49th Street (BMT Broadway Line) - Layout

Layout

This underground station, opened on July 10, 1919, has four tracks and two side platforms. The two center express tracks are used by the Q train when it short turns at 57th Street – Seventh Avenue, the next station north.

There are four sets of platform-level fare controls, with no crossover or crossunder; each platform has a full-time booth at the north end (49th Street) and a part-time booth at the south end (47th Street). Only the northbound platform is ADA-accessible; an elevator was constructed in conjunction with a new office tower at the northeast corner of West 49th Street and Seventh Avenue. The elevator conceals an out-of-system underground passageway leading to Rockefeller Center and 47th–50th Streets station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line.

49th Street was originally built in the same style as the other BMT Broadway stations but underwent an experimental renovation in October 1973. New tiling of red glazed brick was installed over the original BMT-style tiled walls, reducing the platforms' widths by several inches; in addition, special ceiling soundproofing and terrazzo flooring were installed. Since the renovation, three of the four street entrances have been reconstructed, leaving only the 47th Street exit on the southbound platform with the red brick appearance; also, the soundproofing experiment was not repeated at any other station. Additional false brick tiles were added some time after the 1973 renovation, indicating the presence of a station facility. A passageway leading to an exit at West 47th Street and Broadway was also added after the renovation. Also, one of the staircases on the southbound side is walled off, making only one staircase available to the southbound side.

South of this station, the downtown local track goes slightly downgrade, and rises back up. The reason for this is because Broadway and Seventh Avenue meet at its narrow point of Times Square (45th Street), and the downtown local track crosses beneath the uptown local track of the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line.