The Franklin Avenue station is a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

complex shared by the

BMT Franklin Avenue Line The BMT Franklin Avenue Line (also known as the Brighton–Franklin Line) is a Medium-capacity rail system, lower capacity rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, New York City Subway’s B Division (NYCS), B Division in Brooklyn, New ...

and the

IND Fulton Street Line The IND Fulton Street Line is a rapid transit line of the IND Division of the New York City Subway, running from the Cranberry Street Tunnel under the East River through central Brooklyn to a terminus in Ozone Park, Queens. The IND Rockawa ...

of the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

, located at Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street in

Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Bedford–Stuyvesant ( ), colloquially known as Bed–Stuy, is a neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Bedford–Stuyvesant is bordered by Flushing Avenue to the north (bordering Williamsburg), Classon ...

. It is served by the: *

Franklin Avenue Shuttle The Franklin Avenue Shuttle is a New York City Subway shuttle service operating in Brooklyn. The shuttle service uses the BMT Franklin Avenue Line exclusively and operates 24 hours a day. The north terminus is Franklin Avenue, with a transfe ...

at all times * C train at all times except late nights * A train during late nights __TOC__

Station layout

BMT Franklin Avenue Line platform

The Franklin Avenue station on the

has one track and one

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

. It is the northern terminal of the

History

This elevated station opened on August 15, 1896, to connect with the adjacent Franklin Avenue station of the

Fulton Street Elevated The Fulton Street Line, also called the Fulton Street Elevated or Kings County Line, was an elevated rail line mostly in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It ran above Fulton Street from Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn, in Downtown Brooklyn east ...

(see ). It was a replacement for the August 18, 1878-built Bedford Terminal station originally built by the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway. It was a two-track through station with side platforms. Just before the Fulton Street Line station,

steam railroad Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleratio ...

trains from the Fulton Street Line turned south onto the

BMT Brighton Line The BMT Brighton Line, also known as the Brighton Beach Line, is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York. Local service is provided at all times by the Q train, but is joined by the B express ...

to access

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach ...

. The station also had a connection with the Franklin Avenue Line streetcars, as well as Fulton Street Line streetcars. In 1920, the track connection to the Fulton Street Line was severed as Brighton Line trains to

Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...

and Manhattan were rerouted via a new tunnel under Flatbush Avenue. In 1924, the station was rebuilt as a single-track station. The former westbound (now northbound) track was decked over with a wood platform to accommodate crowds transferring between the Fulton Street and Franklin Avenue Lines. The station platforms were also extended south to accommodate longer trains. Originally accommodated for five elevated BU cars for a length of ~250 ft (~76 m), they were now able to hold six subway-type AB Standard cars for a length of ~402 feet (~123 m). The next stop to the south was

Dean Street Dean Street is a street in Soho, central London, running from Oxford Street south to Shaftesbury Avenue. It crosses Old Compton Street and is linked to Frith Street by Bateman Street. Culture The Soho Theatre presents new plays and stand-u ...

but only for Brighton Line trains. The next stop to the west was Grand Avenue. When the

BMT BMT or bmt may refer to: Medicine * Bone marrow transplantation, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation Science and technology * 5-hydroxyfuranocoumarin 5-O-methyltransferase, an enzyme * Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the national ...

system was taken over by the City of New York on June 1, 1940, the Fulton Street Elevated Line was closed and later demolished while paper transfers were issued at Franklin Avenue for passengers to access the new

subway. In 1985, the station had only 210 paying daily riders on a typical weekday in 1985 not counting farebeaters, making it one of the least used stations in the system.

Rehabilitation

This station was completely rebuilt between 1998 and 1999 as a single-track station with a single platform on the west side of the track. The new platform is only long and can accommodate a train of two -long cars, or three -long cars. The track ends at a

bumper block A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track. The design of the buffer stop is dependent, in part, on the kind of couplings ...

at the north end of the platform. The 1999 artwork here is called ''Life and Continued Growth'' by Eric Pryor. It consists of stained glass panels on the top of the entranceway to the shuttle platform. In 2024,

Skanska Skanska AB () is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. It was established in 1887 as a concrete product manufacturer. History Aktiebolaget Skånska Cementgjuteriet (Scanian Cement Casting Ltd) was established i ...

was hired to replace 21 escalators across the New York City Subway system for $146 million, including one escalator at the Franklin Avenue station.

Exit

At the north end of the platform is the station's main station house, a three-story building on the southwest corner of Fulton Street and Franklin Avenue that connects to both platforms of Franklin Avenue on the IND Fulton Street Line. One up-only escalator and one long staircase go down to the

fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A s ...

area at ground level, where one staircase goes down to the southbound IND platform and one turnstile bank provides access to/from the station. A set of doors then lead out to the streets after the token booth. The shuttle platform has another short staircase that goes down to a mesh-enclosed bridge above Fulton Street. On the other end is an elevator and one staircase going down to the northbound IND platform. A second elevator from the shuttle platform goes down to the overpass, main fare control area, and the southbound IND platform. These two elevators make the entire station complex

ADA-accessible The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...

IND Fulton Street Line platforms

The Franklin Avenue station is an underground local

on the

History

The Franklin Avenue station was constructed as part of the IND Fulton Street Line, the main line of the city-owned

Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND; formerly the ISS) was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway. It was first constructed as the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan in 1932. ...

