135th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)

For other uses, see 135th Street.

The 135th Street station is a local station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 135th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem and Hamilton Heights in Manhattan, it is served by the B on weekdays, the C train at all times except nights, and the A train during late nights only.

135 Street  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Northbound platform
Station statistics
Address	West 135th Street & Saint Nicholas Avenue New York, NY
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Harlem, Hamilton Heights
Coordinates	40°49′02″N 73°56′53″W / 40.81709°N 73.94803°W / 40.81709; -73.94803
Division	B (IND)^[1]
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services	A  (late nights) ​   B  (weekdays during the day) ​   C  (all except late nights)
Transit	NYCT Bus: M3, Bx33
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	6 (4 in passenger service)
Other information
Opened	September 10, 1932 (91 years ago) (1932-09-10)^[2]
Accessibility	Same-platform wheelchair transfer available
Opposite- direction transfer	No
Traffic
2023	1,083,148^[3]  6.3%
Rank	279 out of 423^[3]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station 145th Street A  ​B  ​C  services split Local 125th Street A  ​B  ​C  via 59th Street–Columbus Circle does not stop here
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to 145th Street upper level to 145th Street lower level Storage tracks to 125th Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only Stops weekdays during the day

History

The station opened on September 10, 1932, as part of the city-operated Independent Subway System (IND)'s initial segment, the Eighth Avenue Line between Chambers Street and 207th Street.^[2][4] Construction of the whole line cost $191.2 million (equivalent to $4,269.8 million in 2023. While the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line already provided parallel service, the new Eighth Avenue subway via Central Park West and Frederick Douglass Boulevard provided an alternative route.^[5]

Station layout

G	Street level	Entrance/exit
P Platform level	Side platform
	Northbound local	←   weekdays toward Bedford Park Boulevard or 145th Street (145th Street) ←   toward 168th Street (145th Street) ←   toward Inwood–207th Street late nights (145th Street)
	Northbound layup track	← No regular service
	Northbound express	←    do not stop here
	Southbound express	←    do not stop here →
	Southbound layup track	← No regular service
	Southbound local	←   weekdays toward Brighton Beach (125th Street) → ←   toward Euclid Avenue (125th Street) → ←   toward Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue late nights (125th Street) →
	Side platform

 

Mosaic name tablet

 

Entrance in park at 137th Street

There is no trim line at this station, but there are mosaic name tablets reading "135TH ST." in white sans-serif lettering on a Prussian green background and black border. Small tile captions reading "135" run along the wall at regular intervals between the name tablets, and under the name tablets are directional captions, all in white lettering on a black background. Hunter green I-beam columns run along the platforms at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate with white lettering.

This station is the only local station with six tracks between two side platforms and is one of only three stations in the entire subway system that features six tracks on the same level, within the same tunnel (the others are DeKalb Avenue and Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets, both in Downtown Brooklyn). The two outermost tracks are used by local trains stopping at this station, while the two innermost tracks are used by express trains. The middle tracks in each direction are lay-up tracks and not used in revenue service.^[6] All fare controls are at platform level and there are no mezzanines, crossovers, or crossunders.

This station is located close to the nearby City College of New York.

Exits

The full-time booths are at the 135th Street end. The booth at the 137th Street exit has been removed, and the 137th Street exits used to be part-time only.^[7] There were restrooms at the 137th Street end of the southbound platform. Both street staircases at this end were built with their entry points facing St. Nicholas Park and have an old-fashioned appearance.^{[clarification needed]}

From the southern end of the station, there is a staircase on the west side of St. Nicholas Avenue at West 135th Street to the southbound platform, within St. Nicholas Park, a staircase from the northeastern corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 135th Street to the northbound platform, and two staircases to the northbound platform from the southeastern corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 135th Street. At the northern end of the station, there is a staircase leading to the southbound platform from the western side of St. Nicholas Avenue at West 137th Street, within St. Nicholas Park, and an exit-only staircase from the northbound platform leading to the southeastern corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 137th Street.^[8] This exit features an array of stone casting in a Cathedral-like setting, originally built in 1932.

References

1. "Glossary". (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
2. "List of the 28 Stations on the New 8th Av. Line". The New York Times. September 10, 1932. p. 6. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
3. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
4. Crowell, Paul (September 10, 1932). "Gay Midnight Crowd Rides First Trains In The New Subway: Throngs at Station an Hour Before Time, Rush Turnstiles When Chains are Dropped" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
5. Duffus, R. l (September 9, 1932). "NEW LINE FIRST UNIT IN CITY-WIDE SYSTEM; 8th Av. Tube to Ease West Side Congestion at Once -- Branches to Link 4 Boroughs Later. LAST WORD IN SUBWAYS Run From 207th to Chambers St. Cut to 33 Minutes -- 42d St. Has World's Largest Station. COST HAS BEEN $191,200,000 Years of Digging Up City Streets, Tunneling Rock and Building Road Finally Brought to Completion". The New York Times. p. 12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
6. Dougherty, Peter (2006) [2002]. Tracks of the New York City Subway 2006 (3rd ed.). Dougherty. OCLC 49777633 – via Google Books.
7. (PDF) (Report). New York City Transit Riders Council. November 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
8. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Harlem / Hamilton Heights" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 135th Street (IND Eighth Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org – IND Eighth Avenue: 135th Street
• Station Reporter —
• Station Reporter —
• The Subway Nut — 135th Street Pictures June 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• Edgecombe Avenue, 135th Street, and Saint Nicholas Avenue entrances from Google Maps Street View
• 135th Street entrance in park from Google Maps Street View
• 137th Street stone entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 137th Street entrance in park from Google Maps Street View
• Platform from Google Maps Street View