125 Street
125 Street is a station centered fully in Harlem and just a block away from the Harlem-125 Street Metro-North Station. The subway platform has an unusual layout of two stacked island platforms with the Uptown & the Bronx trains on the upper level (the next stop for both 4 and 5 trains and 6 trains is in the Bronx, they split after the station) and Downtown and Brooklyn trains on the lower level. The 6 train is along the eastern track, and 4 and 5 trains along the western track so the lines are ready to split apart to their respective branches north of the station, right after going through the only 4-track under river subway tunnel the Lexington Avenue Tunnel (all other underwater tunnels are two tracks except for the Concourse Tunnel which is 3 tracks) into the Bronx.
The platforms are connected by five staircases with all downtown passengers required to set foot on the uptown platform unless they use the elevator that stops at both platforms as well as the mezzanine level. The platforms contain a mosaic trimline above all four track walls that includes the restored mosaic image of a historic bridge over the Harlem River.
On the mezzanine, the station entrances consist of street stairs on all 4 corners of 125 Street & Lexington Avenue, with a street elevator on the northeast corner. These staircases all lead to a central area directly beneath the street where the stations single token booth and MVMs are. From here there are two separate banks of turnstiles leading to split mezzanine areas. The smaller, northern mezzanine leads to the platform elevaltor that makes an intermediate landing at the upper level platform, before continuing to the lower level platform and a single staircase. The longer southern mezzanine has two staircases. The stop has two art installations split between the two separate inside fare control mezzanine areas, one in each area.
Photos 1 & 2: August 15, 2008; 3-15: August 5, 2009; 16-19: June 10, 2011; 20-23: October 31, 2012; 24: October 10, 2012; 25: October 12, 2012;
Arts For Transit at 125 Street:
