Jamaica Avenue El

When was the Jamaica Avenue El line cut back from 169th Street to Parsons Boulevard and what was the reason for eliminating that part of the line? I took it to high school for four years (1951-1955) and transferred from a bus at 169th Street. If I recall correctly there was a pot belly stove in the station back then.

Thanks.

Well, strictly Speaking, the Jamaica line was 168th (169th Street station is on Hillside Ave on the IND), and it was never cut back to Parsons from there. It was cut back twice, and then connected to a new line which runs to Parsons instead.

Service was cut back from 168th Street to Queens Blvd on September 10th 1977 at the demand of local business owners (who then promptly all closed up from lack of traffic). The section between 168th and Sutphin Blvd was demolished two years later. While Queens Blvd was the terminal, the tracks continued as far as Sutphin for layup purposes.

Service was cut back again to 121st St on April 15th 1985 in anticipation of the completion of the double decked Archer Avenue Subway. (IND upper level, BMT lower level). This took out Queens Blvd and Metropolitan Avenue. These were demolished because the only space for the connection the Archer ave was abutting the LIRR Main line. 121st st is now the last stop of the "Jamaica Line", even though service continues on. This is because the Archer Avenue Lines are considered separate lines from an infrastructure standpoint, both from the lines they connect to (Jamaica and IND Queens Blvd) and to each other (there is no track connection between the levels).

When the subway opened on December 11th 1988, J service was routed to the lower level of the new line, extending it to the new Sutphin Boulevard Station (now spelled out as Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Ave-JFK Airport) and the all new Jamaica Center – Parsons Boulevard Station (now Jamaica Center – Parsons/Archer).

A fanciful routing I thought of at the time.

Parsons/Archer IND via Queens Boulevard, any routing to 6th Avenue local tracks, the connection south of Broadway Lafayette to Essex Street BMT, Broadway Brooklyn etc to Parsons/Archer BMT.

Not a "true loop" of course, but it looks like one on the map.

I think the 1960s plan for the Archer Avenue subway included two extensions. One would have extended the upper level to Hollis; I assume there would have been at least one new intermediate station beyond Parsons Boulevard.

The lower level would have connected to the LIRR branch through Locust Manor and that line would have been converted to subway service. Probably that would have been extended to a new station between Laurelton and Rosedale but I'm not sure of the details.

The MTA decided in the early 1980s to complete the inner sections of the Archer Avenue line but I haven't heard any speculation about going beyond that.

The MTA should have kept the old El. It could have been an alternative for the (J) & (Z) trains in case when Jamaica Center is jam packed full of trains.

Hamilton Express wrote:The MTA should have kept the old El. It could have been an alternative for the (J) & (Z) trains in case when Jamaica Center is jam packed full of trains.

A nice idea but way too expensive to maintain for something that would get very little usage.



[Note: In case someone wants to bring up the old South Ferry station in a similar situation, keep in mind that the loop tracks were in constant usage even when the station was not. The MTA had to do some renovation to reopen the old station to passenger service when Sandy deluged the newer station.]

Allan wrote:

Hamilton Express wrote:The MTA should have kept the old El. It could have been an alternative for the (J) & (Z) trains in case when Jamaica Center is jam packed full of trains.

A nice idea but way too expensive to maintain for something that would get very little usage.



[Note: In case someone wants to bring up the old South Ferry station in a similar situation, keep in mind that the loop tracks were in constant usage even when the station was not. The MTA had to do some renovation to reopen the old station to passenger service when Sandy deluged the newer station.]

Rapid Transit can bring people to businesses. Elevated rapid transit brings the business's advertising to the rider. Thus you find businesses all along an elevated line, but clustered around subway stations. The people along Jamaica Ave. learned the hard way. Els are good for business, subways several blocks away are not.

Another example:

Along Washington Street in Boston vs the Southwest Corridor

On Washington Street there are clusters of businesses at every old station location, and many scattered between.

Along the Southwest Corridor we have:

Back Bay: Back entrance to an upscale mall (Copley Place)
Massachusetts Ave: Nothing
Ruggles: Nothing
Roxbury Crossing: A few stores at Parker St. which predated the rapid transit. (1 block away)
Jackson Square: A few stores on Centre St. which predated the rapid transit.
Stoney Brook: Nothing
Green: Walk up to the old station location about a block.

I got to ride to 168th St. before the line was cut back, and have taken many rides on the 7. I repeat: Els are good for business.

I have been to that area a few times and none of the business along Jamaica Av seem to be suffering.

That area is served by quite a number of bus routes: Q6, Q8, Q9, Q41, Q54, Q56, Q24, Q110, Q30, Q31 so there is plenty of visibility for these businesses.