Lexington Avenue–53rd Street (IND Queens Boulevard Line)

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Lexington Avenue–53rd Street
New York City Subway station

Station information
Line	IND Queens Boulevard Line
Services	E (all times) V (weekdays until midnight)
Transfer	4 6 <6> at 51st Street (IRT Lexington Avenue Line)
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other
Opened	August 19, 1933
Accessible
Next north	23rd Street–Ely Avenue: E V
Next south	Fifth Avenue–53rd Street: E V

Lexington Avenue–53rd Street is a rapid transit station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It has two tracks and one island platform. It is eighty feet below the street, as the line had to pass beneath all of the north–south subway lines that were built before it. ADA elevators, a connection between the east and west mezzanines near the surface, 1 additional escalator near the west escalator bank (2 escalators and staircase) and the elevator, were added in 2005, 1 escalator towards the east end of the station was not renovated during the 2005 renovation, and remains boarded up and out of service as of 2008. The pair of escalators at the west end of the station were once recorded to be the longest in the world.^[1]A passageway connecting to 51st Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line was added in 1989. As a result, this station has become the sixth busiest in the system, even though it is a local station on the Lexington Avenue line.^[2] The station's volume, its transfer to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, and it having trains fron the IND Queens Boulevard Line (the biggest subway transit artery of Queens) cause the station to be overloaded during rush hour. This has been dealt with by the MTA in various ways. During morning rush hour, where passengers destined for Manhattan locations, try to go up the escalators to get to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the west escalator bank is made to operate in 1 direction only (both operate towards the surface), this is not done during evening rush hour, since the single escalator added in 2005's direction is always down towards the trains, negating the need to operate the west escalator bank unidirectionally (2 down escalators are available (single 2005 escalator, and 1 from the west escalator bank). The evening rush hour arrangement is also the escalator configuration maintained off rush hour. During the 2005 renovation, during morning rush hour, the west bank operated in only an up direction, and passengers were not permitted to descend to the trains, even by staircase of the west bank and were told to use alternative ways of getting to Queens employees stations there. In station decor, it is notable since has never been tiled like the rest of the IND Queens Boulevard Line, and IND system in general.