168th Street station (New York City Subway)

The 168th Street station (formerly the Washington Heights–168th Street station) is an underground New York City Subway station complex shared by the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and IND Eighth Avenue Line. It is located at the intersection of 168th Street and Broadway in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan and served by the 1 and A trains at all times, and the C train at all times except late nights. It is the northern terminus for all C trains.

The Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line station was built for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), and was a station on the West Side Branch of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. The station opened on April 14, 1906. The Eighth Avenue Line station was built as an express and terminal station for the Independent Subway System (IND) and opened on September 10, 1932, as part of the IND's first segment.

The IRT station has two side platforms and two tracks. The IND station has two island platforms and four tracks, although the track configuration is reversed from most New York City Subway express stations, with express trains using the outer tracks and local trains using the inner tracks. The transfer between the IRT platforms and the IND platforms has been within fare control since July 1, 1948. The IND station contains elevators, which make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). While the IRT station can only be reached by elevators, it is not ADA-accessible. The IRT station's interior is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line

Construction and opening Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864, but development of what became the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. It called for a subway line from New York City Hall in lower Manhattan to the Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into the Bronx. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and all legal conflicts over the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899. The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900, under which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations. Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.

The 168th Street station was constructed as part of the IRT's West Side Line (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) from 133rd Street to a point north of 182nd Street. Work on this section was conducted by L. B. McCabe & Brother, who started building the tunnel segment on May 14, 1900. On that date, a groundbreaking ceremony took place at Broadway and 156th Street, one block south of the 157th Street station site. The 168th Street station was one of three stations to be built within the deep-level Fort George Mine Tunnel. The station was equipped with elevators from its opening, since the IRT's contract with the city mandated elevators in stations that were more than deep. At the 168th Street station, the only means of access was via two elevators and a staircase, and the station cavern extended north and south of 168th Street.

The original New York City Subway line from City Hall to 145th Street on the West Side Branch opened in October 1904, with the line being extended to 157th Street a week later. The 168th and 181st Street stations had been scheduled to open on May 1, 1905, but the caverns and elevator shafts at these stations were not even fully excavated at the beginning of that year. Workers wanted to expedite the line's opening to serve baseball fans traveling to American League Park, the home of the Highlanders (now New York Yankees), which occupied the western side of Broadway from 165th to 168th Street. A train crashed into a temporary bulkhead at the south end of the station in March 1905; this caused a fire that weakened the tunnel's roof, which then collapsed and killed a firefighter. The damage caused by the crash delayed the station's completion by several months. Although the Fort George tunnel was nearly completed by January 1906, elevators had not been installed at the 168th and 181st Street stations.

The West Side Branch was extended northward from 157th Street to a temporary terminus at 221st Street, near the Harlem River Ship Canal, on March 12, 1906, with the station at 168th Street not yet open. This extension was initially served by shuttle trains operating between 157th Street and 221st Street. The 168th Street station opened for service on April 14, 1906. The station originally only had two elevators, each measuring , as well as a set of 119 steps; this contributed to serious overcrowding on the station's first day of operation. On May 30, 1906, express trains began running through to 221st Street. The opening of the first subway line helped contribute to the development of Washington Heights, although development around the 168th Street station was initially limited because of the presence of American League Park, as well as covenants that restricted development on many lots west of Broadway.

1900s and 1910s When the 168th Street station opened, the two elevators could fit only 50 passengers each, and they became severely overcrowded during peak times. During baseball games at American League Park, many fans opted to instead take the subway to 157th Street, then pay an additional 25 cents for a taxi to the stadium. The elevators' capacity limitations prompted the Public Service Commission to decide against constructing additional deep-level subway lines; newer routes, such as the Broadway and Lexington Avenue lines, were instead built using the cut-and-cover method. In Fiscal Year 1909, work was done to increase the carrying load of the elevators at the station. Officials had decided against adding additional elevators because it would only cost $6,300 to update the existing elevator cabs. By the early 1910s, the elevators could carry 80 people at once and were staffed by elevator operators.

