Queensboro Plaza (New York City Subway)

Queensboro Plaza
 
New York City Subway rapid transit station

Upper-level platform with train arriving
Station statistics
Address 27th Street & Queens Plaza
Long Island City, NY 11101
Borough Queens
Locale Long Island City
Division A (IRT), B (BMT)
Line BMT Astoria Line
IRT Flushing Line
Services       7  (all times) <7>(rush hours until 10:00 p.m., peak direction)
      N  (all times)
      Q  (weekdays)
Connection
Structure Elevated
Levels 2
Platforms 2 island platforms (1 on each level)
cross-platform interchange
Tracks 4 (2 on each level)
Other information
Opened November 16, 1916; 95 years ago (November 16, 1916) (Flushing Line)
February 1, 1917; 95 years ago (February 1, 1917) (Astoria Line)
Traffic
Passengers (2010) 2,813,789[1]  0.8%
Rank 167 out of 422
Station succession
Next north 39th Avenue (Astoria local): N  Q 
Astoria Boulevard (Astoria express): no regular service
33rd Street – Rawson Street (Flushing local): 7 
Woodside – 61st Street (Flushing express): <7>
Next south Lexington Avenue / 59th Street (Broadway): N  Q 
Court Square (Flushing): 7  <7>
57th Street (2nd Ave elevated; demolished)

Queensboro Plaza is an elevated New York City Subway station over Queens Plaza in Long Island City, at the east (Queens) end of the Queensboro Bridge, with Queens Boulevard running east from the plaza. It stands over the south (railroad east) side of the roadway, but formerly spanned the whole plaza. It is a double-decked station, with trains running into Queens on the upper level and Manhattan-bound trains below. The BMT Astoria Line (which to the south joins with the 60th Street Tunnel Connection and heads through the 60th Street Tunnel to the BMT Broadway Line) uses the two tracks west (compass north) of the platforms and the IRT Flushing Line uses the east two tracks.

The mezzanine is located below the lower level (and formerly connected to the now torn-down BMT platforms to the west); there is a concrete ramp across Queens Plaza North to the second floor of a building. The station is currently being renovated by NYCTA employees (as opposed to an outside contractor). A computer assisted tower is being installed on the south end. (A traditional tower is already present, but will be renovated with new machinery.)

The station is near the Queens Plaza underground subway station, though the two stations are separate and do not allow free transfers. It is served by the:

Contents

History

In the original configuration, the IRT used both sides of the current platforms, and the BMT used now-demolished platforms west (compass north) of the current platforms, also double-decked. The east side of the IRT platforms were used by the Flushing Line, as today; the west side was used by Astoria trains, but instead of going through the 60th Street Tunnel, they went over the Queensboro Bridge to the elevated IRT Second Avenue Line. Double crossovers south (lower tracks) and north (upper tracks) of the platform allowed trains from either side to switch to the other line after leaving the station.

At the BMT half, the south track served subway trains to Manhattan and the BMT Broadway Line. Trains came from Manhattan on the upper level, continued north to a merge with the lower level, and then returned via the lower level. This configuration was in place by 1924; before that trains reversed direction using a double crossover south of the platforms. Until 1949, the Astoria and Flushing Lines hosted both IRT and BMT service. Since the platforms were IRT-size, the BMT used its own elevated cars to provide service on the lines, with a required transfer at Queensboro Plaza. Shuttles from Astoria came in on the west side lower track and then reversed direction to head to Flushing; Flushing trains came in on the upper track and reversed direction towards Astoria.

During the early period of dual service on the Astoria and Flushing portions, IRT and BMT trains had their own stopping marks on the platforms and the sections of the platforms were separated. Passengers had separate entrances to the platforms depending on which service they wanted. This set-up prevented free transfers between the lines of the two companies. This arrangement had to end when the IRT increased the number of cars for the subway line stopping there. The two companies worked out an agreement in which the revenues collected on those stations were shared.

In 1949, the IRT started using the Flushing Line only, and the Astoria Line platforms were shaved back for through BMT service. New connections were built between the 60th Street Tunnel approach and the west tracks at the east (former IRT) platforms (the Second Avenue Elevated Line had closed in 1942), and the west (former BMT) platforms were closed.

Today the Queensboro Plaza station has the distinction of being the only station in the entire system to provide cross-platform interchange between A Division (7 <7>) and B Division (N and Q) trains.

Popular culture

Queensboro Plaza is featured in a defining moment in the film Beneath the Planet of the Apes. The protagonist astronaut ("Brent") unknowingly enters the ruins of a subterranean station; upon seeing the words "Queensboro Plaza" in tiles, and finding an advertisement for the New York Summer Festival, he realizes that he is indeed on Earth and not another planet, and that New York City has been destroyed in a nuclear war. In reality, Queensboro Plaza is an elevated station and has no tilework.

The station is also featured in the Seinfeld episode entitled "The Cigar Store Indian", as the location of a renowned gyro stall, and again incorrectly depicted as an underground station, on a Lexington Avenue Local (6) route.

The station and nearby MetLife Plaza were a regular CG composite as location shots between scenes in ABC series Ugly Betty.

Gallery

References

  1. ^ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. http://www.mta.info/nyct/facts/ridership/ridership_sub_annual.htm. Retrieved 2011-05-31. 

External links