Queens Plaza (IND Queens Boulevard Line)

 Queens Plaza
 "E" train ​"M" train ​"R" train
New York City Subway rapid transit station
View of the Jamaica and 71st Avenue bound platform from the Manhattan bound platform, with a Jamaica Center bound E express train leaving the station.
Station statistics
Address Queens Plaza, Jackson Avenue, Queens Boulevard & Northern Boulevard
Queens, NY 11101
Borough Queens
Locale Long Island City
Coordinates 40°44′56″N 73°56′15″W / 40.748915°N 73.937387°W / 40.748915; -73.937387Coordinates: 40°44′56″N 73°56′15″W / 40.748915°N 73.937387°W / 40.748915; -73.937387
Division B (IND)
Line IND Queens Boulevard Line
Services       E  (all times)
​      M  (weekdays until 11:00 p.m.)
​      R  (all hours except late nights)
Transit connections NYCT Bus: B62, Q32
MTA Bus: Q39, Q60, Q67, Q100, Q101, Q102
Structure Underground
Platforms 2 island platforms
cross-platform interchange
Tracks 4
Other information
Opened August 19, 1933 (1933-08-19)
Station code 273[1]
Accessible ADA-accessible
Wireless service [2][3]
Traffic
Passengers (2017) 3,374,948[4] Increase 8%
Rank 152 out of 425
Station succession
Next north Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue (express): E 
36th Street (local): E  ​M  ​R 
Next south Court Square–23rd Street (via Queens Boulevard): E  ​M 
Lexington Avenue/59th Street (via Broadway): R 
Court Square (via Crosstown): no regular service
Next north Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue: E  ​M  ​R 
Next south Lexington Avenue–53rd Street (via Queens Boulevard): E  ​M 
Times Square–42nd Street (via Broadway): R 
Church Avenue (via Crosstown): no regular service

Queens Plaza is an express station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located under the eastern edge of Queens Plaza at the large Queens Plaza interchange, it is served by the E train at all times, by the R train at all times except late nights, and by the M train on weekdays except late nights.

While situated relatively close to the elevated Queensboro Plaza station on the BMT Astoria Line and IRT Flushing Line, there is no free transfer between the two stations.

History

Look Up Not Down, Glass Mosaic, Ellen Harvey (2005)

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first lines built by the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND),[5][6][7] and stretches between the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and 179th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.[5][7][8] The Queens Boulevard Line was in part financed by a Public Works Administration (PWA) loan and grant of $25,000,000.[9] One of the proposed stations would have been located at Steinway Street.

The first section of the line, west from Roosevelt Avenue to 50th Street, opened on August 19, 1933. E trains ran local to Hudson Terminal (today's World Trade Center) in Manhattan, while the GG (predecessor to current G service) ran as a shuttle service between Queens Plaza and Nassau Avenue on the IND Crosstown Line.[10][11][12][13][14][15] It was the first stop in Queens after crossing the East River for six years until the 1939 opening of 23rd Street–Ely Avenue.

Until the opening of the 60th Street Tunnel Connection in 1955 after the unification of the subway, only express trains in Queens ran to Manhattan; local trains were routed onto the IND Crosstown Line.[16] This service pattern is no longer in use due to the opening of the 63rd Street track connector in 2001, and Crosstown Line trains now terminate one stop earlier at Court Square.[17]

In 1978, the New York City Department of City Planning proposed making Queens Plaza into a large subway station complex. Queens Plaza would have been converted to a transfer station with the 63rd Street Line,[18] which at that time was described as a "tunnel to nowhere" that did not connect with any other lines in Queens.[19] The complex would also have had a retail center above it,[20] as well as a transfer to the elevated Queensboro Plaza station.[18] This was ultimately not constructed, and the 63rd Street connector was built instead, between the Queens Plaza and 36th Street stations.[17]

Station layout

G Street Level Exits/Entrances
M Mezzanine Fare control, station agent
(Elevator at SW corner of Queens Plaza South and Jackson Avenue)
P
Platform level		 Southbound local ← "M" train toward Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue weekdays ("E" train toward World Trade Center late nights) (Court Square–23rd Street)
← "R" train toward 95th Street (Lexington Avenue/59th Street)
(No service: Court Square)
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Southbound express ← "E" train toward World Trade Center (Court Square–23rd Street)
Northbound express → "E" train toward Jamaica Center (Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue all except nights, 36th Street late nights) →
→ "M" train toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue weekdays (36th Street) →
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Northbound local → "R" train toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue (36th Street) →
Track layout
to Roosevelt Av
to 36 St
to Lexington–59th
to Court Sq–Crosstown
to Court Sq–23rd

Like most express stations on the subway, Queens Plaza has two island platforms and four tracks to facilitate cross-platform interchanges between local and express trains. Its tile band is of the darkest shade of the violet family (Black Grape), three tiles high and black-bordered – so dark, in fact, that even under bright light it appears black from a distance.