(IND)'s main line from

to southern Queens. The groundbreaking for the line was held on April 16, 1929, at Fulton Street and Arlington Place. This station opened on April 9, 1936, as part of an extension of the

(IND) from its previous Brooklyn terminus at Jay Street–Borough Hall, which opened three years earlier, to Rockaway Avenue. The new IND subway replaced the BMT Fulton Street Elevated, and this station replaced its namesake Franklin Avenue, which closed on May 31, 1940. When

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

died on August 16, 2018, the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...

pasted sticker signs with the word "Respect" on the walls of the Franklin Avenue station, as well as the Franklin Street station in Manhattan. A Brooklyn resident had suggested adding the signs after impromptu tributes to Franklin had arisen at these two stations.

Station layout

Opened on April 9, 1936, it has four tracks and two

s. The two center express tracks are used by the A train during daytime hours. Both platforms have a light green trim line with a dark green border and small "FRANKLIN" tile captions below them in white lettering on a black background. The mosaic name tablets read "FRANKLIN AVE." in white

sans-serif In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif (), gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than ...

font on dark green background and light green border. Directional signs pointing to fare control are underneath some of them. Both platforms are entirely column-less. Prior to introduction of the

MetroCard metroCARD is a contactless smartcard ticketing system for public transport services in the city (and surrounding suburbs) of Adelaide, South Australia. The system is managed by Adelaide Metro and is usable on their bus, train and tram services ...

, the Euclid Avenue-bound platform had a same-level fare control and an out-of-system paper transfer was handed out at either IND fare control areas (the only place in the subway where this was still being done) for access to the shuttle station only. After the MetroCard was introduced, a paper MetroCard transfer was issued from a machine that resembled a bus farebox. These transfers were good for 20 minutes and were discontinued after construction of the in-system transfer.

Exits

Fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A s ...

areas are at the extreme east ( railroad south) end of the platforms. On the Manhattan-bound side, there is an unstaffed

turnstile A turnstile (also called a gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce One-way traffic#One-way traffic of people, one-way ...

bank and one staircase going up to the northeast corner of Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street. Inside fare control, one staircase and one elevator go up to the overpass above Fulton Street that connects to the shuttle platform. On the Euclid Avenue-bound platform, a staircase goes up to the main station house, where a connection to the Franklin Avenue Shuttle is available. An elevator from the platform goes up to the shuttle platform with intermediate stops at the main station house and overpass. Directional signs obscured with paint, along with newly tiled rooms, point to evidence of a closed exits on the west (railroad north) end of the station, which went to both eastern corners of Classon Avenue and Fulton Street. These exits were closed in the 1980s. The exit to the Manhattan-bound platform is blocked by a trapdoor, while the exit to the eastbound platform is completely sealed.

BMT Fulton Street Line platforms

This original elevated station at this intersection opened on April 24, 1888, along the demolished

BMT Fulton Street Line The Fulton Street Line, also called the Fulton Street Elevated or Kings County Line, was an elevated rail line mostly in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It ran above Fulton Street (Brooklyn), Fulton Street from Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn, in ...

. It was originally built by the Kings County Elevated Railway, and was not only one of the original stations along the line, but the penultimate station, until it was extended to Albany and Sumner Avenues the next month, Rockaway Avenue by the end of the year, Van Siclen Avenue in 1889, Montauk Avenue in 1892, and Grant Avenue in 1894. In 1896, the Brooklyn and Brighton Beach Railroad connected the former BF&CI line to the station. It was a two-track through station with side platforms, gaining a third track along the south side at the point where

trains from the Fulton Street Line turned onto the

to access

. The southern platform was shared with the northbound Brighton Line platform, with the different sections of the platform located at right angles. As with the Franklin Street platforms, the station also had a connection with the Franklin Avenue Line streetcars. The eastbound platform of the BMT Fulton Street Line and the westbound platform of the Franklin Avenue Line were already connected before 1920. When the extension of the

Montague Street Tunnel The Montague Street Tunnel () is a rail tunnel of the New York City Subway under the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, connecting the BMT Broadway Line and BMT Nassau Street Line with the BMT Fourth Avenue Line. The R ...

under Flatbush Avenue rerouted Brighton Line trains to

in 1920, the track connection to the BMT Franklin and Brighton Lines were severed. The connection to the now Franklin Avenue Shuttle was rebuilt in 1924 as a single-track station. The former westbound (now northbound) track was decked over with a wood platform to accommodate crowds transferring between the Fulton Street and Franklin Avenue Lines. The next stop to the east was

Nostrand Avenue Nostrand Avenue () is a major street in Brooklyn, New York, that runs for north from Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay to Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg, where it continues as Lee Avenue. It occupies the position of East 30th Street in the Br ...

. The next stop to the west was Grand Avenue. When the

system was taken over by the City of New York on June 1, 1940, the Fulton Street Elevated Line was closed and later demolished as the IND Fulton Avenue Subway station built four years earlier was used as a replacement. The short segment of the Fulton Street Elevated adjacent to the Franklin Avenue shuttle platforms remained standing until the reconstruction project of 1998 and 1999.

References

External links

NYC Subway.org: * * * nycsubway.org �
Life and Continued Growth Artwork by Eric Pryor (1999)
Station Reporter: * Station Reporter �

* Station Reporter �

* Station Reporter �

Other: * The Subway Nut
Franklin Avenue Pictures
* MTA's Arts For Transit �

Google Maps Street View:
Franklin Avenue entrance to Manhattan bound Fulton Street Line

Franklin Avenue entrance to Rockaway bound Fulton Street Line and Shuttle

Overpass

BMT platform

IND platforms
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin Avenue - Fulton Street (New York City Subway) BMT Franklin Avenue Shuttle stations IND Fulton Street Line stations New York City Subway transfer stations BMT Fulton Street Line stations Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn New York City Subway stations in Brooklyn New York City Subway terminals Railway stations in the United States opened in 1936 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1896 1936 establishments in New York City