The train that time forgot: an underground narrative of New York’s ignored subway line
For all the slack the G train deservedly takes, its route meanders through some of New York’s most dynamic neighborhoods.
+ click photographs to enlarge
The often forgotten and dilapidating G-Train may skip Manhattan, but it stops among a number of important places across the outer boroughs.
Jawad Bhatti for Spectator
The light green dot along the G train has been looking a bit greener lately. The difference is subtle, but it’s there.
Of this minor alteration, one must imagine the bureaucratic energy expended—the long grueling meetings at which the color change was deliberated, the labor costs to provide for the countless “Brainstorm Sessions (BS),” whether or not they served coffee, and, of course, the oft-postponed ECD (Estimated Completion Date—because bureaucracies have entire departments devoted to the making of acronyms).
Yet, for what seems like an enormous waste of time, energy, and tax dollars, the stronger hue has invested G train riders with a new sense of confidence in their fickle subway line. Mieczslaw Bezimienny, a longtime resident of Greenpoint, a Polish neighborhood the train crosses, says that he did not notice the change at first, but that the fresh tone looked “better. I like it.”
Bezimienny could not express exactly why, but he titled his head back in thought for several seconds, perhaps dreaming of the green pastures of his native Silesia. The discussion quickly turned to more crucial matters: namely, the G train’s bastardized existence.
Genesis of the G
The G train, or the Crosstown Line, as it is technically known, came into being during the depths of the Depression. Running between Forest Hills, Queens, and Church Avenue in Brooklyn, the subway line was envisioned as an exclusive Queens-Brooklyn route that would connect to other IND (Independent Subway) lines planned to run between Manhattan and the outer boroughs.
With the coming of the Depression, the agency’s ambitious expansion came to a screeching halt, and today the G train is left with few convenient connections, half a platform of cars, and a sad, frustrated clientele who dreams that one day, the G train will find its way into Manhattan, even if only for a midnight joy ride.
Brooklyn ghost tour
For all the slack the G train deservedly takes, its route meanders through some of New York’s most dynamic neighborhoods. From its current terminus at Court Square, Long Island City (though the train technically still stops at Forest Hills at night), the ghost-train-turned-Brooklyn-banshee rambles through the Polish-Hipster fusion of Greenpoint through Bed-Stuy, Fort Greene, Downtown Brooklyn, BoCoCa, Red Hook, Park Slope, and to its final destination at Sunset Park.
Along the way riders are treated to some of the most stunning subway vistas of the cityscape at the super-elevated Smith-Ninth Street Station, as well as an impressive array of ghost-themed subway attractions. For those titillated by subway archaeology, (though it is a small, rather antisocial community) the Crosstown Line is full of cavernous ruins waiting to be explored.
Tantamount among them is the partially built container for the proposed South Fourth Street Station. The station was intended as a transfer point between the Broadway G, above which its carcass now rests, and the unrealized Worth and Houston Street IND lines. (Where the B-D and F-V go their separate ways, a second tunnel was supposed to hop right into South Williamsburg). Wikipedia has a highly detailed guide to discovering the remains, if for nothing else than to step into the psyche of a subway fanatic in just a tad too deep.
The forgotten son
Whether a yuppie, hipster, gangster, immigrant, or vagabond, the G train probably stops somewhere of interest. Why, then, is the G the subway system’s forgotten child? Apparently, the G’s woes, beyond its unborn cousins, result from the 2001 birth of the V train.
The V-train was meant to relieve customer traffic on the Sixth Avenue corridor in Manhattan, but in the process, it reduced G train service from Forest Hills to Court Square, and stole many of the line’s subway cars. The further transgression was that to maintain G service with fewer cars, G trains were reduced from six to four cars. This represents one of the most tragic and hilarious stunts the subway overlords have ever pulled.
For G riders, who already deal with horrendous delays, poor service, and closed entrances and exits, these dwarf trains are nothing less than a slap in the face. The iniquities have caused some loyal riders to band together. A community group called “Save the G” was formed after the initial cutbacks and has contributed to a recent extension of the G route into Park Slope. Success, sadly, has been an infrequent visitor.
Laying the track ahead
The greener hue of the G dot may be a harbinger of verdant pastures beyond, but for now, G riders must stomach their fury and give their ablest sunrise sprints. Who knows, maybe one day the coffee spills, the broken bags, lost water bottles, and wasted rush-hour calories will come to fruition: a call-up to Manhattan for the old silver quartet, or perhaps a screen to indicate the duration of how long travelers have been peering hopelessly into the tunnel.
Until then, the G, like Thomas (the train) before him, may only dream of the exotic delights of the Forest Green 4 or wonder with envy why his young cousin, the aqua T, will rise along Second Avenue as he languishes in royal exile.
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