The Ditmas Avenue station is a local station on the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Ditmas and McDonald Avenues in Kensington, Brooklyn, it is served by the F train at all times and the <F> train during rush hours in the peak direction. History This station opened at 3:00 a.m. on March 16, 1919, as part of the opening of the first section of the BMT Culver Line. The initial section began at the Ninth Avenue station and ended at the Kings Highway station. The line was operated as a branch of the Fifth Avenue Elevated line, with a free transfer at Ninth Avenue to the West End Line into the Fourth Avenue Subway. The opening of the line resulted in reduced travel times between Manhattan and Kings Highway. Construction on the line began in 1915, and cost a total of $3.3 million. Trains from this station began using the Fourth Avenue Subway to the Nassau Street Loop in Lower Manhattan when that line opened on May 30, 1931. The Fifth Avenue Elevated was closed on May 31, 1940, and elevated service ceased stopping here. On October 30, 1954, the connection between the IND South Brooklyn Line at Church Avenue and the BMT Culver Line at Ditmas Avenue opened. With the connection completed, all service at the stations on the former BMT Culver Line south of Ditmas Avenue, including this one, were from then on served by IND trains. North of Ditmas Avenue, the Culver Line expands into four tracks, two local, and two express tracks and enters the tunnel into Church Avenue, allowing access to IND lines in the other boroughs. Before 1954, the Coney Island-bound platform was formerly an island platform with an extra track. Afterward, the BMT Culver Line north of Ditmas Avenue was reduced to a single-track shuttle. The shuttle ceased operation on May 11, 1975 due to decreasing ridership and most of the structure above 37th-38th Streets were demolished. The fourth track at Ditmas Avenue was removed and the Coney Island-bound platform was converted to a side platform. From June 1968 to 1987, express service on the elevated portion of the line from Church Avenue to Kings Highway operated in the peak direction (to Manhattan AM; to Brooklyn PM), with some F trains running local and some running express. During this time period, this station was