125th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)

125th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Address	East 125th Street & Lexington Avenue New York, NY 10035
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	East Harlem
Coordinates	40°48′15″N 73°56′15″W / 40.804259°N 73.937473°W / 40.804259; -73.937473Coordinates: 40°48′15″N 73°56′15″W / 40.804259°N 73.937473°W / 40.804259; -73.937473
Division	A (IRT)
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)
Transit connections	NYCT Bus: M35, M60 SBS, M100, M101, M103, Bx15 Short Line Bus: 208 Metro-North: Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven Lines (at Harlem–125th Street)
Structure	Underground
Levels	2
Platforms	2 island platforms (1 on each level) cross-platform interchange
Tracks	4 (2 on each level)
Other information
Opened	July 17, 1918 (1918-07-17)
Station code	392[1]
Accessible	ADA-accessible
Wireless service	[2]
Traffic
Passengers (2016)	9,431,163[3]  1.6%
Rank	35 out of 422
Station succession
Next north	149th Street–Grand Concourse (Jerome express): 4  138th Street–Grand Concourse (Jerome local): 4  5  Third Avenue–138th Street (Pelham): 6  <6>
Next south	116th Street (local): 4  6  <6> 86th Street (express): 4  5
Next north	161st Street–Yankee Stadium (via Jerome): 4  Third Avenue–149th Street (via White Plains Road): 5  Hunts Point Avenue (via Pelham): 6  <6>
Next south	51st Street (local): 4  6  <6> Grand Central–42nd Street (express): 4  5
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times Stops late nights only Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York Show map of the US

125th Street is an express station that has four tracks and two island platforms. It 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 East Harlem, it is served by the 4 and 6 trains at all times, the 5 train at all times except late nights on weekdays, and the <6> during weekdays in peak direction.

A planned northern extension of the Second Avenue Subway would connect with this station and with the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem–125th Street station, located one block west.

History

Mosaic with depiction of bridge

This station opened on July 17, 1918 as part of the extension of the Original Subway up Lexington Avenue to 125th Street and into the Bronx.^[4] Initially, service was provided only as a shuttle on the local tracks of the then-formed Lexington Avenue Line between Grand Central, continuing past this station and under the Harlem River to 167th Street on the IRT Jerome Avenue Line. On August 1, 1918, through service on the Lexington Avenue Line began. Both express trains and local trains began stopping at this station, running from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.^[5] The extension from Grand Central cost $58,000,000.^[6]

The opening of this station resulted in development in the surrounding neighborhood of East Harlem.^[7]

In 1952 or 1953, a public address system was installed at this station, providing information to passengers and train crews.^[8]

In 1981, the MTA listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.^[9] This station's renovation was completed in 2005.

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit/ Entrance
B1	Mezzanine	Fare control, station agents (Elevator at NE corner of 125th Street and Lexington Avenue)
B2	Northbound express	← toward Woodlawn (149th Street–Grand Concourse during the PM rush, or 138th Street–Grand Concourse all other times) ← toward Dyre Avenue weekdays except nights, Wakefield–241st Street weekends, Nereid Avenue PM Rush (138th Street–Grand Concourse)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left or right
	Northbound local	← toward Pelham Bay Park all times, Parkchester rush hours and middays (Third Avenue–138th Street) ← toward Woodlawn (late nights) (138th Street–Grand Concourse)
B3	Southbound local	→ toward Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall (116th Street) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left or right
	Southbound express	→ toward Crown Heights–Utica Avenue weekdays (86th Street) → → toward New Lots Avenue (late nights and weekends) (116th Street) late nights; (86th Street) weekends → → toward Flatbush Avenue except weekday late nights (86th Street) →

Track layout
to 138 St–Grand Concourse to 3 Av–138 St Superimposed track section Left tracks under right tracks to 116 St to 86 St Lower level Upper level

The station is unusual in design, as a bi-level station with island platforms but not configured in the standard express-local lower-upper configuration. Instead, the upper platform serves northbound (uptown) trains and the lower level serves southbound (downtown) trains.^[6] Adding to the unusual design is the local track on each level having train doors open to the right; the express tracks likewise have doors opening to the left. 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 be diverted to the local or express track.^[10] Throughout the station's history, this station has been one of the more important on the line as it is the northernmost transfer point between express trains to the IRT Jerome Avenue and White Plains Road Lines, and local trains to the IRT Pelham Line.^[6]

There is an active tower at the north end of the upper platform; it is a satellite to the tower at Grand Central–42nd Street, which controls the entire length of the Lexington Avenue Line.

