. As part of the project, the concrete on columns and beams were to be removed and replaced. Once work started on the project, the contractor discovered that the extent of the concrete deterioration was greater than expected. Work on the change proceeded on April 1, 1994, and additional workers, including asbestos and lead abatement, were retroactively approved on May 23, 1994. By late 1998, the MTA was planning to renovate the station for $200 million. The MTA requested $125 million in federal funding for the renovation the next year. As part of renovation, a group of satellite dishes was proposed for the station. By this point, the New York City Transit Police were operating from a tent adjacent to the station, and there were vestiges of a carousel within the station. Despite the economic effects of the September 11 attacks in 2001, the MTA awarded a $282 million construction contract the next month. A full reconstruction started in November 2001 with the closure of the Sea Beach platform, which was used by the N train. At the time, the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce estimated that 75 percent of tourists to Coney Island traveled there via one of the two subway stations. The project included restoring the BMT station building's facade and adding a roof with solar panels.) could keep serving the station. During the 2003 season, merchants in Coney Island reported that their business had declined significantly because of the station's partial closure. The New York Times called the refurbished station house "one of the grandest subway stations in the city" and wrote that the station house would give Surf Avenue "a much needed face-lift". The project was completed on May 29, 2005, The final cost of the renovation is variously cited as $240 million, $260 million, or $300 million. 2010s to present In May 2010, the station received four new electronic train departure boards for each platform. These boards are controlled by dispatchers, based on the departure times posted on subway timetables. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the station house was flooded, and some electrical equipment was damaged. These stores were supposed to have opened in 2020, The MTA announced in late 2022 that it would open customer service centers at 15 stations; the centers would provide services such as travel information and OMNY farecards. The first six customer service centers, including one at the Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station, were to open in early 2023. The Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station's customer service center opened in February 2023. The MTA also announced plans in 2023 to add bicycle parking racks at the Stillwell Avenue station. On December 22, 2024, a woman was immolated on an F train that was stopped at the station; an undocumented immigrant was later charged with her murder. == Station layout ==

The station has eight tracks and four island platforms. There are ADA-compliant ramps from the three easternmost platforms (served by the , the , and the , respectively) to the main station building below the platforms; a non-ADA-compliant ramp leads from the (western) platform, with steps. ADA access to the platform is provided by an elevator at the north end of that platform. The elevator leads to an overpass that connects to another ADA-compliant elevator at the northern end of the platform. There are also stairways down to the station building. Both the roof and the station itself were built by a joint venture between Granite Halmar Construction and Schiavone Construction. The artwork consists of glass bricks measuring across and thick, which in turn form a wall measuring tall. The wall contains silk screen prints that feature beach-related scenes, especially scenes related to Coney Island's history. The width of the wall is variously described as Station house The station house, called the Portal Building, was designed by di Domenico + Partners and built by Vertex Engineering Services. The modern station building's design is supposed to evoke the area's amusement park-based history, with small lights hanging from the narrow, articulated tower that rises next to the station entrance. There are also art deco lamps and a semicircular window that fills an arch above the station entrance. The Portal Building's main entrance is on Surf Avenue past the station's south end. From this entrance, there is a police precinct (Transit District 34 of the New York City Police Department, or NYPD), retail space, and the station's fare control area. There is also a side entrance from Stillwell Avenue itself. which cover about . this equates to an annual output of 250,000 kWh. The solar panels provide about 15 percent of the station's power. Although the solar roof cost about $4 million more than a glass roof of the same size, the MTA believed that the panels would save money in the long run. Services and tracks Each line has its own pair of tracks and a pair of double switches between these tracks, and each service has its own island platform serving these tracks. In regular operation, no service needs to cross over the tracks of another service. The tracks are numbered sequentially from east to west, with the N train at tracks 1 and 2; the Q at tracks 3 and 4; the F at tracks 5 and 6; and the D at tracks 7 and 8. The next stations to the north are for trains, for trains, and for trains. Though designed as a through station, service has rarely been provided between tracks. Aside from service changes, only two services have been scheduled to run through the station. These brief services ran as follows: • 7 Brighton–Franklin service, via the BMT Franklin Avenue Line and BMT Brighton Line, through Stillwell Avenue to Manhattan (summer Sundays 1924–1952) • NX Sea Beach "super-express" service (rush hours 1967–1968) North of the station, tracks 7 and 6 merge into one track (with a switch from track 7 to track 8), tracks 5 through 2 merge into another track, and tracks 1 and 8 stay separate, so that there is a four-tracked structure when the BMT West End Line and BMT Sea Beach Line cross the Coney Island Creek. Before the structure crosses the creek, all four tracks have switches that connect the tracks to each other, before the West End and Sea Beach Lines split. Tracks from these lines then lead into Coney Island Yard. South of the station, tracks 4, 5, and 6 stay separate from the other tracks (with a pair of switches between tracks 5 and 6) and tracks 1, 2, and 3 merge and have a diamond crossover with track 4. Tracks 3 and 4 (the Brighton Line tracks) are above tracks 5 and 6 (the Culver Line tracks) at this point. == Bus terminal ==

Located underneath the subway station terminal is a set of bus stops that loop on Stillwell Avenue and Mermaid Avenue that make up a bus terminal for four New York City Bus lines. The bus terminal provides easier transfer to the subway and bus connections. One additional bus line is located near the station complex. Subway–bus transfer coordination To reduce missed connections and waiting time between the and buses and the , New York City Transit began operating yellow holding lights to signal bus operators to wait for imminently arriving trains. The lights, which began operating March 10, 2014, are on the northeast corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues and in the Mermaid Avenue Bus Loop. This system operates during late nights, from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. daily. == Nearby points of interest ==

in the background The station is located across Surf Avenue from the Coney Island amusement area. It is close to the Luna Park amusement park, formerly the site of Astroland; The Parachute Jump, a former parachute-drop ride later converted into a lighted tower, is nearby and visible from the station. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, held on July 4 each year, also takes place at the Nathan's shop, diagonally across the intersection of Surf and Stillwell Avenues on the southwest corner. The former Shore Theater is located on the northwest corner of that intersection, west of the station and north of Nathan's Famous. == Notes ==