168th Street (New York City Subway)

This article is about the station on 168th Street. For the station on Jamaica Avenue, see 168th Street (BMT Jamaica Line).
168th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station complex

Entrance at 169th Street.
Station statistics
Address West 168th Street, Broadway, and
St. Nicholas Avenue
New York, NY 10032
Borough Manhattan
Locale Washington Heights
Coordinates 40°50′28″N 73°56′23″W / 40.841022°N 73.939791°W / 40.841022; -73.939791Coordinates: 40°50′28″N 73°56′23″W / 40.841022°N 73.939791°W / 40.841022; -73.939791
Division A (IRT), B (IND)
Line       IND Eighth Avenue Line
      IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line
Services       1  (all times)
      A  (all times)
      C  (all except late nights)
Transit connections NYCT Bus: M2, M3, M5, M100, Bx7 (M4 on Fort Washington Avenue)
Short Line Bus: 208
Levels 2
Other information
Opened July 1, 1948 (1948-07-01)[1]
Former/other names Washington Heights – 168th Street
Traffic
Passengers (2015) 8,009,233 (station complex)[2] Decrease 1%
Rank 49 out of 422

168th Street (formerly Washington Heights – 168th Street), is an underground New York City Subway station complex shared by the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line and IND Eighth Avenue Line. It is located at the intersection of 168th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights, Manhattan and served by the:

The IRT portion of the station is very deep and requires the use of elevators to reach the platform after fare control, which is on a full length mezzanine above the higher IND portion. Elevators connecting the IND platforms and tracks to the mezzanine and the mezzanine to the street make that portion handicapped-accessible. The IRT section is not ADA accessible since the platforms have no elevators (reaching the elevators to fare control requires climbing short staircases).

Nearby points of interest include NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, Hudson River waterfront parks, and remnants of the Audubon Ballroom. In 2005, the station was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line platforms

168th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station

Uptown platform looking south with passenger bridge connecting to the downtown platform
Station statistics
Division A (IRT)
Line       IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line
Services       1  (all times)
Structure Underground
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 2
Other information
Opened March 16, 1906 (1906-03-16)
Station succession
Next north 181st Street: 1 
Next south 157th Street: 1 

168th Street on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line, opened on March 16, 1906, has two tracks and two side platforms. This deep station has a high arched tiled ceiling and white globe lights on ornate fixtures hanging from the walls and ceiling on the north half. The south half, where the platforms were extended in the 1950s, has a much lower ceiling and large marble columns with alternating ones having the standard black station name plates in white lettering, but the name tablets and trim line are the same as those on the north half of the station. There is a closed stairway on the extreme northern end of the northbound platform leading to an unknown location.

Near the north end of the station, there are two bridges above the tracks, each of which has two staircases going down to each platform. On the southbound side of the bridges, there are four elevators, one of which is staffed, going up to an unstaffed fare control area where a turnstile bank leads to two staircases going up to the southwest corner of Broadway and West 168th Street. A corridor within fare control leads to the IND mezzanine.

Until 2015, the elevators to the platforms on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line still utilized elevator operators, one of the only stations in the system to do so.[3]

Gallery

IND Eighth Avenue Line platforms

168th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Station statistics
Division B (IND)
Line       IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services       A  (all times)
      C  (all except late nights)
Structure Underground
Platforms 2 island platforms
cross-platform interchange
Tracks 4
Other information
Opened September 10, 1932 (1932-09-10)[4]
Accessible (IND Eighth Avenue Line platforms only)
Station succession
Next north 175th Street: A 
(Terminal): C 
Next south 163rd Street – Amsterdam Avenue (local): A  C 
145th Street (express): A 
Next north 175th Street: A 
none: C 
Next south 125th Street: A  C 

168th Street is an express station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line that opened on September 10, 1932, and has four tracks and two island platforms. Contrary to the usual express station layout, the inner tracks serve the C local trains while the outer tracks serve the A express trains. This is to make it easier for C trains to terminate here, and turn around to make the southbound trip to Brooklyn. South of this station, the outer tracks descends to a lower level below the inner tracks, creating a two-over-two track layout. North of the station, the inner tracks continue north under Broadway to 174th Street Yard while the outer tracks turn sharp under Fort Washington Avenue before continuing to Inwood – 207th Street.

Both outer track walls have a reddish purple with a black border, but no name tablets, and small "168" signs below them in white numbering on a black border.

This station has a full length mezzanine above the platforms and tracks. The full-time one is at the center and has a turnstile bank, token booth, and one staircase and one elevator going up to the northeast corner of West 168th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue. The part-time side at the north of the mezzanine has HEET turnstiles and three staircases, two to the southwest corner of Broadway and 169th Street and one to the northwest corner. An exit-only turnstile in the middle of the mezzanine, near the corridor leading to the IRT platforms, leads to a staircase going up to north end of Mitchell Square Park on the south side of West 168th Street between Broadway and Saint Nicholas Avenue; the exit is currently closed while the station is undergoing renovations.

The passageway leading to the IRT elevators is just beyond the full-time fare control area. This is evidence that there was another passageway outside fare control of this area going south, including two closed off staircases from each platform and street exits to 167th Street.[5] This passageway was closed in the 1980s for safety reasons.[5] This area is now used for New York City Transit employees only.

Gallery

Station layout

G Street Level Exit/Entrance
B1 Mezzanine Fare control, station agent
(Elevator on SE corner of 168th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue for A C trains only; elevators to 1 trains are not accessible)
B2
Platform level		 Northbound express ← toward Inwood – 207th Street (all times except nights) (175th Street)
Island platform, doors will open on the left for express trains, right for local trains
Northbound local ← termination track (all times except nights)
← toward Inwood – 207th Street (late nights) (175th Street)
Southbound local → toward Euclid Avenue (boarding passengers only; all times except nights) (163rd Street – Amsterdam Avenue) →
Island platform, doors will open on the left for A trains, right for C trains
Southbound express → toward Lefferts Boulevard or Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue (all times except nights), or Rockaway Park – Beach 116th Street (PM rush) (145th Street) →
→ toward Far Rockaway – Mott Avenue (late nights) (163rd Street – Amsterdam Avenue) →
B3 Crossover To elevators
B4
Platform level		 Side platform, doors will open on the right
Northbound ← toward Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street (181st Street)
Southbound → toward South Ferry (157th Street) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right

References

  1. ↑ New York Times, Transfer Points Under Higher Fare, June 30, 1948, page 19
  2. ↑ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2016-04-18.
  3. ↑ The Subway’s Elevator Operators, a Reassuring Amenity of Another Era. By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM. Published: April 28, 2011. The New York Times.
  4. ↑ New York Times, List of the 28 Stations on the New Eighth Av. Line, September 10, 1932, page 6
  5. 1 2 "Review of the A and C Lines" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York). December 11, 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2016.

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