125th Street station (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)
125th Street - Lexington Avenue is an express station with four tracks and two island platforms. It is the northernmost Manhattan station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Lexington Avenue and East 125th Street (also known as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard) in East Harlem, it is served by the 4 and 6 trains at all times, the 5 train at all times except late nights, and the <6> train during weekdays in peak direction. This station was constructed as part of the Dual Contracts by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company and opened in 1918.
For other uses, see 125th Street (disambiguation) and Harlem station (disambiguation).
125 Street 
East 125th Street & Lexington Avenue
New York, NY
NYCT Bus: M35, 
M60 SBS, M101, M103, M125[2] Short Line Bus: 208 Columbia Transportation: Queens-Riverdale Commuter Route
Metro-North: Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven Lines (at Harlem–125th Street)
Underground
2
2 island platforms (1 on each level)
cross-platform interchange
4 (2 on each level)
July 17, 1918[3]
Yes
4,884,086[4] 
9.1%
55 out of 423[4]
A planned northern extension of the Second Avenue Subway, once built, will connect with this station and with the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem–125th Street station, located one block west.
History[edit]
Construction and opening[edit]
Following the completion of the original subway, there were plans to construct a line along Manhattan's east side north of 42nd Street. The original plan for what became the extension north of 42nd Street was to continue it south through Irving Place and into what is now the BMT Broadway Line at Ninth Street and Broadway. In July 1911, the IRT had withdrawn from the talks, and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was to operate on Lexington Avenue. The IRT submitted an offer for what became its portion of the Dual Contracts on February 27, 1912.[5][6]
In May 1912, it was decided to modify the planned layout of the station from three tracks and two island platforms on each level, to two tracks and one island platform per level, saving $1.25 million.[7]
In 1913, as part of the Dual Contracts, which were signed on March 19, 1913,[8] the Public Service Commission planned to split the original Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) system from looking like a "Z" system (as seen on a map) to an H-shaped system. The original system would be split into three segments: two north–south lines, carrying through trains over the Lexington Avenue and Broadway–Seventh Avenue Lines, and a west–east shuttle under 42nd Street. This would form a roughly H-shaped system.[9][10] It was predicted that the subway extension would lead to the growth of the Upper East Side and the Bronx.[11][12]
The 125th Street station opened on July 17, 1918, as part of the extension of the original subway up Lexington Avenue to 125th Street and into the Bronx. Initially, service was provided only as a shuttle on the local tracks of the Lexington Avenue Line starting at Grand Central, continuing past this station and under the Harlem River to 167th Street on the IRT Jerome Avenue Line.[3][13] On August 1, the "H system" was put into place, with through service beginning on the new east and west side trunk lines, and the institution of the 42nd Street Shuttle along the old connection between the sides. Express service began on this date.[14][15] The cost of the extension from Grand Central was $58 million.[16]
The opening of this station resulted in development of the surrounding neighborhood of East Harlem.[17]
Later years[edit]
The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.[18][19] In 1952 or 1953, a public address system was installed at this station, providing information to passengers and train crews.[20]
In late 1959, contracts were awarded to extend the platforms at Bowling Green, Wall Street, Fulton Street, Canal Street, Spring Street, Bleecker Street, Astor Place, Grand Central, 86th Street and 125th Street to 525 feet (160 m) to accommodate ten-car trains.[21]
In 1981, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.[22] The station's elevators were installed in November 1989, making the station one of the earliest to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This station was renovated in 2005.
In July 2023, as part of a pilot program to deter assaults on New York City Transit staff, the MTA painted "no standing zones" on the 125th Street station's platforms near the centers of each train.[23]
Harlem–125 Street
Future
Underground
1 island platform (planned)
2 (planned)
4,884,086[4] 9.1%
55 out of 423[4]
(Terminal)
116th Street: future
Media[edit]
The station is mentioned by Lou Reed in his 1967 song "I'm Waiting for the Man", performed with The Velvet Underground, in which he describes traveling to Harlem to purchase heroin: "Up to Lexington / One-two-five / Feeling sick and dirty / More dead than alive."[63][64]
Mosaic with depiction of bridge
Polyrhythmics of Consciousness and Light mosaic
