Culver turnoff at 36th Steet.

With regard to the one time Culver service along 36th Street, the current configuration of the Ditmas Avenue Station, going North includes that an open trackway without a track branhces off of the downtown track just south of the station which once provided shuttle trains with a convenient place to stop. And just North of the Station, the stubs of 3 open trackways swing out sharply into the start of a curve Westward, and abruptly end in mid-air over a lumber yard into which a stanchon is planted. Meanwhile, going further North, the single express track splits into two, and the line descends into the tunnel.
My question is: Why leave that turnout in place if service along 36th Street is irrevocably gone? Why not eliminate it and make navigating that intersection and the use of the adjascent private property more convenient?(Unlike other projects, I expect that this could be done in less than 5 years and at less cost than $3 billion.)

If you're talking about the old el structure turnoffs, it's about structural integrity. When they built the ramp to Church Avenue their aim was to seamlessly switch service over from Fourth Avenue to Smith Street. Rejiggering the el structure to make it so the trackways went straight to the ramp without the remnants of the 4th Ave connection would have almost certainly required a shutdown. Also remember that those trackways actually had tracks on them until '75 so rebuilding the area would have been difficult, and doing so after the shutdown would have also necessitated a shutdown.

If you're talking about the fact that Culver goes from 4-3 there it's because from church north, it's a 4 track line.

Might as well ask these questions here instead of starting another thread.

Last time I looked (a few years ago) the 9th Avenue lower level at the other end of the removed portion still had tracks in it.

1) Ever used for anything any more?

2) Is it feasible with the remaining tracks to relay trains there? That is terminating at 9th Avenue lower level and going right back to the subway?

Thank you.

1) Yes, work train moves out of 38th st. that need a place to relay.

2) Yes. Theoretically you could do so, but you'd need to reopen closed stairs, do some refurb work etc. I'm pretty sure that if you were using it as a terminus you'd only be able to use the north and middle tracks though -- IIRC there's no easy way of getting trains from the south track to the manhattan bound track heading into 36th st...

Someone else will probably be able to give more info -- I'm more of an IND guy...