Nostrand Avenue (IND Fulton Street Line) - Station Layout

Station Layout

Nostrand Avenue opened on April 9, 1936, as part of an extension of the Independent Subway System (IND) from its previous Brooklyn terminus at Jay Street – Borough Hall, which opened three years earlier, to Rockaway Avenue.

It is the only two-level station in the system that has the express tracks on the upper level and the local tracks on the lower one. It was originally planned to be a local station with a mezzanine as proven by the upper level platforms being wider than the lower level ones (which would have been consistent with the design of a mezzanine) and two trackways between the local tracks (which would have been consistent with the typical design of a local station on a four-track line). A curtain wall separates the local tracks from the unused trackways on both sides. On either side of the station, the express tracks ascend from the local tracks to serve the upper level, then descend to rejoin them.

The station's trim-line is Butterscotch yellow with a medium Mustard brown border and is three tiles high on all of the platform walls as well as the track walls on the lower level. Below the trim-line is "NOSTRAND" tiled in white on a black border and name tablets that read "NOSTRAND AVE." in white sans-serif font on the same (but reversed) contrasting color background and border (mustard brown/butterscotch yellow).

The platforms have directional signs to the other level in the same style as the name tablets and signs to the exit in the same style as the name tiles. Each upper level platform has its own same-level fare control, and there are no crossovers or crossunders. (This is one of only three express stations in the system that do not allow free transfers between directions. The others are 86th Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, and Bergen Street on the IND Culver Line (the lower level of the latter is not currently in use.)) Each fare control area has a turnstile bank, token booth, and two street stairs. The Manhattan-bound side stairs lead to either northern corners of Nostrand Avenue and Fulton Street while the Queens-bound side stairs lead to the either southern corners.

The station has a closed passageway with a crossover to Bedford Avenue at the north (geographical west) end of the upper level and a closed exit to Arlington Place. From the northbound platform’s south end a hole in the wall allows a bright flashlight beam to show the unused trackways.

Daytime, A trains stop on the upper level while C trains stop on the lower level. During late night hours, there is no C service, and the A stops on the lower level making local stops along Fulton Street.