IND Queens Boulevard Line

Opening/Closing Dates

Station	Opened	Closed
Jamaica Center -- Parsons-Archer	12/11/1988
Sutphin Blvd.-Archer Ave.-JFK	12/11/1988
Jamaica-Van Wyck	12/11/1988
179th Street	12/10/1950
169th Street	4/24/1937
Parsons Boulevard	4/24/1937
Sutphin Boulevard	4/24/1937
Briarwood-Van Wyck Boulevard	4/24/1937
Union Turnpike-Kew Gardens	12/31/1936
75th Avenue	12/31/1936
71st-Continental Aves.-Forest Hills	12/31/1936
67th Avenue	12/31/1936
63rd Drive-Rego Park	12/31/1936
Woodhaven Boulevard-Queens Mall	12/31/1936
Grand Avenue-Newtown	12/31/1936
Elmhurst Avenue	12/31/1936
Roosevelt Avenue	8/19/1933
Roosevelt Avenue (Terminal Station)	never completed
65th Street	8/19/1933
Northern Boulevard	8/19/1933
46th Street	8/19/1933
Steinway Street	8/19/1933
36th Street	8/19/1933
Queens Plaza	8/19/1933
Court Square	8/19/1933
Lexington Avenue-53rd Street	8/19/1933
5th Avenue-53rd Street	8/19/1933
7th Avenue-53rd Street	8/19/1933

Station by Station (Jamaica Branch)

Jamaica Center -- Parsons-Archer

EJZ

Photo by: Robert Mencher	Photo by: Robert Mencher
More Images: 1-50 51-100 101-129

Two levels, two tracks and one island platform on each level. ADA accessible with full elevator access. This station has tan brick walls and red brick floor. The ceiling has metal slats and resembles a vaulted ceiling except there are no curves.

Artwork Jamaica Center Station Riders, Blue (Sam Gilliam, 1991)

Sutphin Blvd.-Archer Ave.-JFK

EJZ

Photo by: Roberto C. Tobar	Photo by: Bernard Chatreau
More Images: 1-50 51-69

Two levels, two tracks and one island platform on each level. ADA accessible with full elevator access. This station features gray vertical acoustic tile side walls and a glassed-in crossover. The station has a high ceiling with transverse metal slats. The I-beams are enclosed with stainless steel. The mezzanine is glass and stainless steel and features a Sutphin Boulevard mosaic on the geographic north wall. The escalator from mezzanine to LIRR station features a red checkerboard pattern. The stairs to the mezzanine and lower level have glass sides.

Jamaica-Van Wyck

E

Photo by: David Pirmann	Photo by: John Dooley
More Images: 1-50 51-76

This station has a station house at street level. The station's fare control mezzanine is reached by a long escalator. The station has red brick sidewalls and has the mezzanine over the northbound (to Jamaica) track. The geographic north side of the mezzanine has windows near the ceiling to let in natural light thus giving the station a broad, airy, open feeling. The mezzanine is suspended via heavy cables to the station roof.

Station by Station (179th Street Branch)

179th Street

F

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: Roberto C. Tobar
More Images: 1-50 51-100 101-122

This terminal station has four tracks and two island platforms. There is beige wall tile with blue and orange color stripes. In an unusual feature the two colors alternate in a sine-wave pattern with each being on top before curving underneath the other color. The full mezzanine with crossover features comic superhero plywood cutouts "holding up the ceiling" of the station. The south end of southbound platform features a tower. North of this station there are eight storage tracks, four on each of two levels, which continue as far as 184th Street.

Artwork Our Spectrum of Support (Reginald Polynice, 1993)

169th Street

F

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: Roberto C. Tobar
More Images: 1-10

Two side platforms, four tracks. Tile is similar to that at Parsons Boulevard, but I-beams here are painted green. The full mezzanine features a crossover.

Parsons Boulevard

F

Photo by: Leonard Wilson	Photo by: John Dooley
More Images: 1-24

Four tracks, two island platforms. Tile stripe is burnt orange with black border. A name tablet with reversed colors exists. I-beams are also the burnt orange color. At present only the local tracks are used. The station features a full mezzanine with crossover.

Sutphin Boulevard

F

Photo by: John Barnes	Photo by: John Dooley
More Images: 1-8

Four tracks, two side platforms. Typical IND tile in a gold color.