Exits

There are four stair exits and one elevator exit.

• Entrance 2: Staircase at SW corner of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street^[11][12]
• Entrance 3: Staircase at SE corner of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street^[11][12]
• Entrance 4: Staircase and elevator at NE corner of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street^[11][12]
• Entrance 5: Staircase at NW corner of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street^[11][12]

This station has a mezzanine with two separate turnstile banks. The northern turnstile bank leads to two staircases going to both northern corners of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, and an elevator going to the NE corner of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street. The southern turnstile bank has two exits leading to both southern corners of Lexington Avenue and 125th Street.^[11]

The station lies one block east of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem–125th Street station on Park Avenue.^[11]

As part of a proposed Second Avenue Subway station, a new exit would be built at the southeast corner of 125th Street and Park Avenue, as well as an ancillary facility on that site.^[12] An ancillary would also be built at the southeast corner of 125th Street and Third Avenue.^[12]

Planned Second Avenue Subway station

125th Street future
Future New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Division	B (IND)
Line	IND Second Avenue Line
Services	future
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 island platforms (planned)
Tracks	3 (planned)
Station code	472[lower-alpha 1][1]
Station succession
Next north	none: future
Next south	116th Street: future

The planned northern terminal for the Second Avenue Subway would be built below, perpendicular to the existing station along 125th Street. The 125th Street station would be part of Phase 2, from 96th Street to 125th Street, with the next station south being 116th Street. Phase 2 would also include a station at 106th Street.^[13] A station at Lexington Avenue and 125th Street was not on the original Second Avenue Subway proposed as part of the New York City Transit Authority's 1968 Program for Action; instead, a Second Avenue Subway station would be built at 126th Street and Second Avenue. The line was to be built in two phases—the first phase from 126th to 34th Streets, the second phase from 34th to Whitehall Streets.^[14][15] When opened, it will initially be served by the Q train, with the T providing service when phase 3 of the line is built.

Introduction of the station to plans

In March 2007, the Second Avenue Subway was revived.^[16] The line's first phase, the "first major expansion" to the New York City Subway in more than a half-century,^[17] included three stations in total and cost $4.45 to $4.5 billion.^[18][19] spanning from 105th Street and Second Avenue to 63rd Street and Third Avenue.^[20] Phase 1 opened on January 1, 2017.^[21][22]

The second phase, between 125th and 96th Streets, was allocated $525 million in the MTA's 2015–2019 Capital Plan for planning, design, environmental studies, and utility relocation.^[23][24] This phase will complete the project's East Harlem section. The alignment will run under Second Avenue to 124th Street,^[25] before turning west on 125th Street.^[26] On October 18, 2016, the de Blasio administration announced a rezoning plan for East Harlem.^[27] One of the three Special Transit Land Use (TA) districts is for the area of the 125th Street/Lexington Avenue station.^[28]

On November 21, 2016, the MTA requested that the Phase 2 project be entered into the Project Development phase under the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program.^[29] On December 15, several elected officials for the area announced that they were seeking $6 billion of funding for Phase 2 of the line, including $2 billion from the federal government.^[30] These officials wished to secure funding from the presidential administration of Barack Obama before Obama's term ended on January 20, 2017. In their request for funding, they cited that they wanted to avoid an uncertain response from the administration of Donald Trump and start construction on Phase 2 as soon as possible.^[30] The FTA granted this request in late December 2016.^[31] Under the approved plan, the MTA would complete an environmental reevaluation by 2018, receive funding by 2020, and open Phase 2 between 2027 and 2029.^[32] In January 2017, it was announced that Phases 2 and 3, which are expected to cost up to a combined $14.2 billion, were on the Trump administration's priority list of 50 most important transportation projects nationwide.^[33][34]

Current plans

If built, this platform will be the permanent northern terminal of the Second Avenue Subway. It would be five levels below street level, or two levels below the lower-level IRT Lexington Avenue Line platform.^[12] The station will have a three-track, two-island platform layout with a mezzanine above it.^[35] There will be railroad switches to the east of the platforms to switch the direction of terminating trains.^[36] The station would also include a new exit leading directly from the Second Avenue Line platform to the south side of Park Avenue and 125th Street, allowing for a quick connection to the Metro-North station.^[13] The tracks would continue west of the station to midblock between Fifth Avenue and Lenox Avenue, creating space for tail tracks to store trains and providing a provision for a future expansion of the line along 125th Street.^[37]

In popular culture

The location is referenced in The Velvet Underground song "Waiting for the Man", in which the song's protagonist uses the train station en route to buy heroin in Harlem: "Up to Lexington, 1-2-5 / Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive."