To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway. As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. The northbound platform at the 168th Street station was extended to the south. The arched ceiling adjacent to the platform extension was replaced with a flat roof made of steel beams, since the arch's structural integrity was compromised by the platform extension. The southbound platform was not lengthened. Six-car local trains began operating in October 1910, and ten-car express trains began running on the West Side Line on January 24, 1911. Subsequently, the station could accommodate six-car local trains, but ten-car trains could not open some of their doors.

1920s to 1940s

Public Service Commission employees began preparing plans for an additional elevator at the station in 1919. The city government authorized the construction of additional elevators at the station in February 1922; there were to be four new shafts on the west side of Broadway, and elevator cabs were to be installed in two of the shafts. The city began receiving bids for the elevator shafts in April 1922, and they also awarded a contract for a new station entrance to Holbrook, Cabot & Rollins Corporation for $283,000 the next month. The city received bids for the elevator cabs that December and awarded the contract to the Otis Elevator Company. In Fiscal Year 1923, work began on the installation of a new entrance with elevators on the west side of Broadway to increase the capacity of the station. The following fiscal year, the IRT reported that work to construct new entrances to the station was 87 percent complete. The two elevators entered service on June 26, 1924.

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940. Platforms at IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations between and , including those at 168th Street, were lengthened to between 1946 and 1948, allowing full ten-car express trains to stop at these stations. A contract for the platform extensions at 168th Street and eight other stations on the line was awarded to Spencer, White & Prentis Inc. in October 1946, with an estimated cost of $3.891 million. The platform extensions at these stations were opened in stages. On April 6, 1948, the platform extension opened for stations from 103rd Street to Dyckman Street, including this station but excluding 125th Street.

IND Eighth Avenue Line Plans for a second subway line with a station at 168th Street and Broadway date as far back as 1914. That year, engineer Reginald Pelham Bolton proposed a short extension of the elevated IRT Ninth Avenue Line to Riverside Drive, with an intermediate station at 168th Street and Broadway to relieve congestion at the IRT subway stop there. The Transit Commission proposed another subway line to Broadway and 168th Street, an unbuilt extension of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation's Broadway Line, in 1922.

New York City mayor John Francis Hylan's original plans for the Independent Subway System (IND), proposed in 1922, included building over of new lines and taking over nearly of existing lines. The lines were designed to compete with the existing underground, surface, and elevated lines operated by the IRT and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). On December 9, 1924, the New York City Board of Transportation (BOT) gave preliminary approval to the construction of a subway line along Eighth Avenue, running from 207th Street. The BOT announced a list of stations on the new line in February 1928, with an express station at 167th Street; this station would be the northern terminus of local service. Most of the Eighth Avenue Line was dug using a cheap cut-and-cover method. In September 1928, the Woodcrest Construction Company received a $375,014 contract to construct the 155th Street, 163rd Street, and 168th Street stations on the new line.

A preview event for the new subway was hosted on September 8, 1932, two days before the official opening. The Eighth Avenue Line station opened on September 10, 1932, as part of the city-operated IND's initial segment, the Eighth Avenue Line between Chambers Street and 207th Street. There was a direct connection with the IRT station at 168th Street; initially, passengers had to pay an additional fare to transfer between the IRT and the IND. Construction of the whole line cost $191.2 million (equivalent to $ million in ). While the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line already provided service to Washington Heights, the new Eighth Avenue subway via St. Nicholas Avenue provided an alternative route. In particular, the IND's 168th Street station provided easy access to the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, as trains from 168th Street could reach Lower Manhattan within a half hour.

Consolidation into single complex When the IND station opened, it was connected to the IRT station at the same intersection via a passageway. This corridor originally required payment of an additional fare, but it was placed inside fare control on July 1, 1948.

1950s to 1970s