Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach is the southern terminus of Brighton Line's Express Service. It consists of two island platforms for the four-track line. The station is one of only three Brighton Line Stations to be on a conventional NYC Subway elevated and above a major shopping street, Brighton Beach Avenue. Just east (railway north) of the station trains curve to the north to enter the Brighton Lines private Embankment and Open-Cut right-of-way, that the MTA considers a surface subway line that carries it all the way up to Prospect Park before going underground. This means that Brighton Beach is technically the only elevated station on the B train. B trains when they terminate at the station must switch between their two tracks before entering the station to relay, so the next Manhattan-bound B train can be at either the Coney Island-bound or Manhattan-bound platform for through Q trains. Both station houses have indicator signs telling passengers which platform the next B train will depart from. Passengers wanting to change between B trains and Q trains to go the final 3 local Q train stops to Coney Island are much better off transferring at Sheapshead Bay.
The station has two small station houses beneath the tracks, this is fare-control is for the station's two exits. At the southern end of the station is the part-time station house; it consists of a single staircase down from each platform to decent sized station house beneath the tracks where there is a bank of turnstiles and a token booth which was closed and removed in 2011 (in 2009 when I visited it was open daily 6am to 9pm), two High Entrance/Exit Turnstiles provide 24-hour access. To reach street level there are twin staircases (four in total) to both sides of Brighton Beach Avenue, between Brighton 6 and 5 Streets.
The full-time fare control area is towards the northern end of the station and it consists of a pair of staircases down from each platform to a slightly larger station house area, with a real decently sized enclosed waiting area beneath the tracks with two benches. To reach the street after passing through the turnstiles there are staircases (two to the southside of the street and one to the northside) of Brighton Beach Avenue, two are at the NE and SE corners of Brighton 7 Street, and the staircase opposite gets about mid-block to Coney Island Avenue on the south side of Brighton Beach Avenue. On the northern side of the street (where a fourth staircase should be) an escalator is provided to enter the subway only. It's in a closed structure, and is only the width of one person wide, and is always running in the up direction.
The station was given a renovation in the mid-1990s and all street staircases have extremely decorative little awnings on them at their entrances. Both station houses seem larger than usual (that could also be because of the fact the line has four tracks, instead of the standard three for an el), and both have unusual looking interiors. The platforms are canopied for most of their lengths, between the station's two exits. The northern (eastern) end of the station provides an excellent place to photograph trains curving off the Brighton Line's Private ROW and onto the el above Brighton Beach Avenue. The station also has two buildings above it that serve various subway maintenance and crew quarters purposes.
1-8: August 13, 2008; 9-37: August 4, 2009; 38-47: February 28, 200439: June 29, 2009; 40-44: May 19, 2010; 45 & 46: February 28, 2004
Arts For Transit at Brighton Beach
Mermade/Dionysus and the Pirates, 1999
By Dan George
Aluminum sculptures on elevated platform
Station Subway Lines (2000-2004)
