Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue station

The Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue station (often informally referred to as Vernon–Jackson station; formerly Vernon–Jackson Avenues station) is a station on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway, and the westernmost station on the Flushing Line in Queens. It is served by the 7 train at all times and the <7> train rush hours in the peak direction. Although there is a nearby intersection of Vernon Boulevard and Jackson Avenue, the station is located one block north of that intersection, on 50th Avenue, between Vernon Boulevard and Jackson Avenue, both of which have entrances to the station.

Vernon Blvd–Jackson Avenue  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Manhattan bound platform
Station statistics
Address	50th Avenue between Vernon Boulevard & Jackson Avenue Queens, New York
Borough	Queens
Locale	Hunters Point, Long Island City
Coordinates	40.74264°N 73.95391°W / 40.74264; -73.95391
Division	A (IRT)[1]
Line	IRT Flushing Line
Services	7  (all times) <7>  (rush hours until 9:30 p.m., peak direction)​
Transit	NYCT Bus: B32, B62 (at 11th St & Jackson Av) MTA Bus: Q67, Q103 NYC Ferry: East River (at Hunter's Point South)
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	June 22, 1915; 109 years ago (1915-06-22)
Accessible	not ADA-accessible; accessibility planned
Opposite- direction transfer	No
Former/other names	Vernon–Jackson Avenues
Traffic
2023	3,631,659[2]  16.7%
Rank	86 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Grand Central–42nd Street 7  <7> ​ toward 34th Street–Hudson Yards Hunters Point Avenue 7  <7> ​ toward Flushing–Main Street
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend to Hunters Point Avenue to Grand Central–42nd Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops rush hours in the peak direction only

History

The Dual Contracts were formalized in early 1913, specifying new lines or expansions to be built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT).^[3] The Dual Contracts involved opening the Steinway Tunnel as part of the new Flushing subway line.^{[4][5]: 168} The route was to go from Times Square in Manhattan, passing through the tunnel to Long Island City in Queens, then continuing toward Flushing from there.^[4][6] The tunnel, with trolley loops on both the Manhattan and Queens sides, had sat unused since 1907, when test runs had been performed in the then-nearly-complete tunnel. The Queens trolley loop was near Vernon Avenue (now Vernon Boulevard) in Long Island City.^[7]

The Vernon–Jackson Avenues station opened on June 22, 1915, as a terminal for shuttle trains going into Manhattan via the Steinway Tunnel until the line was extended to Hunters Point Avenue on February 5, 1916.^[8][9] A westerly extension of the Manhattan-bound platform opened for service on December 20, 1923.^[10]

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[11][12] The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock, which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service.^[13] The route from Times Square to Flushing became known as the 7.^[14] In 1949, the New York City Board of Transportation announced that the Flushing Line platforms would be lengthened to 11 IRT car lengths; the platforms were only able to fit nine 51-foot-long IRT cars beforehand.^[15][16] The platforms at the station were extended in 1955–1956 to accommodate 11-car trains.^[17] However, nine-car trains continued to run on the 7 route until 1962, when they were extended to ten cars.^[18]

In 1981, the MTA listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.^[19]

1997 station agent murder

In 1997, this station was the site of a night station agent being killed for subway tokens.^[20] The result of this incident was a change in policy where night station agents do not have to empty the turnstiles after the evening station agent leaves unless police, a supervisor, or another employee is present (and that is left to the option of the station agent). Since the introduction of the MetroCard, this process remains the same. Two armed NYCT guards clear the vending machines.

Station layout

Ground	Street level	Entrances/exits
Platform level	Side platform
	Southbound	← toward 34th Street–Hudson Yards (Grand Central–42nd Street)
	Northbound	→ toward Flushing–Main Street (Hunters Point Avenue) →
	Side platform

Manhattan-bound street stairway

The Train of Many Colors at Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue in 2016.

This underground station has two side platforms and two tracks. A black wall separates the two tracks for most of the station.

Both platforms have a line of yellow columns along their edges. Most of these are normal I-beam columns, but in the middle of the platforms, cream colored arches, which is also the color of the station's ceiling, starting at about four feet off the ground support a short section of the columns. The platform walls have a mosaic gold and brown trim line on top while the name tablets are mosaic white with white text reading "Vernon-Jackson Ave's" (erroneous if the use is considered in the possessive context, but it can also be considered as a contractional form of the plural) on a brown background and gold and brown border. There are also a few directional signs to the station's fare control areas reading "Vernon Ave" or "Jackson Ave" with an arrow beneath.

