47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (IND Sixth Avenue Line)

47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center is an express station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the D and F trains at all times, and the B and M trains on weekdays.

History

47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center opened as part of the trunk portion of the IND Sixth Avenue Line to West Fourth Street – Washington Square, with connections to the IND Queens Boulevard Line to the north. Express service began in 1967 with the completion of express tracks between 14th and 34th Streets and the opening of the Chrystie Street Connection.

Station layout

The station has two island platforms and four tracks, like any express station, but has an unusual track arrangement. The northbound side has the traditional arrangement (local on the outside track and express on the inside track), but the southbound side reverses this. This is to avoid level junctions with the IND Queens Boulevard Line, which is perpendicular with the IND Sixth Avenue Line north of this station. Express trains come from the Bronx via the IND Eighth Avenue Line while local trains come from Queens via either the IND 63rd Street Line or the IND Queens Boulevard Line. South of this station, the two southbound tracks switch (not at grade level) and the line returns to the traditional local on the side and express in the middle in both directions.

The station has numerous passageways and exits, including fourteen street entrances. This does not include several passageways through Rockefeller Center, all of which are outside fare control. The mezzanine has a full time booth at its north end, at West 49th Street, with one passageway through Rockefeller Center on the east side, and another set of passageways through various Concourse levels of office buildings along the west side of Avenue of the Americas. A passageway to one northern part time staircase leads to Radio City Music Hall and West 50th Street. This is usually open late during evening performances. Another passageway along the west side of 49th Street connects to the 49th Street on the BMT Broadway Line outside of fare control. The middle fare control at West 48th Street has a ghost booth and all-day HEET access. The south fare control at West 47th Street has a part-time booth and more staircases. Eagle eye movie fans who saw the 1976 thriller Marathon Man, will note the old KK rush hour subway route on a street entrance of the east side of Sixth Avenue and West 47th Street, before the route's demise.

Each platform has seven stairs to mezzanine, the north end of the northbound platform has an active tower, and is depressed about ten feet below the southbound platform. This is to prepare the lines to be branched out towards the Bronx and Queens. The color band is orange, with dark brown borders, "47" and "50" alternate each other below the tile band. The tiles above and below it are white. Also at this station, there is a sign next to the tower saying "what you punch you get". There are punch boxes on both tracks on the northbound platform and in the case of emergency, the express tracks can also be used to access the 63rd Street tunnel.

References

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:47th%E2%80%9350th_Streets_%E2%80%93_Rockefeller_Center_(IND_Sixth_Avenue_Line) 47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (IND Sixth Avenue Line)] at Wikimedia Commons

• nycsubway.org — IND Sixth Avenue Line: 47th–50th Streets/Rockefeller Center
• Station Reporter — B Train
• 50th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 49th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 48th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 47th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View