Notes

References

Further reading

• Lee Stokey. Subway Ceramics : A History and Iconography. 1994. ISBN 978-0-9635486-1-0

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 125th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org – IRT East Side Line: 125th Street
• nycsubway.org — Polyrhythmics of Consciousness and Light Artwork by Valerie Maynard (2002)
• nycsubway.org — Open Secret Artwork by Houston Conwill (1986)
• Station Reporter — 4 Train
• Station Reporter — 5 Train
• Station Reporter — 6 Train
• MTA's Arts For Transit — 125th Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)
• 125th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Upper level from Google Maps Street View
• Lower level from Google Maps Street View

New York City Subway stations, by service
	Woodlawn Mosholu Parkway Bedford Park Boulevard–Lehman College Kingsbridge Road Fordham Road 183rd Street Burnside Avenue 176th Street Mount Eden Avenue 170th Street 167th Street 161st Street–Yankee Stadium 149th Street–Grand Concourse 138th Street–Grand Concourse 125th Street 116th Street* 110th Street* 103rd Street* 96th Street* 86th Street 77th Street* 68th Street–Hunter College* 59th Street 51st Street* Grand Central–42nd Street 33rd Street* 28th Street* 23rd Street* 14th Street Astor Place* Bleecker Street* Spring Street* Canal Street* Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall Fulton Street Wall Street Bowling Green Borough Hall Nevins Street Atlantic Avenue Bergen Street* Grand Army Plaza* Eastern Parkway–Brooklyn Museum* Franklin Avenue Nostrand Avenue* Kingston Avenue* Crown Heights–Utica Avenue Sutter Avenue–Rutland Road* Saratoga Avenue* Rockaway Avenue* Junius Street* Pennsylvania Avenue* Van Siclen Avenue* New Lots Avenue*
	Nereid Ave. branch Nereid Avenue 233rd Street 225th Street 219th Street Gun Hill Road–White Plains Road Burke Avenue Allerton Avenue Pelham Parkway–White Plains Road Bronx Park East Dyre Ave. branch Eastchester–Dyre Avenue Baychester Avenue Gun Hill Road–Seymour Avenue Pelham Parkway–Esplanade Morris Park East 180th Street West Farms Square–East Tremont Avenue 174th Street Freeman Street Simpson Street Intervale Avenue Prospect Avenue Jackson Avenue Third Avenue–149th Street 149th Street–Grand Concourse 138th Street–Grand Concourse 125th Street 86th Street 59th Street Grand Central–42nd Street 14th Street Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall Fulton Street Wall Street Bowling Green Borough Hall Nevins Street Atlantic Avenue Franklin Avenue President Street Sterling Street Winthrop Street Church Avenue Beverly Road Newkirk Avenue Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College
	Pelham Bay Park Buhre Avenue Middletown Road Westchester Square–East Tremont Avenue Zerega Avenue Castle Hill Avenue Parkchester St. Lawrence Avenue Morrison Avenue–Soundview Elder Avenue Whitlock Avenue Hunts Point Avenue Longwood Avenue East 149th Street East 143rd Street–St. Mary's Street Cypress Avenue Brook Avenue Third Avenue–138th Street 125th Street 116th Street 110th Street 103rd Street 96th Street 86th Street 77th Street 68th Street–Hunter College 59th Street 51st Street Grand Central–42nd Street 33rd Street 28th Street 23rd Street 14th Street Astor Place Bleecker Street Spring Street Canal Street Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall
See also Lists by borough (The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens) Accessible Closed Terminals Transfer Commons category Note: Temporary reroutes on the 2, 5, and M trains are not reflected here. Stations with asterisks are served by that service during off-peak hours only. See linked articles for more information.