Briarwood-Van Wyck Boulevard

F

Photo by: Bill E.	Photo by: John Barnes
More Images: 1-26

Two side platforms, four tracks. This station was renamed from Van Wyck Blvd. to avoid confusion with the Jamaica/Van Wyck Station on the Jamaica Center branch. Tile stripe is gold with a black border, with the pattern reversed on the name tablet. There is no free crossover due to center fare control in the mezzanine. After this station, the 179th St. line and Jamaica Center line diverge, with four tracks to 179th St. and two new tracks between the local and express trains diverging to Jamaica Center.

Artwork Beautifying Briarwood (Briarwood Students)

Station by Station (Main Line)

Union Turnpike-Kew Gardens

EF

Photo by: Michael Hodurski	Photo by: Michael Hodurski
More Images: 1-50 51-100 101-124

Four tracks and two island platforms. I-beams are blue and tile stripe is gold with black border. There is a crossover in the mezzanine and a tower at the north end of the northbound platform. The mezzanine itself is in two halves due to Union Turnpike crossing under Queens Boulevard at this location.

Artwork Underground Skies/Cloud Forest (Krystyna Spisak-Madejczyk)

75th Avenue

F

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: John Dooley
More Images: 1-22

Four tracks, two side platforms. The tile is an olive green color. There used to be a full mezzanine but the fare control is now in the center so there is no free crossover.

71st-Continental Aves.-Forest Hills

EFMR

Photo by: Joe Testagrose	Collection of: David Pirmann
More Images: 1-50 51-100 101-150 151

Four tracks, two island platforms. The tile stripe is light green with black border. I-beams are also light green. A dispatch tower is in the center of the southbound platform. The full mezzanine has a center fare control. There is a free crossover. East of the station the line widens to six tracks, with two tracks starting between the local and express pairs. They dive to a lower level, widen to four tracks, and run on a lower level through 75th Ave. station. This is primarily for access to Jamaica Yard and offpeak train storage.

See Also Area Track Map

67th Avenue

MR

Photo by: Bill E.	Photo by: Bill E.
More Images: 1-10

Two side platforms with four tracks. The mezzanine is very dim and has vent chambers to the street.

63rd Drive-Rego Park

MR

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: Michael Hodurski
More Images: 1-37

Two side platforms with four tracks. There is a center mezzanine and a free crossover at the west end near the token booth. The mezzanine features a "63rd Drive" mosaic.

There is an unused trackway for westbound local trains beginning at outer wall just east of station, rising up to an upper level. It crosses over the existing tracks to curve south, ends at the edge of the line under Queens Blvd. At that curve, another unused trackway for eastbound local trains curves off outer wall. This was another way to get to the Rockaways and south Queens in the 1929 plan, running right to the LIRR Rockaway line.

Woodhaven Boulevard-Queens Mall

MR

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: Peter Ehrlich
More Images: 1-26

Four tracks, two side platforms but space has been allowed for possible future conversion to an express station. Recently renovated, tile color is like Elmhurst and has no border around the name tablet. In the past, the station bore the secondary name of Slattery Plaza but recent maps indicate the secondary name as Queens Mall. The mezzanine features nine I-beam sculptures, and vent chambers to the street. This station was designed for conversion to an express station. The outer walls are curved so that the local track could be rerouted if desired. In addition, at each end of the station a bellmouth exists in the tunnel walls which is similar to stations where the tracks widen to accommodate an island platform.

Artwork In Memory of the Lost Battalion (Pablo Tauler, 1996)

Grand Avenue-Newtown

MR

Photo by: Bill E.	Photo by: John Barnes
More Images: 1-21

This station features an old wooden token booth on the Manhattan-bound side. Typical IND dim incandescent lights in the mezzanine.

Elmhurst Avenue

MR

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne
More Images: 1-6

Two side platforms, four tracks. This station features a light shade of blue in the tile stripe. There had been a full mezzanine but the central portion has been fenced off. There is a free crossover at the extreme north end. There are numerous closed exits to the mezzanine.

Roosevelt Avenue

EFMR

Photo by: Doug Grotjahn	Photo by: Gary Chatterton
More Images: 1-50 51-89

Two island platforms, four tracks. This station has a blue color stripe with black border and no name tablet. I-beams are painted gold. This station is a transfer to the IRT Flushing elevated line. The fare control is in the center of the mezzanine which does have a free crossover. Exiting the north fare control in the mezzanine and following the passageway will take you to the built-but-never-used Roosevelt Avenue terminal station.

