50th Street (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line)

50th Street
New York City Subway rapid transit station
Downtown platform
Station statistics
Address	West 50th Street & Broadway New York, NY 10019
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Midtown Manhattan
Coordinates
Division	A (IRT)
Line	IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line
Services	1  (all times)       2  (late nights)
Transit connections	NYCT Bus: M7, M20, M50, M104 MTA Bus: BxM2
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	October 27, 1904 (1904-10-27)
Wireless service
Traffic
Passengers (2014)	8,450,496  4.7%
Rank	43 out of 421
Station succession
Next north	59th Street – Columbus Circle: 1  2
Next south	Times Square – 42nd Street: 1  2  Times Square: no regular service
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops late nights only

50th Street is a local station on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 50th Street and Broadway at the northwest corner of the Theater District, it is served by the 1 train at all times, and by the 2 train during late nights.

Station layout

G	Street Level	Exit/Entrance
P Platform level	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Northbound local	← toward Van Cortlandt Park – 242nd Street ( toward 241st Street late nights) (59th Street – Columbus Circle)
	Northbound express	← do not stop here
	Southbound express	→ do not stop here →
	Southbound local	→ toward South Ferry ( toward Brooklyn College late nights) (Times Square – 42nd Street) →
	Side platform, doors will open on the right

Original Faience plaque

Liliana Porter's mosaic

This station has four tracks with two side platforms. It was the first west-side station constructed as part of Contract I, the original New York City Subway construction contract, which opened in 1904. Original tile plaques at this station were removed during remodeling, but one of them has been preserved at the New York Transit Museum.

Each platform has same-level fare control at the center and there are no crossovers or crossunders to allow free transfer between directions. Each fare control area has a token booth, turnstile bank, and newsstand. The northbound has four staircases to the streets, one of which is built inside a building. The southbound platform has an exit to an underground shopping arcade on the south side of 50th Street and another to the southern sunken courtyard of Paramount Plaza.

The station is home to Liliana Porter's Alice, The Way Out, a series of mosaics installed in 1994 depicting characters from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

On September 7, 1987, Alex Cumba fell onto the tracks of the 50th Street station. Bystanders Edwin Ortiz, Jeff Kuhn, and Melvin Shadd jumped onto the tracks and attempted to lift Cumba back onto the platform, which was difficult due to Cumba's weight. The three were able to remove Cumba seconds before the train arrived. A recreation of the story aired on Rescue 911 on September 17, 1991.

External links

• nycsubway.org—IRT West Side Line: 50th Street
• nycsubway.org — Alice: The Way Out Artwork by Liliana Porter (1994)
• Station Reporter — 1 Train
• Forgotten NY — Original 28 - NYC's First 28 Subway Stations
• MTA's Arts For Transit — 50th Street (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line)
• 50th Street entrance (Downtown) from Google Maps Street View
• 50th Street entrance (Uptown and The Bronx) from Google Maps Street View
• 50th Street and Broadway entrance from Google Maps Street View