103rd Street station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)


103rd Street is a local station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 103rd Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, within Manhattan Valley, it is served by the 1 train at all times.

History

Operation of the first subway began on October 27, 1904, with the opening of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from City Hall to 145th Street on the West Side Branch including the 103rd Street station.
In 1948, platforms on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line from 103rd Street to 238th Street were lengthened to to allow full ten-car express trains to stop at this station. Previously, the station could only hold six-car local trains. The platform extensions were opened in stages. On April 6, 1948, the platform extension opened for stations from 103rd Street to Dyckman Street, with the exception of 125th Street.
In 2002, it was announced that 103rd Street would be one of ten subway stations citywide, as well as one of five on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, to receive renovations.

Station layout

This station was part of the original subway, and has two side platforms and three tracks, the center one being an unused express track. The southbound local track is known as BB1 and the northbound one is BB4; the BB designation is used for chaining purposes along the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line from 96th Street to 242nd Street and not in everyday speech. Although it cannot be accessed at 103rd Street, the center track is designated as M.
There is a mezzanine above the platforms, which contains the fare control area, as well as stairs to the street and both platforms.
This is the southernmost 3-track station on the line. South of the station, there are switches that connect the express track to either local track, with trains then being able to crossover to the rising express tracks from the IRT Lenox Avenue Line. Under 103rd Street, the dual express tracks serving the southern part of the line descend and curve to the east to form the IRT Lenox Avenue Line. They turn off of Broadway and onto 104th Street directly underneath this station. An emergency exit from the Lenox Avenue Line is located in the middle of the northbound platform.

Exits

The station has four entrance/exit stairs that serve both platforms:
A fifth, exit-only stair leads from the northbound platform to the SE corner of Broadway and 104th Street.

In popular culture

The 103rd Street station was one of the settings in the William S. Burroughs book Junkie and was briefly featured in the film Black Swan.