60th Street Tunnel Connection

The 60th Street Tunnel Connection[1][2] or 11th Street Cut[3] is a short rapid transit line of the New York City Subway connecting the 60th Street Tunnel under the East River (which connects to the BMT Broadway Line) with the IND Queens Boulevard Line west of Queens Plaza in Long Island City, Queens, New York City, United States. The 11th Street Connection name comes from the street above the split from the 60th Street Tunnel. The line does not have any stations, and carries R trains at all times but late nights.

60th Street Tunnel Connection
Route map
Astoria Line
Queens Boulevard Line
Flushing Line
 Queens Plaza
 Queensboro Plaza
60th Street Tunnel Connection
Crosstown Line
Flushing Line
 Court Square–23rd Street
53rd Street Tunnel under East River
Roosevelt Island
60th Street Tunnel under East River
53rd Street Line
Broadway Line
Track map
to Queens Plaza
to Queensboro Plaza
to Court Square (Crosstown)
to Court Square–23rd Street
to Lexington Avenue–59th Street
Legend
60th Street Tunnel Connection
other lines (elevated│underground)

History

The connection opened on December 1, 1955,[4] and permitted BMT trains from Brooklyn to use the IND Queens Boulevard Line; the first service to do so was the Brighton Beach Local via Tunnel (1, now Q).[5] This connection allowed for an increase of 20 trains per hour on Queens Boulevard.[6] Unlike the later Chrystie Street Connection, this was of the nature of a trackage rights operation, without the mixing of BMT and IND equipment or crews, as opposed to a true operating integration.

Service history

The first service to use the connection was the daytime 1 local via Montague Street Tunnel, which became the QT in the early 1960s. The QT was rerouted to Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard on January 1, 1961, and the RR was sent through the connection during daytime hours. The EE was created on November 26, 1967, when the Chrystie Street Connection opened and the RR moved back to Astoria. On August 27, 1976, the N was extended through the connection, absorbing the EE; this change sent late night and weekend trains through the tunnel for the first time. The N and R were swapped in Queens on May 24, 1987, taking the R through the connection in a move that reassigned a former BMT route (the R) to the IND's Jamaica Yard (it had heretofore used the Coney Island Yard).[7] Late night service was later truncated to 36th Street in Brooklyn,[8] then later extended to Whitehall Street in Manhattan.[9] The connection is not being used during late nights as of May 2022.[10]

Routing
Station service legend
Stops all times Stops all times
Stops all times except late nights Stops all times except late nights
Stops weekdays during the day Stops weekdays during the day
Time period details
Disabled access Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act
Disabled access ↑ Station is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act
in the indicated direction only
Disabled access ↓
Elevator access to mezzanine only
Disabled access Station Tracks Services Opened Notes
begins as a split from the IND Queens Boulevard Line local tracks south of Queens Plaza
(no stations) local R all except late nights December 1, 1955
merges with the BMT Astoria Line (N all times ​W weekdays) south of Queensboro Plaza
and enters the 60th Street Tunnel as the BMT Broadway Line local tracks

References
  1. New York City Transit Authority, Rapid Transit Construction Program, Map, File No. 72, Dwg. No. 699, dated June 14, 1954
  2. Bennett, Charles G. (October 13, 1952). "Tunnel in Queens to Speed Transit". The New York Times. p. 23. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
  3. Gene Sansone, New York Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars, ISBN 0-8018-6886-6, pp. 184 and 292
  4. Cunningham, Joseph; DeHart, Leonard O. (January 1, 1993). A History of the New York City Subway System. J. Schmidt, R. Giglio, and K. Lang.
  5. "Straphangers Sit As Tunnel Opens". The New York Times. December 2, 1955. p. 29. Retrieved February 13, 2010.
  6. Proceedings. New York (N Y. ) Board of Transportation. 1948. p. 1198.
  7. New York City Transit Authority. "Announcing Service Changes on the N and R Routes Advertising Supplement to The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and Newsday, © 1987 New York City Transit Authority". Subway Nut. Archived from the original on August 19, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  8. "Service Changes September 30, 1990" (PDF). subwaynut.com. New York City Transit Authority. September 30, 1990. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 26, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  10. "Subway Service Guide" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 2019. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
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