57th Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line)

57th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Address	West 57th Street & Sixth Avenue New York, NY 10019
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Midtown Manhattan
Coordinates	40°45′51″N 73°58′38″W / 40.764259°N 73.977213°W / 40.764259; -73.977213Coordinates: 40°45′51″N 73°58′38″W / 40.764259°N 73.977213°W / 40.764259; -73.977213
Division	B (IND)
Line	IND Sixth Avenue Line
Services	F  (all times)
Transit connections	NYCT Bus: M5, M7, M31, M57
Structure	Underground
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	July 1, 1968 (1968-07-01)
Station code	224[1]
Wireless service	[2]
Traffic
Passengers (2016)	4,821,309[3]  2.1%
Rank	99 out of 422
Station succession
Next north	Lexington Avenue–63rd Street: F
Next south	47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center: F
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York Show map of the US

57th Street is a station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 57th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, it is served by the F train at all times. North of the station, the line turns east and becomes the IND 63rd Street Line.

History

Track layout
to Lexington Av–63 St to 47–50 Sts

The station was built as part of the Chrystie Street Connection, which started construction in 1957. In 1962, the Sixth Avenue extension to the new terminal at 57th Street was announced.^[4] The 57th Street station opened on July 1, 1968,^[4] as one of two stations added during construction of the Chrystie Street Connection, the other being Grand Street.^[5] Upon its opening, the station acted as the terminus of two services, the B during rush hours and KK during off-peak hours.^[5][6][4] The KK was renamed the K in 1974 and eliminated in 1976.^[7][8] From 1978 to 1990, this station was also served by the JFK Express service to the eponymous airport.^{[9][10][11][12]}

When the north side of the Manhattan Bridge was closed for construction from 1986-1998 and again from July to December 2001, this station was only served by a shuttle train along Sixth Avenue.^[13] Starting in 1988, this station was served by Q trains on weekdays, B trains on weekday evenings and weekends, and F trains during late nights. This was the terminal for all services until the IND 63rd Street Line to 21st Street–Queensbridge opened on October 29, 1989^[14][15] Late night F-train service was replaced by a shuttle in 1997. Since December 2001, when the 63rd Street Tunnel Connector opened in Queens, the F route has served this station at all times,^{[16][17][18][19]} simultaneous with the withdrawal of all other services from the 63rd Street Line.^[16][18][19]

Under the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Plan, the station, along with 30 others in the New York City Subway, will undergo a complete overhaul and be entirely closed for up to six months. Planned updates include cellular service, Wi-Fi, charging stations, and improved signage and station lighting.^[20][21]

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit/Entrance
M	Mezzanine	Fare control, station agent, MetroCard vending machines
P Platform level	Southbound	← toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue (47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center)
	Island platform, doors will open on the left
	Northbound	→ toward Jamaica–179th Street (Lexington Avenue–63rd Street) →

Street entrance

57th Street utilizes a simple two tracks and a single island platform setup common to terminal stations. From the full-length mezzanine, there are six staircases to the platform. The station walls are plain white, with "57th St" stenciled on long, narrow tiles along the wall.

Except for the removal of exit slam gates at fare controls, much of the station design remains unchanged from 1968 opening. Even the "Next Train" indicator lights are still hanging from the platform ceiling, dating from the period when the station was a terminal. The tower and the crew area still exist. They were abandoned after the 1989 63rd Street extension to 21st Street–Queensbridge, but were back in service in 1998 when trains from Sixth Avenue terminated here due to long term construction work that necessitated a shuttle train from Queensbridge to 57th Street–Seventh Avenue on the BMT Broadway Line. Once all construction work was completed on the 63rd Street Connector to the IND Queens Boulevard Line in December 2001, the tower was permanently abandoned.

A plaque of Colonel John T. O'Neill is located in the station^[22]

This station features one of the last surviving telephone booths, located inside one of the three fare control areas at mezzanine level. A plaque dedicated to retired Colonel John T. O'Neill, who served as the New York City Transit Authority's Chief Engineer until his death in 1978, sits next to the booth on the west wall.^[22]

Exits

There are eight street staircases spread on both sides of Sixth Avenue from 56th to 57th Streets.^[23]

• One stair, NW corner of 6th Avenue and 57th Street^[23]
• One stair, NE corner of 6th Avenue and 57th Street^[23]
• One stair, SW corner of 6th Avenue and 57th Street^[23]
• Two stairs, east side of 6th Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets^[23]
• One stair, NW corner of 6th Avenue and 56th Street^[23]
• One stair, SW corner of 6th Avenue and 56th Street^[23]
• One stair, SE corner of 6th Avenue and 56th Street^[23]

In popular culture

• 57th Street appears in the 1973 crime film Serpico, which stars Al Pacino.
• 57th Street is shown briefly in the later season opening credits of the 1970s sitcom Rhoda as main characters Rhoda and Brenda just miss a train.
• Seminal punk rock band the Ramones used the station for the artwork of their 1983 album Subterranean Jungle. It features an image of the band inside a subway car.
• 57th Street appears in the movie Beat Street (1984), where the battle between the Rock Steady Crew and the New York City Breakers take place.^[24]
• 57th Street appears in the 1992 film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Gangsters Harry and Marv can be seen exiting onto Sixth Avenue from the station. The JFK Express label is still visible.
• 57th Street appears in the 2011 film "A Very Harold And Kumar 3D Christmas" in the scene when Harold and Kumar are carrying a Christmas tree "Neil Patrick Harris" gave them before getting kidnapped by the Ukrainian mobsters.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 57th Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org – IND 6th Avenue: 57th Street
• Station Reporter — F Train
• 57th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 56th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platform from Google Maps Street View

New York City Subway stations, by service
	Jamaica–179th Street 169th Street Parsons Boulevard Sutphin Boulevard Briarwood Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike 75th Avenue 71st Avenue Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue 21st Street–Queensbridge Roosevelt Island Lexington Avenue–63rd Street 57th Street 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center 42nd Street–Bryant Park 34th Street–Herald Square 23rd Street 14th Street/Sixth Avenue West Fourth Street–Washington Square Broadway–Lafayette Street Second Avenue Delancey Street East Broadway York Street Jay Street–MetroTech Bergen Street Carroll Street Smith–Ninth Streets Fourth Avenue Seventh Avenue 15th Street–Prospect Park Fort Hamilton Parkway Church Avenue Ditmas Avenue 18th Avenue Avenue I Bay Parkway Avenue N Avenue P Kings Highway Avenue U Avenue X Neptune Avenue West Eighth Street–New York Aquarium Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue
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.