135th 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.

On July 3, 1997, a Queens-bound A train derailed just north of the station as it was traversing a switch. 15 passengers were injured in the incident.

Station layout

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. All fare controls are at platform level and there are no mezzanines, crossovers, or crossunders.

This station is located nearby the 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. 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.

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. This exit features an array of stone casting in a Cathedral-like setting, originally built in 1932.

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. Herszenhorn, David M. (July 4, 1997). "13 Injured When Subway Car Derails in Harlem".
5. {{NYCS const. trackref. trackbook3
6. (November 2001). "Reopening Closed Subway Entrances Using High Entry/Exit Turnstiles - Suggestions from the New York City Transit Riders Council". New York City Transit Riders Council.
7. {{Cite NYC neighborhood map. Harlem/Hamilton Heights