West of the station, the M train (E train during late nights) crosses to the express track from the local track. R trains stay on the local tracks, which split to the BMT Broadway Line via the 60th Street Tunnel to Manhattan and IND Crosstown Line to Brooklyn. The connection to the Crosstown Line is not currently used in revenue service, while the 60th Street Tunnel Connection is used by the R. The express tracks continue on the IND Queens Boulevard Line, serving Court Square–23rd Street at Long Island City before traveling through the 53rd Street Tunnel to Manhattan.[21]

East of the station, the M train (E train during late nights) crosses from the express track to the local track, after which the tunnel widens to include a lay-up track that forms from the two express tracks and then merges with the northbound express track. This track is used to relay the New York Transit Museum's holiday trains in November and December. The tunnel then widens again to allow the IND 63rd Street Line ramps to rise and lead trains to merge with either the local or express tracks.[21]

Exits

Station entrance at 41st Avenue and Northern Boulevard. Overhead is the BMT Astoria Line. Off to the right (although out of sight in this photo) is Queensboro Plaza station.

The full-time booth is near the center of the mezzanine. There are three staircases to the street on all corners of Queens Boulevard and Jackson Avenue except the northern one. There is an outside passageway to two more staircases near the southern and western corners of Jackson Avenue and Orchard Street at the south end near a former booth. The old-style change booth was in place until it was removed in 1998. Two of the outside entrances were redone to match the facade of the DOT indoor parking lot structure when it was constructed in 1975.[22] Before the renovation, the station had a full length mezzanine (inside and outside of fare control) with three booths. Since then, this area has balconies that allow views of local trains and platforms down below. There are three staircases to each platform from that end. Two staircases in between both fare control areas were removed during the renovation process. The part-time booth has two stairs to the northwest and southeast corners of Northern Boulevard at 41st Avenue, and one to each platform.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Station Developers' Information". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  2. ↑ "NYC Subway Wireless – Active Stations". Transit Wireless Wifi. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  3. ↑ More Subway Stations in Manhattan, Bronx in Line to Get Online, mta.info (March 25, 2015). "The first two phases included stations in Midtown Manhattan and all underground stations in Queens with the exception of the 7 Main St terminal."
  4. ↑ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership 2012–2017". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  5. 1 2 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 August 19, 2015.
  6. ↑ "QUEENS SUBWAY WORK AHEAD OF SCHEDULE: Completion Will Lead to Big Apartrnent Building, Says William C. Speers". The New York Times. April 7, 1929. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Queens Lauded as Best Boro By Chamber Chief". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 23, 1929. p. 40. Retrieved October 4, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ New York Times, New Subway Routes in Hylan Program to Cost $186,046,000, March 21, 1925, page 1
  9. ↑ "TEST TRAINS RUNNING IN QUEENS SUBWAY; Switch and Signal Equipment of New Independent Line Is Being Checked". The New York Times. December 20, 1936. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  10. ↑ Kramer, Frederick A. (1990). Building the Independent Subway. Quadrant Press. ISBN 978-0-915276-50-9.
  11. ↑ Raskin, Joseph B. (November 1, 2013), The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City's Unbuilt Subway System, Fordham University Press, ISBN 978-0-8232-5369-2
  12. ↑ "Independent Subway Services Beginning in 1932". thejoekorner.com. August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  13. ↑ "TWO SUBWAY UNITS OPEN AT MIDNIGHT; Links in City-Owned System in Queens and Brooklyn to Have 15 Stations" (PDF). The New York Times. August 18, 1933. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  14. ↑ "New Queens Subway Service Will Be Launched Tonight; Tunnel From Manhattan Open to Jackson Heights; Service Will Eventually Be Extended Through To Jamaica". Long Island Daily Press. Fultonhistory.com. August 18, 1933. p. 20. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  15. ↑ "New Queens Tube To Open Saturday: Brooklyn-Long Island City Link of City Line Also to Be Put in Operation". New York Evening Post. Fultonhistory.com. August 17, 1933. p. 18. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
  16. ↑ "1937 IND system map" (PDF). NYCSubway. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
  17. 1 2 Kershaw, Sarah (2001-12-17). "V Train Begins Service Today, Giving Queens Commuters Another Option". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
  18. 1 2 Smothers, Ronald (1979-09-13). "$170 Million Queens Subway‐Station Complex Is Planned". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  19. ↑ Andelman, David A. (October 11, 1980). "Tunnel Project, Five Years Old, Won't Be Used" (PDF). The New York Times. p. 25. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
  20. ↑ "Queens Plaza Trying Out in New Role: As a Retail Center" (PDF). The New York Times. 1980-12-17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  21. 1 2 Marrero, Robert (January 1, 2017). "472 Stations, 850 Miles" (PDF). B24 Blog, via Dropbox. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  22. 1 2 "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Long Island City" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
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