The BMT Astoria Line (formerly the IRT Astoria Line) is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway, serving the Queens neighborhood of Astoria. It runs south from Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria to 39th Avenue in Long Island City above 31st Street. It then turns west and serves Queensboro Plaza over Queens Plaza.

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BMT Astoria Line
The N and W train services use the entire BMT Astoria Line.
Overview
Owner	City of New York
Termini	Ditmars Boulevard Queensboro Plaza
Stations	7
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	New York City Subway
Operator(s)	New York City Transit Authority
Daily ridership	47,522[1]
History
Opened	1917
Technical
Number of tracks	2-3
Character	Elevated
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	600V DC third rail
Route map Legend Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard NYCR (Northeast Corridor) Astoria Boulevard 30th Avenue Broadway 36th Avenue 39th Avenue Queens Boulevard Line 63rd Street Line Flushing Line to Flushing–Main Street Queens Plaza Queensboro Plaza Queens Boulevard Line Flushing Line to 34th Street–Hudson Yards 60th Street Tunnel Connection 60th Street Tunnel (Broadway Line) Legend Express station Local station This diagram: view talk edit

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The entire line is served by the N train at all times, joined by the W train only on weekdays during the day.^[2][3] It was built as part of the Dual Contracts and jointly operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) using IRT-sized cars until 1949, when the platforms were shaved to accept the wider BMT cars and joint service was discontinued.

All services make all stops on the BMT Astoria Line.^[2][3][4]

More information Time period, Weekdays ...

	Time period
	Weekdays	Late nights and weekends
	full line
	full line	no service

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The north end of the Astoria Line is a two-track terminal at Ditmars Boulevard, with one island platform. South of the station, the center express track, currently not used in revenue service, begins (with crossovers to allow terminating trains to reach the correct track). The next station, Astoria Boulevard, is the only express station on the three-track section. The next four stations are local ones with two side platforms.^[5]

South of 39th Avenue, the express track merges with the two outer tracks. The line then curves west and enters Queensboro Plaza, a dual-level station with northbound trains on the upper level, southbound trains on the lower level, and cross-platform transfers to the IRT Flushing Line. Crossover tracks exist between the upper-level tracks just north of the station, one of a few connections between the BMT / IND and IRT. After Queensboro Plaza, the line ramps underground, and merges with the 60th Street Tunnel Connection to become the BMT Broadway Line via the 60th Street Tunnel to Manhattan.^[5]

A 1920s Transit Commission study proposed extending the line northwest across or under Randalls and Wards Islands back into Manhattan as a crosstown line at 125th Street, roughly following the route of what is now the Triborough Bridge.^[20] As part of the IND Second System plan from 1929, the BMT/IRT Astoria Line would be extended east via Ditmars Boulevard, Astoria Boulevard, 112th Street, and Nassau Boulevard (today's Long Island Expressway) terminating at Cross Island Boulevard. The new line that would have been an extension of the Astoria Line would be called the Long Island City-Horace Harding Boulevard Line. The line would have been 2 tracks to Astoria Boulevard, and afterward, it would become a 4 track line before going back to 2 tracks at Parsons Boulevard. The entire line would be elevated except for a short section which would have been depressed under Nassau Boulevard. The line would have been extended 8.1 miles at a cost of $17.7 million.^[21][22][23]

In 1998, an extension of the BMT Astoria Line to LaGuardia Airport was planned as part of a $1.2 billion package to provide access to the New York City airports with funding from the MTA, the Port Authority and the city. The preferred route would have extended the Astoria Line along 31st Street north onto Con Edison's property at the edge of Astoria and then east along 19th Avenue to the Marine Air Terminal. The MTA also considered an eastward extension along Ditmars Boulevard, and a plan to reroute LaGuardia-bound trains from Queensboro Plaza through the Sunnyside rail yard and along the eastern edge of St. Michael’s Cemetery to elevated tracks parallel to the Grand Central Parkway. A fourth route was to have trains turn east via Astoria Boulevard.^[24] All of the options would have new elevated sections built. $645 million for the LaGuardia extension was included in the MTA's 2000–2004 Five-Year Capital Plan, and in late 2002, Mayor Bloomberg supported the extension. These options were studied in the LaGuardia Airport Subway Access Study.^[25] Community opposition was strong and therefore the plan was canceled in July 2003;^[26][27] however, as of 2021^[update], it is being reconsidered after New York governor Kathy Hochul requested the Port Authority find alternatives to the AirTrain LaGuardia project.^[28]

The Regional Plan Association, in its Fourth Plan in 2017, anticipated that the population of Astoria would quickly grow over the next three decades, and so called for the Astoria Line to be extended to a new storage yard at Ditmars Boulevard and 20th Street, which would provide added capacity. In addition, a new station at 21st Avenue and 20th Street would improve access for the currently underserved but dense northwest parts of Astoria.^[29]