IND Queens Boulevard Line

IND Queens Boulevard Line
Stations on the IND Queens Boulevard Line are served by E, F, <F>, M and R trains.
Overview
Owner	City of New York
Locale	New York City
Termini	50th Street Jamaica–179th Street
Stations	25
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	New York City Subway
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Daily ridership	256,518 (2022, weekday)[1]
Technical
Character	Underground
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map Legend Jamaica–179th Street 169th Street Parsons Boulevard Sutphin Boulevard Archer Avenue Line Briarwood former World's Fair Line Jamaica Yard Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike 75th Avenue Forest Hills–71st Avenue 67th Avenue 63rd Drive–Rego Park Woodhaven Boulevard Grand Avenue–Newtown Elmhurst Avenue Flushing Line & proposed Winfield Spur Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue (unused upper level) 65th Street express tracks Northern Boulevard 46th Street Steinway Street express tracks 36th Street 63rd Street Line Queens Plaza 60th Street Tunnel Connection Crosstown Line Flushing Line Court Square–23rd Street East River via 53rd Street Tunnel Lexington Avenue–53rd Street (Lexington Avenue Line) Fifth Avenue/53rd Street Sixth Avenue Line Seventh Avenue 50th Street (Eighth Avenue Line) This diagram: view talk edit

The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL,^[2] is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 stations. The core section between 50th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, and 169th Street in Jamaica, Queens, was built by the Independent Subway System (IND) in stages between 1933 and 1940, with the Jamaica–179th Street terminus opening in 1950. As of 2015^[update], it is among the system's busiest lines, with a weekday ridership of over 460,000 people.

The Queens Boulevard Line's eastern terminus is the four-track 179th Street station. The line continues westward then northwest as a four-track line with the local tracks to the outside of the express tracks. The Queens Boulevard Line merges with the IND Archer Avenue Line east of Briarwood and with Jamaica Yard spurs west of Briarwood and east of Forest Hills–71st Avenue. The express tracks and the local tracks diverge at 65th Street in Jackson Heights and merge again at 36th Street in Sunnyside. West of 36th Street, the IND 63rd Street Line splits off both pairs of tracks, entering Manhattan via the 63rd Street Tunnel. At Queens Plaza in Long Island City, the line narrows to two tracks, with the local tracks splitting into the 60th Street Tunnel Connection and the IND Crosstown Line. From there, the express tracks of the line provide crosstown service across Manhattan under 53rd Street before turning southwest at Eighth Avenue, ending at the 50th Street station. The two-track section west of Queens Plaza is also known as the IND 53rd Street Line.

The Queens Boulevard Line is served by four overlapping routes. The E train serves the section between 50th Street and Briarwood, normally running express. The F runs express from 36th Street to 71st Avenue and local east of 71st Avenue to 179th Street. The M and R serve local stops on the route west of 71st Avenue, with the M diverging from the line west of Fifth Avenue/53rd Street and the R splitting west of Queens Plaza. The E and F serve the line at all times, while the M runs on the line during weekdays only and the R runs on the line at all times except late nights. During evenings and weekends, the E runs local between 71st Avenue and Briarwood, and E and F trains make all local stops west of 71st Avenue during late nights to provide local service along the line. The routes experience frequent overcrowding during weekdays, and the Queens Boulevard Line has among the highest rush-hour train frequencies in the system. A planned upgrade to the line, to replace its signals with a communications-based train control system, would add capacity to the line.

The line's construction in the 1920s and 1930s promoted housing growth along the Queens Boulevard corridor and stimulated the urbanization of central Queens. However, there are multiple provisions for spur routes along the Queens Boulevard line that were never built. The most notable of these proposals was the IND Second System, which would have provided a spur to Maspeth from the Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue station; another spur to the Rockaways east of 63rd Drive–Rego Park via the Rockaway Beach Branch; a third spur east of Briarwood along the former Van Wyck Boulevard to South Ozone Park; and an extension of the line eastward past 179th Street. Other proposals included a "super express bypass" that would use the right-of-way of the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line to bypass all stations between 36th Street and 71st Avenue, as well as a spur from the Woodhaven Boulevard station northeast to Queens College via the Long Island Expressway.