Transfer to IRT Flushing Line

Roosevelt Avenue (Terminal Station)

Photo by: Mark S. Feinman	Photo by: Michael Pompili
More Images: 1-31

The Winfield Spur, planned as part of the IND Second System in 1929, was designed to provide through service to the Rockaways from midtown, and to serve the neighborhoods of Maspeth and Ridgewood. It would have been a two-track line from Roosevelt Avenue to a connection with another newly planned line, the Myrtle/Central Avenue line. It would have run as subway to 45th Avenue, elevated to Fresh Pond Road, and again as subway to the connection with the Myrtle/Central Ave line. In anticipation of this line being built, trackways measuring 750 feet long and a completed station with full tile work were built that connect to today's IND Queens Blvd line at Roosevelt Avenue -- Jackson Heights. The Great Depression and later World War II stopped all these grand expansion plans, and no further construction was ever done. The station and trackways remain, serving not passengers, but as a storage area and maintenance-of-way offices.

Joe Brennan notes: There is an unused trackway for westbound local trains beginning at outer wall just east of station, rises up to same level as 2 trackways mentioned above making 3 trackways on upper level. At 78th St, 3 trackways on upper level curve to south, ending at "temporary" wall at edge of constructed subway. On lower track level in use, a fourth local trackway for eastbound local trains is seen also curving to south and similarly ending at a wall. The 4-track subway running south was a plan for a line to the Rockaways and south Jamaica proposed in 1929. Get out the atlases: via private property at 78th St now used as a playground, west in Garfield Ave, south in 65th Place, private property, Fresh Pond Road, then east in the LIRR, etc.

65th Street

MR

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: Frank LeViness
More Images: 1-13

Four tracks, two side platforms. The express tracks have rejoined the route just west of this station. There is a crossover at the north (65th St.) end and a closed entrance, visible in the tile difference on the 63rd street end. A hint of IND Second System plans is found here in the "Jamaica and Rockaways" mosaic in the north end mezzanine.

Northern Boulevard

MR

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne
More Images: 1-20

The station features platform level fare controls at both ends of the two wall platforms. There are heavy columns across one part of the station, where N.Y. Connecting Railroad to the Hell Gate Bridge crosses over.

46th Street

MR

Photo by: George Cuhaj	Photo by: George Cuhaj
More Images: 1-23

No crossovers due to platform level fare controls at both ends of each platform.

Steinway Street

MR

Photo by: Zach Summer	Photo by: Roberto C. Tobar
More Images: 1-25

There is a crossover and mosaics "Manhattan and Brooklyn" and "Jamaica". I-beams are gold. The north end features a crossover.

36th Street

MR

Photo by: Wayne Whitehorne	Photo by: John Barnes
More Images: 1-17

Two tracks, two side platforms. The southbound fare control is at platform level with a passageway outside the control to 35th and 34th Streets. The northbound platform has a short mezzanine fare control at the 34th Street end. The 36th Street end reveals an iron maiden and a possible closed crossover. This station has two wall platforms for the local trains and four tracks.

Queens Plaza

EMR

Photo by: Robbie Rosenfeld	Photo by: Jorge Catayi
More Images: 1-50 51-100 101-150

Two island platforms and a standard four track local/express configuration, The tile stripe is medium purple with a black border. The station has no name tablet and features gold colored I-Beams. There are two control towers here, one at each end of the platforms. East of the station, the tunnel widens to allow the 63rd Street Line's ramps to rise and lead trains to merge with either the local or express tracks. Prior to the 63rd Street Connector project, completed in 2001, a fifth track had already existed, used for turning trains during off-peak service times.

Artwork Look Up Not Down (Ellen Harvey, 2005)

Court Square

EM

Photo by: Michael Tricarico	Photo by: Lee Winson
More Images: 1-50 51-56

Two tracks, two side platforms. Thanks to Citibank, a new free transfer to the IND Brooklyn/Queens Crosstown line has been established here. The north fare control features a crossover, while the south fare control is four steps up from the platform and has no crossover. The tile stripe is red with black border. The name tablet is brown with an orange border. The lower tile is faux marble and there is artwork on the north end of the station.

