BrooklynBMT Fourth Avenue Line and BMT Brighton Line

|- |width=20% align=right|Services||

|- |width=20% align=right|Transfers||

|- |width=20% align=right|Crossovers||

|- |width=20% align=right|Next north||via bridge to Broadway Line:
via bridge to Chrystie Street Connection: Grand Street ()
via tunnel: Lawrence Street (M ⁽¹⁾ N ⁽⁵⁾ R ⁽¹²³⁴⁾)
via bridge: Myrtle Avenue ()

|- |width=20% align=right|Next south||Fourth Avenue Line (local): Pacific Street ()
Brighton Line: Atlantic Avenue ()

|- |width=20% align=right|Opened||September 6, 1915 DeKalb Avenue has six tracks, with island platforms between the first and second, and fifth and sixth tracks (the two center tracks have no platforms). To the north, the outside and center tracks head towards the Manhattan Bridge, with a flying junction to split the tracks between two on the south side (to the BMT Manhattan Bridge Line) and two on the north side (to the IND Chrystie Street Connection). In the middle of this flying junction is the abandoned Myrtle Avenue station. The second and fifth tracks from DeKalb Avenue head north along the BMT Fourth Avenue Line into the Montague Street Tunnel towards the BMT Broadway Line.

To the south, the two center tracks become the express tracks on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line . The four outer tracks split at a flying junction with two becoming the BMT Brighton Line and two becoming the Fourth Avenue Line local tracks. South of this junction, crossover tracks connect the local tracks to the express tracks, allowing Fourth Avenue Line express trains to stop at DeKalb Avenue.

Since it opened, DeKalb Avenue has been a major transfer point between services, with the lines splitting north and south of the station. DeKalb Avenue is handicapped accessible for cross-platform transfers between trains going in the same direction. The fully accessible Atlantic Avenue /Pacific Avenue complex, just to the south, provides for the same transfers but requires passing through a corridor to transfer.

Until late April 1961, the station had only four tracks. This resulted in delays, as there are six tracks total on the lines coming into it on each end. At the same time, the junction towards the Manhattan Bridge was rebuilt, and the Myrtle Avenue station was closed. The Chrystie Street Connection project was also tied to this improvement, as it would handle more trains coming off the bridge.

An earlier plan called the Ashland Place Connection would have allowed trains on the elevated BMT Fulton Street Line trains to tun into the subway through DeKalb Avenue, making the bottleneck even worse. This was not built in part because the city was more interested in building its own system, the .[1] However, a whole new subway was also planned, splitting from this line and heading under the East River to the BMT Broadway Line at City Hall . This plan was considered in various forms between late 1916 and 1926.

The DeKalb Avenue station was built with provisions for a possible track connection to Nevins Street on the IRT Eastern Parkway Line; see that page for details.

External links

• NYCsubway.org - DeKalb Avenue Station

References

• Better Fulton St. Transit, new York Times December 30, 1916 page 10 (the first mention of the Ashland Place Connection in the New York Times)
• Plans New Transit Tube to Brooklyn, New York Times December 7, 1919 page E1
• Wants Subway Pushed, New York Times December 20, 1926 page 16 (the last mention of the Ashland Place Connection in the New York Times)
• Construction of New IND Tunnel for 6th Ave. Line Begins Today, New York Times April 19, 1961 page 41