Exits

Each platform has two same-level fare control areas and there are no crossovers or crossunders connecting the platforms. The full-time fare control areas are just west of the middle of the platforms, though only the Manhattan-bound platform still has a token booth. Each area has a small regular turnstile bank and two staircases to the street, the northeast corner of Vernon Boulevard and 50th Avenue for the Manhattan-bound platform and the southwest corner for the Flushing-bound platform. The southern staircase's steel fencing does not have the standard black sign saying what station this is and what trains serve it.^[21]

Each platform also has a larger, unstaffed fare control on their extreme east (railroad north) ends. On the Manhattan-bound platform, a wide, but short staircase goes up to some High Entry/Exit Turnstiles that lead to two street stairs, one to each northern corners of 50th Avenue and Jackson Avenue. This entrance at one time had a part-time token booth and regular turnstiles. The Flushing-bound platform has a similar arrangement with short staircase to a wide intermediate landing with an exit-only turnstile at each corner. Outside the turnstiles is a single street stair, each going up to each southern corners of 50th Avenue and Jackson Avenue.^[21]

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. "MONEY SET ASIDE FOR NEW SUBWAYS; Board of Estimate Approves City Contracts to be Signed To-day with Interboro and B.R.T." (PDF). The New York Times. March 19, 1913. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 7, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
4. Rogoff, David (1960). "The Steinway Tunnels". Electric Railroads. No. 29. Electric Railroaders' Association. Archived from the original on December 10, 2019. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
5. Hood, Clifton (2004). 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York (Centennial ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 163–168. ISBN 978-0-8018-8054-4. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
6. New Subways For New York: The Dual System of Rapid Transit Chapter 1: Dual System of Rapid Transit. New York State Public Service Commission. 1913. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
7. Burks, Edward C. (September 2, 1973). "The Ill-Starred History Of an Old Subway Tunnel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 4, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
8. "Queensboro Tunnel Officially Opened". The New York Times. June 23, 1915. p. 22. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
9. "Subway Extension Open.; Many Use New Hunters Point Avenue Station" (PDF). The New York Times. February 16, 1916. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
10. Proceedings of the Transit Commission, State of New York Volume III From January 1 to December 31, 1923. New York State Transit Commission. 1923. p. 1310.
11. "City Transit Unity Is Now a Reality; Title to I.R.T. Lines Passes to Municipality, Ending 19-Year Campaign". The New York Times. June 13, 1940. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
12. "Transit Unification Completed As City Takes Over I. R. T. Lines: Systems Come Under Single Control After Efforts Begun in 1921; Mayor Is Jubilant at City Hall Ceremony Recalling 1904 Celebration". New York Herald Tribune. June 13, 1940. p. 25. ProQuest 1248134780.
13. Brown, Nicole (May 17, 2019). "How did the MTA subway lines get their letter or number? NYCurious". amNewYork. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
14. Friedlander, Alex; Lonto, Arthur; Raudenbush, Henry (April 1960). "A Summary of Services on the IRT Division, NYCTA" (PDF). New York Division Bulletin. 3 (1). Electric Railroaders' Association: 2–3. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
15. Bennett, Charles G. (November 20, 1949). "Transit Platforms On Lines In Queens To Be Lengthened; $3,850,000 Program Outlined for Next Year to Care for Borough's Rapid Growth New Links Are To Be Built 400 More Buses to Roll Also — Bulk of Work to Be on Corona-Flushing Route Transit Program In Queens Outlined". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
16. "37 Platforms On Subways To Be Lengthened: All Stations of B. M. T. and I.R.T.in Queens Included in $5,000,000 Program". New York Herald Tribune. November 20, 1949. p. 32. ISSN 1941-0646. ProQuest 1325174459.
17. Minutes and Proceedings of the New York City Transit Authority. New York City Transit Authority. 1955. Archived from the original on September 13, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
18. "R17s to the Flushing Line". New York Division Bulletin. 5 (6). Electric Railroaders' Association: M-8. December 1962 – via Issuu.
19. Gargan, Edward A. (June 11, 1981). "Agency Lists Its 69 Most Deteriorated Subway Stations". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
20. Onishi, Norimitsu (March 25, 1997). "In His 'Safe' Station, Subway Clerk, 60, Is Killed". The New York Times. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
21. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Long Island City" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2015. Retrieved September 27, 2015.

External links

• nycsubway.org – IRT Flushing Line: Vernon–Jackson Avenues
• Station Reporter — 7 Train
• The Subway Nut — Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue Pictures
• Vernon Boulevard entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Jackson Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Southbound platform from Google Maps Street View
• Northbound platform from Google Maps Street View