46th Street station (IND Queens Boulevard Line)

For other uses, see 46th Street (disambiguation).

The 46th Street station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 46th Street and Broadway in Astoria, Queens, it is served by the M train on weekdays, the R train at all times except nights, and the E and F trains at night.

46 Street  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
View of northbound platform
Station statistics
Address	46th Street & Broadway Queens, New York
Borough	Queens
Locale	Astoria
Coordinates	40.756685°N 73.914256°W / 40.756685; -73.914256
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Queens Boulevard Line
Services	E  (late nights) ​   F  (late nights) ​   M  (weekdays during the day) ​   R  (all times except late nights)
Transit	MTA Bus: Q104
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	August 19, 1933; 91 years ago (1933-08-19)
Opposite- direction transfer	No
Traffic
2023	1,662,115[2]  4.4%
Rank	193 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Steinway Street E  ​F  ​M  ​R  via Queens Plaza Local Northern Boulevard E  ​F  ​M  ​R  toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Northern Boulevard to Steinway Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only Stops weekdays during the day

History

Entrance to the Queens-bound platform

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first lines built by the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND),^[3][4][5] and stretches between the IND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and 179th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.^[3][5][6] The Queens Boulevard Line was in part financed by a Public Works Administration (PWA) loan and grant of $25 million.^[7] One of the proposed stations would have been located at 46th 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.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]}

The station entrances to 48th Street did not open until some time after October 1933, when the Astoria Heights Taxpayers Association circulated petitions demanding that these entrances be opened.^[14]

The station was closed in June 2023 for structural improvements.

Station layout

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Platform level	Side platform
	Southbound local	← toward Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue weekdays (Steinway Street) ← toward Bay Ridge–95th Street (Steinway Street) ← toward World Trade Center, toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue late nights (Steinway Street)
	Northbound local	→ toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue weekdays (Northern Boulevard) → → toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue (Northern Boulevard) → → toward Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer, toward Jamaica–179th Street late nights (Northern Boulevard) →
	Side platform

Mosaic name tablet

This underground station has two tracks and two side platforms. The E and F trains serve the station at night,^[15][16] the M train serves the station on weekdays during the day,^[17] and the R train serves the station at all times except late nights.^[18] The station is between Steinway Street to the west and Northern Boulevard to the east.^[19] The express tracks on the IND Queens Boulevard Line, used by the E and F trains during daytime hours, run via a separate routing under Northern Boulevard.

Both platforms have a purple tile band with a black border and mosaic name tablets reading "46TH ST." in white sans-serif lettering on a black background and purple border. Small tile captions reading "46TH ST" in white on black run below the tile band, and directional signs in the same style are present under some of the name tablets.^{[citation needed]} The tile band was part of a color-coded tile system used throughout the IND.^[20] The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away from Lower Manhattan. As such, the purple tiles used at the 46th Street station were originally also used at Queens Plaza, the next express station to the west, while a different tile color is used at Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue, the next express station to the east. Purple tiles are similarly used at the other local stations between Queens Plaza and Roosevelt Avenue.^[21][22]

Royal purple I-beam columns run along both platforms at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate with white lettering.^{[citation needed]} The I-beam piers are located every 15 feet (4.6 m) and support girders above the platforms. The roof girders are also connected to columns in the platform walls.^[23]: 3 The tunnel is covered by a U-shaped trough that contains utility pipes and wires. The outer walls of this trough are composed of columns, spaced approximately every 5 feet (1.5 m) with concrete infill between them. There is a 1-inch (25 mm) gap between the tunnel wall and the platform wall, which is made of 4-inch (100 mm)-thick brick covered over by a tiled finish. The columns between the tracks are also spaced every 5 feet (1.5 m), with no infill.^[23]: 3

Exits

Fare control area on the Queens-bound platform

Both platforms have one same-level fare control area at either ends and there are no crossovers or crossunders. The full-time side is at the west (railroad south) end of the Manhattan-bound platform. It has a turnstile bank, token booth, and one staircase to the northwest corner of 46th Street and Broadway. The fare control area on the same end of Forest Hills-bound platform has a part-time turnstile bank and token booth (with two High Entry-Exit Turnstiles providing access to and from the station at all times) and one staircase to the southwest corner of 46th Street and Broadway.^[24]

The fare control area on the east (railroad north) end of the Manhattan-bound platform has a turnstile bank (with two High Entry-Exit Turnstiles providing access to and from the station at all times) and one staircase going up to the north side of Newtown Road between Broadway and 48th Street. The fare control area on this end of the Forest Hills-bound also contains full height turnstiles, as well as one staircase going up to the southeast corner of Broadway and 48th Street.^[24]

Old token booths at this station were located at the center of both platforms.^[25][26] Both token booths have since been repurposed; the Forest Hills-bound platform has a set of doors leading into an employee-only facility while the Manhattan-bound platform has a wide fenced off area.^[27]

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. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
3. 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.
4. "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.
5. "Queens Lauded as Best Boro By Chamber Chief". Newspapers.com. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 23, 1929. p. 40. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
6. "New Subway Routes in Hylan Program to Cost $186,046,000" (PDF). The New York Times. March 21, 1925. p. 1.
7. "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.
8. Kramer, Frederick A. (1990). Building the Independent Subway. Quadrant Press. ISBN 978-0-915276-50-9.
9. Raskin, Joseph B. (2013). The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City's Unbuilt Subway System. New York, New York: Fordham University Press. doi:10.5422/fordham/9780823253692.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-82325-369-2.
10. "Independent Subway Services Beginning in 1932". thejoekorner.com. August 21, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
11. "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.
12. "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.
13. "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.
14. "Astoria Asks 2 Tube Entrances". New York Daily News. October 15, 1933. Archived from the original on February 28, 2022.
15. "E Subway Timetable, Effective April 1, 2024". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
16. "F Subway Timetable, Effective June 30, 2024". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
17. "M Subway Timetable, Effective June 30, 2024". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
18. "R Subway Timetable, Effective June 30, 2024". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
19. "Subway Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. September 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
20. "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.
21. Carlson, Jen (February 18, 2016). "Map: These Color Tiles In The Subway System Used To Mean Something". Gothamist. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
22. Gleason, Will (February 18, 2016). "The hidden meaning behind the New York subway's colored tiles". Time Out New York. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
23. "New York MPS Elmhurst Avenue Subway Station (IND)". Records of the National Park Service, 1785 - 2006, Series: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records, 2013 - 2017, Box: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York, ID: 05000672. National Archives.
24. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Astoria" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
25. "Elevate Transit: Zoning for Accessibility Queens, Community District 1" (PDF). nyc.gov. October 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2022.
26. "datanews/subway-stair-closures". GitHub. November 12, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
27. "R Train". www.stationreporter.net. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2022.

External links

• nycsubway.org – IND Queens Boulevard Line: 46th Street
• Station Reporter — R Train
• Station Reporter — M Train
• The Subway Nut — 46th Street Pictures Archived January 28, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
• 46th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 48th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Newton Road entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View