Lexington Avenue–53rd Street (IND Queens Boulevard Line)

Infobox NYCS
name=Lexington Avenue–53rd Street
accessible=yes
service=Queens 53rd
transfer_station=51st Street
transfer_line=IRT Lexington Avenue Line
transfer_service=Lexington local

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bg_color = #11117D
bg_color_2 = #FF6E1A
line = IND Queens Boulevard Line
service = Queens 53rd
platforms = 1 island platform
tracks = 2
passengers = 19.635 million (station complex)
pass_year = 2006
pass_percent = 5
open_date = August 19, 1933
north_station = 23rd Street–Ely Avenue
north_line = IND Queens Boulevard Line
north_service = Queens 53rd
south_station = Fifth Avenue/53rd Street
south_line = IND Queens Boulevard Line
south_service = Queens 53rd

Lexington Avenue–53rd Street is a station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. It has two tracks and one island platform. It is eighty feet below the street, as the line had to pass beneath all of the north–south subway lines that were built before it. ADA elevators, a connection between the east and west mezzanines near the surface, 1 additional escalator near the west escalator bank (2 escalators and staircase) and the elevator, were added in 2005, 1 escalator towards the east end of the station was not renovated during the 2005 renovation, and remains boarded up and out of service as of 2008. The pair of escalators at the west end of the station were once recorded to be the longest in the world. [ [http://nycsubway.org/perl/stations?219:3192 IND Queens Boulevard Line: Lexington Avenue/53rd Street] , nycsubway.org. Accessed on August 6, 2006.] A passageway connecting to 51st Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line was added in 1989. As a result, this station has become the sixth busiest in the system, even though it is a local station on the Lexington Avenue line. [ [http://nycsubway.org/perl/stations?5:290 IRT East Side line: 51 Street] , nycsubway.org. Accessed on 9 June 2005.] The station's volume, its transfer to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, and it having trains fron the IND Queens Boulevard Line (the biggest subway transit artery of Queens) cause the station to be overloaded during rush hour. This has been dealt with by the MTA in various ways. During morning rush hour, where passengers destined for Manhattan locations, try to go up the escalators to get to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the west escalator bank is made to operate in 1 direction only (both operate towards the surface), this is not done during evening rush hour, since the single escalator added in 2005's direction is always down towards the trains, negating the need to operate the west escalator bank unidirectionally (2 down escalators are available (single 2005 escalator, and 1 from the west escalator bank). The evening rush hour arrangement is also the escalator configuration maintained off rush hour. During the 2005 renovation, during morning rush hour, the west bank operated in only an up direction, and passengers were not permitted to descend to the trains, even by staircase of the west bank and were told to use alternative ways of getting to Queens employees stations there. In station decor, it is notable since has never been tiled like the rest of the IND Queens Boulevard Line, and IND system in general.

Gallery

Bus connections

References

External links

*NYCS ref|http://nycsubway.org/perl/stations?219:3192|IND Queens Boulevard Line|Lexington Avenue/53rd Street
*Station Reporter — [http://www.stationreporter.net/51lex.htm 51st Street/Lexington Avenue Complex]