The 53rd Street station is a local station on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at 53rd Street and Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, it is served by the R train at all times. The N train also stops here during late nights, and some rush-hour W trains stop here in the peak direction. The 53rd Street station was constructed as part of the Fourth Avenue Line, which was approved in 1905. Construction on the segment of the line that includes 53rd Street started on March 15, 1913, and was completed in 1915. The station opened on September 22, 1915, after the opening of the initial portion of the BMT Fourth Avenue Line to 59th Street. The station's platforms were lengthened in 1926–1927, and again during a renovation in 1968–1970. The station was renovated again in 2017. History Construction and opening The 53rd Street station was constructed as part of the Fourth Avenue Line, the plan for which was initially adopted on June 1, 1905. The Rapid Transit Commission was succeeded on July 1, 1907, by the New York State Public Service Commission (PSC), which approved the plan for the line in late 1907. As part of negotiations between New York City, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company for the expansion of the city's transit network, the line was leased to a subsidiary of the BRT. The agreement, known as Contract 4 of the Dual Contracts, was signed on March 19, 1913. In 1912, during the Dual System negotiations, the construction of an extension of the Fourth Avenue subway from 43rd Street to 89th Street, just south of the 86th Street station, was recommended. The proposal was approved by the Board of Estimate on February 15, 1912. The PSC directed its chief engineer to create plans on June 14, 1912. The two contracts for the extension, Route 11B, were awarded on September 16, 1912, to Degnon Construction Company for a combined $3.8 million (equivalent to $ million in ). Construction on Route 11B1, the section of the extension between 43rd Street and 61st Street, which includes the 53rd Street station, began on March 15, 1913. Originally, this section was planned to have two tracks, but after the connection to the Sea Beach Line was added to the plan during the middle of construction, the plan was changed