IND Fulton Street Line

The following services use part or all of the IND Fulton Street Line: Under Fulton Street, the line is mainly single level, except at Nostrand Avenue, where the express tracks are on the upper level and the local tracks are on the lower level. During the subway line's construction in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the old, now-demolished BMT Fulton Street Elevated (which the IND line replaced) had to be supported. The stations along Liberty Avenue in Queens, from 80th Street–Hudson Street through Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard, as well as the current three-track elevated structure, were built for the elevated Fulton Street Line in 1915 as part of the BMT's portion of the Dual Contracts. This was the only section of the Fulton El that was built specifically to handle steel subway cars, as opposed to lighter wooden elevated cars. Here, it becomes a three-track line, with the center track coming from Pitkin Yard. Just past Rockaway Boulevard, the IND Rockaway Line branches southward while the Fulton Street Line continues over Liberty Avenue to its terminus at Lefferts Boulevard. ==History==

Early history The Fulton Street subway was the city-owned Independent System (IND)'s main line from Downtown Brooklyn to southern Queens. The construction of the line required multiple high-voltage transmission lines to be rerouted under Atlantic Avenue. Due to the presence of many gas mains, telephone lines, sewers, fire alarm wires, and telegraph connections, digging of the subway line had to be done by hand shovels. In October 1930, the roof of the subway tunnel was completed to Vanderbilt Avenue, and the roadbed was ready for the installation of tracks. The New York City Board of Transportation required four months to pass following the replacement of dirt in excavations before permanent pavement could be installed to allow the soil to settle. The line was opened from Jay Street to Rockaway Avenue on April 9, 1936, including the stub terminal at Court Street. To allow the subway line to be built, the following streets were widened from : Jay Street between Nassau Street to Fulton Street, Smith Street between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue, and Schermerhorn Street between Smith Street and Nevins Street. The land acquired to widen the streets was valued at $1.75 million. Late 1930s and 1940s Further construction was delayed by funding problems due to the Great Depression in the 1930s. The progress lasted only a few years, as all work on the last portions in Brooklyn was stopped by December 1942 shortly after the United States entered World War II, with Broadway−East New York complete but not in operation due to lack of signal equipment, and the remaining stations to Euclid Avenue as unfinished shells. The Court Street station was closed on June 1, 1946, due to low ridership and because of its close proximity to the Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station. After World War II ended, workers and materials became available for public use again. The badly needed extension to the more efficient terminal at Broadway−East New York (the current Broadway Junction station) opened on December 30, 1946. Because these stations were completed later than the rest of the line, they received different design features than other IND stations, including different wall tiles and fluorescent lighting. The Fulton Street express tracks were not used in regular service until October 24, 1949. A trains began running express during rush hours to Broadway–East New York, with trains extended to provide local service. The express reduced travel time by five minutes. 1950s to 1990s In 1953, the platforms were lengthened at Ralph Avenue and Broadway–East New York to to allow E trains to run eleven car trains. The began running eleven car trains during rush hours on September 8, 1953. The extra train car increased the total carrying capacity by 4,000 passengers. The lengthening project cost $400,000. In late 1952, the Board of Transportation began construction on a connection between the IND and both the Fulton El and the Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, which included a new underground station at Grant Avenue. The connection from the 80th Street elevated station to the rest of the BMT Fulton Elevated was severed on April 26, 1956, and the IND was extended east (track direction south) from Euclid Avenue via the intermediate station at Grant Avenue, and a connecting ramp (known as the Grant Avenue ramp). The new service to Lefferts Boulevard began three days later. On June 28, 1956, the connection to the IND Rockaway Line east of Rockaway Boulevard was opened. 2000s to present The 2015–2019 Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Capital Plan called for the Fulton Street Line's Clinton–Washington Avenues, Kingston–Throop Avenues, and Van Siclen Avenue stations, along with 30 others, to undergo a complete overhaul as part of the Enhanced Station Initiative. Updates would include cellular service, Wi-Fi, USB charging stations, interactive service advisories and maps, improved signage, and improved station lighting. However, in April 2018, it was announced that cost overruns had forced the MTA to reduce the number of subway stations included in the program from 33 stations to 20. The stations to be renovated along the IND Fulton Street Line were among the 13 stations without funding, which will be pushed back to the 2020–2024 Capital Plan. As part of a program to upgrade the signaling of the New York City Subway, the MTA's 2020–2024 Capital Program calls for adding communications-based train control (CBTC) to several more lines, including the IND Fulton Street Line west of the Euclid Avenue station. The CBTC signaling system would replace the line's existing signal system, which has not been upgraded since the line originally opened in the 1930s and 1940s. On November 9, 2022, the MTA put out the request for proposals for the design-build contract to install CBTC on the Fulton Street Line between High Street and Euclid Avenue. CBTC installation on the rest of the Fulton Street Line from Euclid Avenue to Ozone Park–Lefferts Boulevard was proposed as part of the MTA's 2025–2029 Capital Program. In December 2025, L.K. Comstock received a $1.3 billion contract to install CBTC on both sections of the Fulton Street Line; the installation was to be funded using revenue from congestion pricing in New York City. ==Second System planned route==

Early in the planning of the subway, the city considered recapturing parts of the BMT Jamaica Line, which had been built under the Dual Contracts. This would have created two branches of the Fulton Street Subway east of Broadway Junction. Bellmouths were built into the outer walls of the subway tunnel just east of the Broadway Junction station for a future connection. The 1929 Second System plan suggested recapturing and extending the Fulton elevated along Liberty, Brinkerhoff and Hollis Avenues to Springfield Boulevard, near Hempstead Turnpike, Belmont Park, and the Queens Village LIRR Station. In a 1940 plan, which was revised in 1945, the IND Fulton Street Line would connect to the IND Rockaway Line in a similar manner to the 1939 plan, via an extension of the subway under Pitkin Avenue. The line, east of Euclid Avenue, would be 4 tracks, with local stations at 76th Street and 84th Street, and an express station at Cross Bay Boulevard. At Cross Bay Boulevard, a flying junction would let the local tracks cross over to the inside and the express tracks cross over to the outside. The layout would be similar to that of Manhattan's 168th Street station. East of Cross Bay Boulevard, another flying junction would bring a two-track branch over the line to a pair of portals north of Aqueduct–North Conduit Avenue station. Meanwhile, the Fulton Street Line's four tracks would merge into two tracks, and end at 105th Street (today's Aqueduct Racetrack), where a scissors crossover would be present just west of the station. Crossovers would also be located between the local and express pair of tracks east of 76th Street, and between the two express tracks east of Cross Bay Boulevard. Currently the line ends at Lefferts Boulevard in Ozone Park (the former end of the Fulton El), and only the Rockaway extension was completed. The mainline tracks that go past the Euclid Avenue station were to be part of a 4-track line to Cambria Heights. ==Station listing==