IND Queens Boulevard Line Totally Explained

Everything about Ind Queens Boulevard Line totally explained

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.
During normal times, 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 E and F express and the R and V local. The R and V end at Forest Hills, where the F switches to the local tracks to the end at 179th Street in Jamaica; the E stays on the express tracks to the IND Archer Avenue Line junction, where it splits to Jamaica Center. The F and R split onto the IND 63rd Street Line and BMT Broadway Line (via the 60th Street Tunnel Connection) in Long Island City, while the E and V continue west into Manhattan to the IND Eighth Avenue Line and IND Sixth Avenue Line respectively.
The F is the only service that uses the same route at all times. The R stops running after 11:00 p.m., while the V doesn't run after midnight or on weekends. After 9:00 p.m. and on weekends, the E switches to the local tracks east of Forest Hills, and after midnight, it runs completely local. One extra service - the 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 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 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 begin on the local tracks, and 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 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 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 turning northwest and the IND Crosstown Line 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, which begin here as a merge of these connection tracks and the IND 63rd Street Line . 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 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, and the lower level will be partially demolished to make way for the new Flushing Line tunnel.

Background

Station listing

	Station	Tracks	Opened	Transfers and notes
	179th Street	all	December 10, 1950
	169th Street	local	April 24, 1937
	Parsons Boulevard	all	April 24, 1937
	Sutphin Boulevard	local	April 24, 1937
IND Archer Avenue Line merges
	Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard	local	April 24, 1937
	Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike	all	December 31, 1936
	75th Avenue	local	December 31, 1936
	Forest Hills–71st Avenue	all	December 31, 1936
	67th Avenue	local	December 31, 1936
	63rd Drive–Rego Park	local	December 31, 1936
	Woodhaven Boulevard	local	December 31, 1936
	Grand Avenue–Newtown	local	December 31, 1936
	Elmhurst Avenue	local	December 31, 1936
	Roosevelt Avenue–Jackson Heights	all	August 19, 1933	IRT Flushing Line at 74th Street–Broadway
	65th Street	local	August 19, 1933
express tracks diverge
	Northern Boulevard	local	August 19, 1933
	46th Street	local	August 19, 1933
	Steinway Street	local	August 19, 1933
express tracks rejoin
	36th Street	local	August 19, 1933
IND 63rd Street Line splits
	Queens Plaza	all	August 19, 1933
local tracks split to IND Crosstown Line and 60th Street Tunnel Connection
	23rd Street–Ely Avenue	express	August 28, 1939	IND Crosstown Line at Long Island City–Court Square IRT Flushing Line at 45th Road–Court House Square (MetroCard-only transfer)
	Lexington Avenue–53rd Street	express	August 19, 1933	IRT Lexington Avenue Line at 51st Street
	Fifth Avenue/53rd Street	express	August 19, 1933
connection to IND Sixth Avenue Line splits
	Seventh Avenue	express	August 19, 1933	IND Sixth Avenue Line
^*	50th Street	express	August 19, 1933	IND Eighth Avenue Line (transfer in same direction only)
merges with IND Eighth Avenue Line

^* southbound only

Further Information

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