125th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)

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. Construction of the whole line cost $191.2 million (equivalent to $ million in . 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.

In 1981, the MTA listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system. The station was renovated in the 1980s, during which two stairs to each platform at the north end were removed and the platforms' original white floor tiling was replaced. The station was damaged in a water main break in 1989. Another renovation later restored the closed staircases and made the station ADA-accessible with the installation of elevators near the middle of the platforms.

On June 27, 2017, a southbound A train derailed just north of the station. This derailment, caused by improperly secured replacement rails, left 34 passengers injured.

In January 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she would request funding to extend the Second Avenue Subway along 125th Street. Although Phase 2 of the line's construction was initially planned to extend only to 125th Street and Lexington Avenue, Hochul's proposal called for additional connections to existing stations at Lenox Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Broadway.

Station layout

The 125th Street station is a standard express station with four tracks and two island platforms, allowing cross-platform interchanges between local and express trains. The and both stop here at all times; the stops here except at night and the stops here only on weekdays during the day. B and C trains always run local and D trains always run express. A trains run express during the day and local during the night. The next stop to the north is 135th Street for local trains and 145th Street for express trains; the next stop to the south is 116th Street for local trains and 59th Street–Columbus Circle for express trains. 59th Street–Columbus Circle is 3.35 miles (5.391 km) away with seven local stations in between, which is the longest distance between two express stops in the system.

The outer track wall tiles have a Prussian green trim line with a black border and small "125" signs in white lettering on a black background beneath it. The green tiles are part of a color-coded tile system used throughout the IND. The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away from Lower Manhattan. As such, the green tiles used at the 125th Street station are also used at , the local station to the north; the next express station, , uses a different tile color. Both platforms have one line of green I-beam columns that run at regular intervals for their entire length except for a small section at either ends. Alternating columns have the standard black station name plate in white lettering.

The station has a mezzanine above the tracks at the Southern end and platforms that connect both fare control areas at either ends. There are five staircases to each platform and large-scale photos of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s.

Exits

The full-time fare control area is at the south end of the mezzanine, serving the 125th Street exits, and has a turnstile bank and token booth. It serves the exits at St. Nicholas Avenue and West 125th Street. The other fare control area at the north end, serving the 127th Street exits, is unstaffed, containing full height turnstiles. There is also evidence of closed exit stairs going up to 126th Street and 124th Street, one on each side of both mezzanines. One of the staircases led directly into the basement of a business that existed at street level.

• One stair, NW corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 125th Street
• One stair, NE corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 125th Street
• One stair and one elevator, SW corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 125th Street
• One stair, SE corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 125th Street
• One stair, SW corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 127th Street
• One stair, SE corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 127th Street

References

References

1. (September 10, 1932). "List of the 28 Stations on the New 8th Av. Line". [[The New York Times]].
2. (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". [[The New York Times]].
3. 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.
4. (June 11, 1981). "Agency Lists Its 69 Most Deteriorated Subway Stations". [[The New York Times]].
5. (December 11, 2015). "Review of the A and C Lines". [[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]].
6. (1989-12-08). "Metro Datelines; Repairs to the IND May Cost $20 Million". The New York Times.
7. (June 27, 2017). "Subway Derailment in Manhattan Injures Dozens". The New York Times.
8. Stark-Miller, Ethan. (2026-01-13). "Hochul pitches funding for extending Second Avenue Subway to Broadway in State of the State – amNewYork".
9. Khalifeh, Ramsey. (2026-01-13). "Gov. Hochul demands 125th Street subway extension, shelves downtown 2nd Ave. subway plan".
10. {{NYCS const. map
11. Harrington, John Walker. (April 27, 1930). "New Municipal Subway System Galled Model in Construction and Plans for Operation". New York Herald Tribune.
12. (August 22, 1932). "Tile Colors a Guide in the New Subway; Decoration Scheme Changes at Each Express Stop to Tell Riders Where They Are". The New York Times.
13. Carlson, Jen. (February 18, 2016). "Map: These Color Tiles In The Subway System Used To Mean Something".
14. Gleason, Will. (February 18, 2016). "The hidden meaning behind the New York subway's colored tiles".
15. {{Cite NYC neighborhood map. Morningside Heights