Norwood – 205th Street (IND Concourse Line)

Norwood – 205th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station

An R68 train entering the station from the relay tracks. It is about to start its southern service.
Station statistics
Address East 205th Street & Bainbridge Avenue
Bronx, NY 10467
Borough The Bronx
Locale Norwood
Coordinates 40°52′30″N 73°52′46″W / 40.874908°N 73.879452°W / 40.874908; -73.879452Coordinates: 40°52′30″N 73°52′46″W / 40.874908°N 73.879452°W / 40.874908; -73.879452
Division B (IND)
Line IND Concourse Line
Services       D  (all times)
Transit connections NYCT Bus: Bx10, Bx16, Bx28, Bx30, Bx34, Bx38
Structure Underground
Platforms 1 island platform
Tracks 2
Other information
Opened July 1, 1933 (July 1, 1933)
Former/other names 205th Street
Traffic
Passengers (2015) 2,750,124[1] Increase 1.5%
Rank 184 out of 422
Station succession
Next north (Terminal): D 
Next south Bedford Park Boulevard: D 

Norwood – 205th Street (formerly 205th Street) is the northern terminal station on the IND Concourse Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 205th Street and Bainbridge Avenue in Norwood, Bronx, it is served by the D train at all times.

History

The station was built as part of the sixth and seventh sections of the IND Concourse Line beginning in the late 1920s.[2][3] The station was built under East 205th Street at its eastern end, and underneath preexisting private property for most of its length.[4] The station opened on July 1, 1933, along with the rest of the Concourse subway.[5][6] On July 1, 1937, an escalator was opened in the station, the first of its kind in the Bronx.[7][8]

On August 23, 1954, a D train relaying east of the station overshot the bumper blocks at the end of the track, crashing into the wall at the end of the line. The train motorman was trapped in the tunnel for seven hours, and when he was freed, his left foot had to be amputated.[9][10]

Station layout

G Street Level Exit/ Entrance
M Mezzanine Fare control, station agent
P
Platform		 Southbound ← toward Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue (boarding passengers only) (Bedford Park Boulevard)
Island platform, doors will open on the left
Northbound → termination track →
The escalator to the western fare control area at Bainbridge Avenue.

This underground station has two tracks and one island platform. Both track walls have a lime green trim line with a medium Kelly green border. Small "205" signs are placed below them at regular intervals. The platform has a row of concrete-clad I-beam columns on both sides; these are painted medium Hunter green. There is clear evidence of water damage and mold due to poor drainage in numerous areas along the platform ceiling, the wall tiles, and to a number of the support columns.[11][12][13][14][15][16] The station is also notorious for having piles of trash bags on the platform and at entrances, as well as for large amounts of litter on the tracks due to an absence of trash cans.[12][13][16][17] 205th Street station was declared one of the five worst in the system in terms of maintenance and appearance by the New York City Transit Riders Council in 2005,[11][13][14][18] problems which have persisted into the 2010s.[15][16][17][19]

Due to changes in the street grid of the neighborhood, the station is located at East 205th Street and Perry Avenue at its eastern end, and at East 206th Street and Bainbridge Avenue at its western end. 205th Street turns diagonally southwest at Perry Street, while the subway maintains its previous direction, lining up with Van Cortland Avenue before turning south onto Grand Concourse.[2][20]

The station is located close to several Norwood landmarks, including the New York Public Library's Mosholu Branch; the Montefiore Medical Center and North Central Bronx Hospital, north of the station on East 210th Street; St. Brendan's Church and School; the Valentine–Varian House; and the Williamsbridge Oval, the former site of the Williamsbridge Reservoir.[20]

Fare control

A D train at the platform

This station has two fare control areas. The full-time side at the south (geographical west) end has a turnstile bank, token booth, and two staircases going up to the southeast and northwest corners of East 206th Street and Bainbridge Avenue.[17][20] Because of the varying topography of the surrounding neighborhood, a single escalator was installed in 1937 in this fare control area, traversing an elevation difference of 25 feet (7.6 m) between the mezzanine and platform.[7][8] Access to fare control otherwise requires walking up three flights of stairs from platform level.[19]

The other fare control area at the station's north (geographical east) end, accessed by a ramp to the platform, is unstaffed, containing full height turnstiles and two staircases going up to the northwest and southeast corners of East 205th Street and Perry Avenue.[17][20] The token booth at this location was closed on July 30, 2005[21] and removed sometime afterward.[22]

Track layout

This station was not intended to be the terminus of the Concourse Line or the D train; both were supposed to have been extended east past Bronx Park and the IRT White Plains Road Line along Burke Avenue to serve the northeast section of the Bronx.[23][24][25] This idea was postponed due to lack of funding, and ultimately abandoned when the City of New York bought the right-of-way of the bankrupt New York, Westchester and Boston Railway and converted it for subway use in 1941.[26] Another proposal in the 1970s involved extending the Concourse Line to White Plains Road, but financial troubles caused the plan to be aborted.[26][27]

