125th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)

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125th Street
New York City Subway station
125th Street platform in 2007
Station information
Line	IRT Lexington Avenue Line
Services	4 (all times) 5 (all except late nights) 6 (all times) <6>(weekdays until 8:45 p.m., peak direction)
Platforms	2 island platforms (1 on each of 2 levels)
Tracks	4 (2 on each of 2 levels)
Passengers (2006)	7.768 million ▲ 3%
Other
Borough	Manhattan
Opened	July 17, 1918
Accessible
Connections	Metro-North Railroad at Harlem–125th Street M60 bus to LaGuardia Airport
Next north	138th Street–Grand Concourse (Jerome local): 4 5 149th Street–Grand Concourse (Jerome express): 4 Third Avenue–138th Street (Pelham): 6 <6>
Next south	116th Street (local): 4 6 <6> 86th Street (express): 4 5

125th Street is the northernmost Manhattan station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Lexington Avenue and East 125th Street (also known as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard) in Harlem, it is served by the 4 and 6 trains (all times), and the 5 train (all times except late nights). The station lies one block east of Harlem–125th Street on the Metro-North Railroad. The planned northern terminal for the Second Avenue Line would be built below and at right angles to this station, along 125th Street.

The station is unique in design. It is a bi-level station, with an island platform on each level, but is not configured in the standard express-local lower-upper configuration (which is used in most stations south of this point). Instead, the upper platform serves northbound (uptown) trains and the lower level serves southbound (downtown) trains. North of the station, just after crossing the Harlem River, the line splits into the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (heading north) and the IRT Pelham Line (heading east). On the lower platform, each track comes from one line, and a flying junction south of the station allows trains to choose the local or express track. On the upper platform, the west track comes from the local track, and the east track comes from the express track; a flying junction north of the station splits the lines.

There is an active tower at the north end of the upper platform; it is a satellite to the tower at 42nd Street–Grand Central, which controls the entire length of the Lexington Avenue Line. This station's renovation was completed in 2005.