Bergen Street

Bergen Street is a bi-level station on the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of Bergen Street and Smith Street on the border of Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill in Brooklyn. It is served by the F and G trains at all times.This station was opened in March 1933 as the original terminus of the Culver Line, which was referred to then as the Smith Street Line or the South Brooklyn Line. The station opened in advance of the opening of the remainder of the line to allow for it to compete with existing streetcar lines belong to the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation. Once the rest of the line was ready, in October 1933, the line was extended, making this stop a normal through station.Bergen Street was originally designed as an express station, but only the upper level is currently in service; the lower level is neither in regular service nor usable due to its deteriorated condition. The lower level of the station was used when express service was provided on the Culver Line between 1968 and 1976. Express service was eliminated due to the loss of direct local service along the line to Manhattan. The express platforms were permanently removed from service during the 1990s, and due to a fire in 1999 the relay room was damaged, making the express tracks unusable. The relay room was rebuilt in 2008, and after repairs were done on the line, the implementation of express service become feasible. In 2016, it was announced that the MTA was considering having express service brought back to the line. However, unlike the earlier express service, express trains will skip this station due to the high cost of rebuilding it, thus making the station a local stop.