63rd Street lines

BMT/IND 63rd Street Lines
The IND 63rd Street Line is served by the F and <F> Express. The BMT 63rd Street Line is served by the Q. Limited BMT service is also provided by the N and R.
Overview
Owner	City of New York
Locale	Manhattan and Queens
Termini	West of Lexington Avenue–63rd Street, Manhattan South of 72nd Street, Manhattan; West of 36th Street, Queens
Stations	3
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	New York City Subway
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Daily ridership	25,326[1]
History
Opened	October 29, 1989; 35 years ago (1989-10-29) (IND) May 1, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-05-01) (temporary usage of BMT) January 1, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-01-01) (permanent usage of BMT)
Technical
Number of tracks	2–4
Character	Underground
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	600 V Direct current traction 3rd rail
Route map Legend Queens Boulevard Line Astoria Line 21st Street–Queensbridge East River Roosevelt Island (Roosevelt Island Tramway) 63rd Street Tunnel Second Avenue Subway Lexington Avenue–63rd Street Lexington Avenue Line Sixth Avenue Line Broadway Line This box: view talk edit

The IND 63rd Street Line and BMT 63rd Street Line, also referred to as the 63rd Street Crosstown, Crosstown Route,^[2] or Route 131-A,^[3] are two rapid transit lines of the B Division of the New York City Subway system. The two lines run under 63rd Street in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, with a cross-platform interchange at the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station.

Each line consists of two tracks in a stacked configuration, with the southbound tracks of each line parallel to each other on the upper level, while the northbound tracks are parallel on the lower level. Crossover connections between each line's respective tracks are located just to the west of the Lexington Avenue station. The IND line, the southern of the two lines, is served by F trains at all times; it connects the IND Sixth Avenue Line in Manhattan to the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Queens. It uses the upper level of the bi-level 63rd Street Tunnel to travel under the East River between Manhattan and Queens. The northern, BMT, line is served by the Q train at all times, although a limited number of N and R trains also serve the line during rush hours. Also known as the Second Avenue Connection,^[4]: 128 it links the BMT Broadway Line to the Second Avenue Subway, both in Manhattan.^[5] The crossover between the lines has been used in the past during service disruptions as well as during the Manhattan Bridge closures in the late 1990s.

These lines were conceived as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 1968 expansion plans, and along with the Archer Avenue lines and a small section of the Second Avenue Subway, they were the only portions of the plan to be completed before it was scaled back due to fiscal issues. The IND 63rd Street Line was originally planned to be extended further east into Queens as a super-express bypass of the IND Queens Boulevard Line. After these plans were abandoned in the mid-1970s, it was commonly referred to as a "subway to nowhere" because it ended one stop into Queens, without any infrastructure connecting to other subway lines in Queens. The 63rd Street Tunnel lay unused for over a decade, and its lower level, intended for future Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service, was completed solely to support the subway line above it.

The IND 63rd Street Line between Queens and Manhattan opened on October 29, 1989, and was connected to the Queens Boulevard Line on December 16, 2001. The BMT 63rd Street Line in Manhattan was only used for regular service starting in 2017, when the Second Avenue Subway's first phase opened.