Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway

BMT Brighton Line
The B train provides express service on the BMT Brighton Line on weekdays while the Q provides local service at all times.
Overview
Type	Rapid transit line
System	New York City Subway
Status	Operational
Locale	Brooklyn, New York City, NY
Termini	DeKalb Avenue Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue
Stations	20
Operation
Opened	July 2, 1878
Owner	City of New York
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Character	Open cut, underground, embankment and elevated
Technical
Number of tracks	2-6
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	600V DC third rail

The BMT Brighton Line, also known as the Brighton Beach Line, is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Local service is provided at all times by the Q train, but is joined by the B express train on weekdays. The Q's segment on the Brighton Line begins at the line's south end, Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue, and the Q travels the entire line, over the Manhattan Bridge south tracks to the BMT Broadway Line. The B begins at Brighton Beach and runs via the bridge's north tracks to the IND Sixth Avenue Line.

The Brighton Line opened from the Willink entrance of Prospect Park (modern intersection of Flatbush and Ocean Avenues and Empire Boulevard, now the Prospect Park station on both the renamed Brighton and the Franklin Ave. Shuttle lines) to Brighton Beach (modern Coney Island Avenue at the shoreline) on July 2, 1878 and the full original line on August 18. It was an excursion railroad — the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway — to bring beachgoers from downtown Brooklyn (via a connection with the Long Island Rail Road) to the seashore at Coney Island on the Atlantic Ocean, at a location named Brighton Beach at the same time the railroad arrived. It has been known since its opening as the Brighton Beach Line but is now described as the Brighton Line in MTA literature and in public usage.