The Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station (formerly Lexington Avenue) is a New York City Subway station in Lenox Hill, Manhattan, shared by the IND and BMT 63rd Street Lines. Located at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street, it is served by the limited rush hour N trains in the southbound direction only; and one A.M. rush hour R train in the northbound direction only.
The station has two platform levels; trains headed southbound to downtown and Brooklyn use the upper level, while trains headed northbound to uptown and Queens use the lower level. This is one of the deepest stations in the subway system, requiring several banks of long escalators or elevators.
Construction started at this station in 1969, but as a result of the New York City fiscal crisis in 1975, the station did not open until 1989. Originally, the station was intended to be a transfer point for Sixth Avenue/Queens Boulevard and Broadway/Second Avenue services. As such, the station was designed to allow for cross-platform interchanges on both levels. However, construction of the Second Avenue Subway was halted in 1975 during the station's construction. As a result, the north side of the station, intended for service to Second Avenue, was hidden with a temporary orange brick wall, and space intended for an exit at Third Avenue was left unused. While the south side of the station opened for service in 1989, the north side was only used for storing trains.
In 2007, construction resumed on the Second Avenue Subway, and the north side of the station was renovated so it could be used. The orange wall on the platform was removed, while beige-white wall tiles were installed on the station walls adjacent to the tracks. The unopened entrance at Third Avenue was fitted with multiple elevators, and the station's false ceiling was removed. The first phase of the Second Avenue Subway opened on January 1, 2017, and ridership has increased at the station since then.
History
Construction
The current 63rd Street lines were the final version of proposals for a northern midtown tunnel from the IND Queens Boulevard Line to the Second and Sixth Avenue Lines, which date back to the IND Second System of the 1920s and 1930s. The Second System was a plan to expand the city-owned and -operated Independent Subway System (IND), which often ran in direct competition with the two privately owned subway companies in the city, Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) and Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). As a result, the plan for the line only had it connect to two planned IND lines, the Second and Sixth Avenue Lines.
In 1940, the subway system was unified, with the IRT and the BMT coming under city control. Consequently, plans for the proposed line were modified. The current plans were drawn up in the 1960s under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Program For Action. Under this plan, the line was to connect to the IND Sixth Avenue and BMT Broadway Lines. The IND line was to be built on the upper portion of the bi-level 63rd Street Tunnel, which would run under the East River. As such, the tracks connecting to the IND Sixth Avenue Line comprise the IND 63rd Street Line, on the south side of the station, while the tracks connecting to the BMT Broadway Line comprise the BMT 63rd Street Line, on the north side of the station.
Construction on the 63rd Street Line, including the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station, began on November 25, 1969. The station was built using a combination of cut-and-cover construction and tunneling machines. After the construction of the Second Avenue Subway ceased in 1975 due to the city's severe fiscal crisis, the BMT 63rd Street Line side, the northern tracks, basically led to a non-existent subway line. The BMT side was abandoned and walled off with a temporary orange brick wall, and a false ceiling was placed on the upper level's IND 63rd Street Line side, the southern side. Finishing touches were only applied to the IND side of the station. The tracks on the closed-off BMT side were used only to store trains outside of rush hour.
