Seventh Avenue is a station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line and the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan, it is served by the D and E trains at all times, and the B train weekdays. The station is announced as Seventh Avenue–53rd Street, in the style of other stations that orient east-west along 53rd Street, as well as to prevent confusion with Seventh Avenue along the BMT Brighton Line in Brooklyn, which is also served by the B.
History
The Seventh Avenue station was designed as an interchange point between service of the IND Queens Boulevard Line and the IND Sixth Avenue Line. The northern half of the station opened on August 19, 1933 with the opening of the IND Queens Boulevard Line to Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. The southern half of the station opened on December 15, 1940 with the opening of the IND Sixth Avenue Line north of West Fourth Street to 59th Street–Columbus Circle. In 1990, Utah tourist Brian Watkins was killed at the Seventh Avenue station while trying to protect his family from a robbery. The murder was described as "probably the tipping point in New York’s history of violence and mayhem", marking a low point in the record murder year of 1990 and leading to an increased police presence in New York. Eight people were indicted: the first trial found four of the eight defendants guilty of murder, and a second trial found three of the remaining four defendants to also be guilty. One defendant was later cleared of murder charges. In 2019, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that the station would become ADA-accessible as part of the agency's 2020–2024 Capital Program. The announcement occurred after a Connecticut woman fell down a staircase trying to carry her 1-year-old daughter on a stroller down a flight of stairs; the baby survived the fall, but the mother died.
Station layout
This is a two-level station, with two tracks on each level and two island platforms, one over the other. The lower level serves trains headed railroad north. The upper level is the reverse. Each level allows cross-platform interchange between the two lines. The BMT Broadway Line passes overhead near the west end of the station; this crossing is visible in the ceiling and supporting columns. The station serves two distinct subway lines that do not interconnect. On the IND Sixth Avenue Line, uptown trains join the IND Eighth Avenue Line headed uptown along Central Park West, while downtown trains head downtown along the IND Sixth Avenue Line. On the IND Queens Boulevard Line, uptown trains go to Queens via the 53rd Street Tunnel, while downtown trains head downtown along Eighth Avenue. Although connections would appear to exist on the subway map, there are no connecting tracks. This means that a downtown Sixth Avenue train coming from Central Park West cannot continue to Queens, and an uptown Sixth Avenue train cannot turn downtown along Eighth Avenue, or vice versa.
Exits
This station has two main exits: one at the westbound end of the station at Broadway, and one in the middle of the station at Broadway. The westbound exit has staircases leading to the northeast and southeast corners of 53rd Street and Broadway. The middle exit has staircases leading to the northeast and southeast corners of 53rd Street and Seventh Avenue.
