IND Culver Line

The IND Culver Line (formerly BMT Culver Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, extending from Downtown Brooklyn south to Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. The local tracks of the Culver Line are served by the F service, as well as the G between Bergen Street and Church Avenue. The express tracks north of Church Avenue are used by the <F> train during rush hours in the peak direction. The peak-direction express track between Ditmas Avenue and Avenue X has not seen regular service since 1987.

The line is named after Andrew Culver, who built the original Culver Line that preceded the current subway line. The present-day line was built as two unconnected segments operated by the Independent Subway System (IND) and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). The northern section of the line, between Jay Street–MetroTech and Church Avenue, is a four-track line that was built for the IND in 1933, running primarily underground except for a short elevated section over the Gowanus Canal.

The southern section, between Ditmas Avenue and Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue, was originally built for the BMT in 1919–1920 as a three-track elevated structure between Ninth Avenue in Sunset Park and Avenue X, and as a two-track elevated structure south of Avenue X. A ramp in the neighborhood of Kensington, which opened in 1954, connects the segments between the Church and Ditmas Avenues stations. The segment of the BMT line between Ninth and Ditmas Avenues remained as the Culver Shuttle until it was closed in 1975 and later demolished.

The elevated part of the Culver Line south of Church Avenue, which operated as part of the BMT until 1954, now carries only the F, a former IND service, and is chained and signaled as part of the IND. However, BMT radio frequency B1 is used on the elevated portion south of Church Avenue.