As a result of the planned extension, the two tracks continue east of this station for about 700 feet along 205th Street to Webster Avenue, ending at a concrete wall,[9][10][26] and this station does not have any crew quarters. Crews are changed at Bedford Park Boulevard, the next station south. Additionally, there is no diamond crossover between the tracks west of this station; here, a center track forms leading west to the Concourse Yard.[28] Because of this, terminating trains arrive on the southern (railroad northbound) track and discharge their passengers before continuing east to the end of the track. They then use the diamond crossover there to return to this station on the northern (railroad southbound) track and begin service to Manhattan and Brooklyn.[9][26][28] Due to the track configuration, trains may reverse into the yard from the southern track, and trains from the yard may start service on the northern track.[28]

References

  1. ↑ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  2. 1 2 "Opens Subway Bids: Estimate Board Gets Twelve Offers for Bronx Work". The New York Times. June 8, 1929. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "$2,691,028 IS LOW BID ON SECTION OF SUBWAY; Di Marco & Reimann Are Below Seven Others in Seeking Contract on City's Project.". The New York Times. June 29, 1930. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "CITY SOON TO LAUNCH $600,000,000 SUBWAY FOR THE EAST SIDE; Delaney to Submit Plans for New System Including the Bronx in Two Months.". The New York Times. April 5, 1929. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "New Bronx Subway Starts Operation". The New York Times. July 1, 1933. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  6. ↑ "Bronx-Concourse New Subway Link Opened at 12:57 A.M.: Adds 21 1/2 Miles to City's System−Connects With Manhattan Line at 145th". Newspapers.com. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 1, 1933. p. 20. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Subway Din Mars A Fete in Bronx: Halley Starts to Dedicate a New Escalator but the Trains Drown out His Voice". The New York Times. July 1, 1937. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  8. 1 2 "New Escalator Ready: Bronx Demonstration Wednesday in 205th St. Subway Station". The New York Times. June 27, 1937. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 "IND Motorman Trapped 7 Hours In Wreck, Loses Foot in the Rescue". The New York Times. August 24, 1954. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  10. 1 2 "IND Accident Traced: Subway Motorman's Crash Is Laid to 'Man Failure'". The New York Times. August 25, 1954. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  11. 1 2 Shannon, Ellyn (August 2004). "Hit or Miss.... A Survey of New York City Subway Stations" (PDF). pcac.org. New York City Transit Riders Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-08-21. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Unwelcome Mats New York’s Subway Stations in Disrepair: August 2008" (PDF). pcac.org. NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT RIDERS COUNCIL. August 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 Thompson, Clive (February 28, 2005). "Derailed: Beset by floods and fires and built on technology that predates the Model T, the subway, the very essence of New York, has become frighteningly fragile. And now that the MTA has dug itself into a deep financial hole, it has started traveling back in time to 1975.". New York (magazine). Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  14. 1 2 Chung, Jen (August 5, 2004). "The City's Dirty (and Clean) Subway Stations". Gothamist. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Residents: Norwood subway station in disrepair". News 12. September 6, 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 "Commuters: Mold growing at 205th St. station". News 12 Bronx. May 12, 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "SANITATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES: Monday, April 12th, 2010 @ 6:30 PM" (PDF). bronxcb7.info. The City of New York Borough of the Bronx Community Board 7. April 12, 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  18. ↑ Chan, Sewell (June 21, 2005). "Report Finds Filthiest Subway Stations in the Bronx...". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  19. 1 2 "MTA officials: Broken escalator at Norwood & 205th Street Station won't be fixed until April". News 12. December 24, 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  20. 1 2 3 4 "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Van Cortlandt Park / NY Botanical Garden" (PDF). Metropolitan Transit Authority (New York). 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  21. ↑ "The D Line 205th Street token booth closes in the Bronx". News 12 Bronx. August 1, 2005. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  22. ↑ Hall, Imani (June 11, 2014). "5-2 Warns of "Swipers" At Local Stations" (PDF). Norwood News. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  23. ↑ Duffus, R.L. (September 22, 1929). "OUR GREAT SUBWAY NETWORK SPREADS WIDER; New Plans of Board of Transportation Involve the Building of More Than One Hundred Miles of Additional Rapid Transit Routes for New York". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  24. ↑ "City Board Votes New Subway Links". nytimes.com. The New York Times. March 19, 1937. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
  25. ↑ "$101,200,000 Asked for 1930 Work on Tubes: Projects Include Jay, Fulton, Crosstown and Queens City Subways". Newspapers.com. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 14, 1930. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  26. 1 2 3 4 Joseph B. Raskin (1 November 2013). The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City's Unbuilt Subway System. Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-5369-2. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  27. ↑ "Full text of "Metropolitan transportation, a program for action. Report to Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor of New York."". Internet Archive. November 7, 1967. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
  28. 1 2 3 Marrero, Robert (2015-09-13). "469 Stations, 846 Miles" (PDF). B24 Blog, via Dropbox. Retrieved 2015-10-09.

Further reading

External links

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