Franklin Avenue–Fulton Street (New York City Subway)

History

This elevated station opened on August 15, 1896 to connect with the adjacent Franklin Avenue station of the Fulton Street Elevated. It was a replacement for the August 18, 1878-built Bedford Terminal station originally built by the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway.^[7] It was a two-track through station with side platforms and the point where steam railroad trains from the Fulton Street Line turned onto the BMT Brighton Line to access Brighton Beach. The station also had a connection with the Franklin Avenue Line streetcars.^[7]

In 1920, the track connection to the Fulton Street Line was severed as Brighton Line trains to Downtown Brooklyn 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 east was Nostrand Avenue for Fulton Street trains and Dean Street for Brighton Line trains. The next stop to the west was Grand Avenue. When the BMT 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 IND Fulton Street Line 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.^[8]

Rehabilitation

Platform awaiting shuttle train

This station was completely rebuilt between 1998 and 1999^[7][9] as a single-track station with a single platform on the west side of the track.^[10] The new platform is only 180 feet (55 metres) long and can accommodate a train of two 75 ft (23 m)-long cars, or three 60 ft (18 m)-long cars. The track ends at a bumper block at the north end of the platform.^[10]

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.

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.^[11] One up-only escalator and one long staircase go down to the fare control 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.^[12]

The shuttle platform has another short staircase that goes down to a glass-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.^[12]

Exits

Fare control areas are at the extreme east (railroad south) end of the platforms. On the Manhattan-bound side, there is an unstaffed turnstile 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.^[11] An elevator from the platform goes up to the shuttle platform with intermediate stops at the main station house and overpass.^[12]