Artwork Temple Quad Reliefs (Frank Olt, 1992), Stream (Elizabeth Murray, 2001)

Transfer to IND Crosstown Line

Lexington Avenue-53rd Street

EM

Photo by: Peter Ehrlich	Photo by: Roberto C. Tobar
More Images: 1-50 51-58

Two tracks, one island platform. The western end has long escalators to the fare control, which were reported to be the longest in the world when first opened. (Many longer ones outside of New York are in operation since then.) The station has an island platform with two tracks and has no tile on the walls and as such no mosaics or colored tile bands. The station is very deep (approximately 80 feet below street level) and has very low ceilings. In October 2003, the TA opened an expanded mezzanine and a new escalator offering a second transfer point to the IRT East Side/Lexington Avenue Subway. An elevator is now being installed at this station.

Artwork Passing Through (Al Held, 2004)

Transfer to IRT East Side Line

5th Avenue-53rd Street

EM

Photo by: David Pirmann	Photo by: Richard Panse
More Images: 1-50 51-71

Two levels, one track and one side platform on each level. The platforms are on the south side of the tracks. Trains heading to Manhattan use the upper level and trains to Queens trains use the lower level. I-beams are red and the tile is tan with red stripe with the name "Fifth Avenue 53 Street" in white. The upper level has a rounded ceiling with longitudinal metal slats. The lower level has vent chambers at the eastern end. To get to the fare control from the upper level requires 77 steps or a long escalator ride. There's 28 steps between the lower level and the upper level, and another 30 between the fare control (at the 5th Avenue end) to the street outside 666 Fifth Avenue. The upper platform is approximately 60 feet below the street, the lower level approximately 80 feet below the street.

Artwork Subway Riders (Ralph Fasanella, 1950), The Subway: Design for a Modern Icon (MTA Arts & Design and The Museum of Modern Art, 2020)

Transfer to IND 6th Avenue Line, IND 8th Avenue Line

7th Avenue-53rd Street

BDE

Photo by: Bill E.	Photo by: Roberto C. Tobar
More Images: 1-44

Two levels, two tracks and one island platform on each level. The lower level serves "uptown" trains from both the 8th Avenue and 6th Avenue subway lines (that is, both trains are heading north to the Bronx or Queens) but they travel in opposite directions. The same holds true for the upper level, which serves trains heading downtown to either the 8th Avenue or 6th Avenue subway, but the trains are traveling in opposite directions along 53rd St. The northernmost track on each level is used by 8th Avenue service while the 6th Avenue trains use the southernmost track. This station is fairly deep, approximately 30 feet below street level (upper platform). Three flights of stairs are necessary to reach the fare control. Tile color is purple with black border and has no name tablet as such. What passes for a name tablet is a medium sized "7th Avenue" mosaic. The 7th Ave. end of the station features a round tube design. The Broadway BMT line passes directly overhead near the western end of the station which can be seen by different ceiling and column styles.

Transfer to IND 6th Avenue Line, IND 8th Avenue Line

Page Credits

Station descriptions by Peggy Darlington.

New York City Subway Lines IRT lines IRT East Side Line IRT West Side Line IRT Brooklyn Line IRT Flushing Line IRT Pelham Line IRT Woodlawn Line IRT White Plains Road Line IRT Times Square-Grand Central Shuttle BMT lines BMT 4th Avenue Line BMT Astoria Line BMT Brighton Line BMT Broadway Line BMT Canarsie Line BMT Culver Line BMT Myrtle Avenue Line BMT Nassau Street-Jamaica Line BMT Sea Beach Line BMT West End Line IND lines IND 6th Avenue Line IND 8th Avenue Line IND Concourse Line IND Crosstown Line IND Fulton Street Line IND Queens Boulevard Line IND Rockaway Line IND 1939 World's Fair Line Other lines 63rd Street Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway SIRT Staten Island Rapid Transit South Brooklyn Railway The 2nd Avenue Elevated The 3rd Avenue Elevated The 6th Avenue Elevated The 9th Avenue Elevated-Polo Grounds Shuttle The 5th Avenue Elevated (Brooklyn) The 5th Avenue Elevated (Brooklyn) The Lexington Avenue Elevated (Brooklyn)