The DeKalb Avenue station is a station on the BMT Brighton Line and BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of DeKalb and Flatbush Avenues in Downtown Brooklyn. It is served by the Q and R trains at all times, the B train on weekdays, and the D and N trains during late nights. During rush hours only, a few W train trips also serve this station. The station has six tracks and two island platforms. The two innermost tracks are used by Fourth Avenue express trains, which skip the station, while the four outer tracks are used by Brighton Line and Fourth Avenue local trains. History This station opened on June 22, 1915, and was completed on August 1, 1920. Since it opened, DeKalb Avenue has been referred to as "the heart of the BMT", as it is a major transfer point between BMT services with lines splitting north and south of the station. Platform extensions were built into a curve south of the station in 1927 to allow for longer trains. They were closed and replaced by straight extensions to the north in 1960. The abandoned portions can be seen from the open platforms and trains. Track configuration The station has been reconfigured a number of times. The current configuration dates from a 1956–1961 reconstruction project to straighten the platforms and eliminate a level junction north of the station, which had caused a switching bottleneck; a station at Myrtle Avenue was closed as part of the renovation. Other plans, such as connections to the BMT Fulton Street Line and IRT Eastern Parkway Line, were considered at times. An early plan called the Ashland Place Connection would have allowed trains on the elevated BMT Fulton Street Line to run into the subway through DeKalb Avenue, making the bottleneck even worse. This was not built, in part because the city was more interested in building its own system, the IND. However, a whole new subway was also planned, splitting from this line and heading under the East River to the BMT Broadway Line at City Hall. This plan was considered in various forms between late 1916 and 1926. Because of this, the DeKalb Avenue station was also built with provisions for a possible track connection to Nevins Street station. The city government took over the BMT's operations on June 1, 1940. Until the