were strengthened or replaced and some of the elevated trackage was placed on concrete-retained embankment. A series of leases and mergers at the beginning of the 20th century ended the independent existence of a number of elevated and suburban railroads, including the Kings County Line and the bankrupt Brooklyn and Brighton Beach. Brooklyn was consolidated into the City of Greater New York in 1898. The new city turned its attention to subway building and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company had a leg up in landing the first two contracts. The Brooklyn interests, represented by the BRT, sought to win new subway contracts to integrate its system of elevated and suburban roads into new subways to be built. One such subway connection would bypass the Franklin Avenue route by funneling the Brighton Line through a direct subway route under Flatbush Avenue as part of Contract 4 of the Dual Contracts of 1913. Construction for the connection required the Coney Island-bound track to be diverted in a new tunnel to cross over the new subway connection and enter the rebuilt four-track Prospect Park station as an outside track. This track has a sharp curve that, coming from the north, has a sharp S-curve to the right and then to the left. The construction of this new connection directly contributed to the Malbone Street Wreck on November 1, 1918, which became at the time the worst rapid transit wreck in world history. A five-car wooden elevated train, heading southbound along the Franklin Avenue Line just after leaving the Consumers Park station, left the tracks and crashed into one of the new tunnel walls, killing 97. The collision was found to be caused by an inexperienced motorman who was speeding down the southbound S-curve at seven and a half times over that track's speed limit. It remains the deadliest crash in the New York City Subway's history, as well as one of the worst rapid-transit crashes in the history of the United States. Brighton subway connection On August 1, 1920, the Brighton Beach Line was connected to the Broadway subway in Manhattan via the Montague Street Tunnel under the East River, as well as a tunnel connection underneath Flatbush Avenue. At the same time, track connections to the Fulton Street Elevated were severed so that through service to Brooklyn Bridge was no longer possible. Subway trains from Manhattan and elevated trains from Franklin Avenue