155th Street station (IND Eighth Avenue Line)

For other uses, see 155th Street.

For the station actually at 155th Street and Eighth Avenue, see 155th Street (IND Concourse Line).

The 155th Street station is a local station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located under the intersection of 155th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, at the border of the Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan, it is served by the C train at all times except nights, when the A train takes over service.

155 Street
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Brooklyn bound platform
Station statistics
Address	West 155th Street & St. Nicholas Avenue New York, New York
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights, Harlem
Coordinates	40.830859°N 73.9414°W / 40.830859; -73.9414
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services	A  (late nights) ​   C  (all except late nights)
Transit	NYCT Bus: Bx6, Bx6 SBS, M2, M3, M100, M101
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	September 10, 1932 (92 years ago) (1932-09-10)[2]
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Traffic
2023	539,511[3]  10%
Rank	376 out of 423[3]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station 163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue A  ​C  toward 168th Street Local 145th Street A  ​C  toward Euclid Avenue
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to 163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue to 145th Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only

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

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Mezzanine		Fare control, station agent
Platform level	Side platform
	Northbound local	← toward 168th Street (163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue) ← toward Inwood–207th Street late nights (163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue)
	Southbound local	→ toward Euclid Avenue (145th Street) → → toward Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue late nights (145th Street) →
	Side platform
Lower tracks[6]	Northbound express	← does not stop here
	Southbound express	→ does not stop here →

This underground station has two local tracks with two side platforms. The two express tracks, used by the A train during daytime hours, are on a lower level beneath the station and are not visible from the platforms.^[7]

The station once had a southern mezzanine with exits to 153rd Street, but it is now closed and used as a MTA New York City Transit facility.^[8] The north end at 155th Street has vent chambers and a high ceiling.

Like several other IND Eighth Avenue Line local stations, this station does not have a trim line, but does have mosaic name plates reading "155TH ST." in white sans-serif lettering on a yellow background with black border. Small tile captions reading "155" run along the wall at regular intervals between the name tablets, and beneath the name tablets are directional captions, all white lettering on a black background. The trim line was part of a color-coded tile system used throughout the IND.^[9] The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away from Lower Manhattan. As such, the yellow tiles used at the 155th Street station were originally also used at 145th Street, the next express station to the south, while a different tile color is used at 168th Street, the next express station to the north. Yellow tiles are similarly used at the 163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue station, the only other local station between 145th Street and 168th Street.^[10][11]

Exits

This station has pairs of staircases leading to the northwestern, northeastern, and southwestern corners of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 155th Street.^[12]

References

1. "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (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. "C Train". Station Reporter. Archived from the original on March 13, 2013.
7. Dougherty, Peter (2006) [2002]. Tracks of the New York City Subway 2006 (3rd ed.). Dougherty. OCLC 49777633 – via Google Books.
8. Review of the A and C Lines (PDF) (Report). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. December 11, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
9. "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. August 22, 1932. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
10. Carlson, Jen (February 18, 2016). "Map: These Color Tiles In The Subway System Used To Mean Something". Gothamist. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
11. Gleason, Will (February 18, 2016). "The hidden meaning behind the New York subway's colored tiles". Time Out New York. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
12. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Harlem / Hamilton Heights" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.

External links

• nycsubway.org – IND 8th Avenue: 155th Street
• Station Reporter — C Train
• The Subway Nut — 155th Street Pictures Archived July 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• 155th Street southwestern corner entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View