New York City Subway: IRT Lexington Avenue Line at 14th Street–Union Square

Today we take a look at the next express station along the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, which is 14th Street–Union Square.

This station lies below the Union Square Park and originally opened in 1904 as part of the first IRT subway line. It is an express station and is served by (4), (5) and (6) trains. The BMT Canarsie and Broadway Lines also have a station here, but they are not shown in this film.

We first take a look above ground at the beautiful neighborhood and park. We then move underground. The station has a few interesting aspects. It lies in a pretty tight curve and its downtown and uptown platforms are shifted significantly. Also because of the curve, the downtown platform is equipped with moving platforms that extend to the subway car in order to bridge the gap between the train and the platform edge. Finally, the station's mezzanine is located over the platform from which one can observe the platforms and trains.

If you are a fan of the station announcements at the IRT lines, you will enjoy this film, as there are a lot of them!

Enjoy!

Filmed on 8 March 2015.

[richardturner]

I love the glass roof on one station, the beautiful antique tile work and i found the filler platform very interesting. Great video!😉

[rudolphguarnacci]

What a beautiful day. You can pick out all the buildings and know exactly where you were filming since there weren't any leaves on tbe trees. Gorgeous, tremendous. The city really did a nice job renovating Union Square Park as well as the surrounding roads. I remember when they started that around 2000.

[wendytorres]

I grew up in NYC.I started taking the subway alone since I was 12 years old whether it was to school or to my grandma's house (grandma lived in Queens and I lived in The Bronx) and taking the subway to grandmas house was a long subway ride. I had to take the 4 train from The Bronx all the way to 14th Street (this very station shown in this video) to transfer to the L train and finally at Wyckoff Ave, I would transfer to the M train to Queens to Fresh Pond Rd. I now live in Las Vegas, NV. I have been living here for 9 years now and one thing I miss the most about NYC is taking the subway to get to where I need to. For a while, living in Las Vegas, I was without a car and it killed me that in Las Vegas, their public transportation is extremely awful and outdated. I miss that whenever I wanted to go somewhere, I can just walk 3 min from my apartment and I'm already sliding ym metrocard to get into literally an underground city called the NYC subway. I like watching these videos because I can still hear the sounds I miss dearly of my previous life I had growing up in NYC. I hope you can come back one day and take more videos of the NYC subway. Perhaps you can visit some of the stops I have great memories of.

[jimmy]

Your videos are top notch! I had heard if the gap fillers, but never saw them. Fun to watch and lots to learn! Thanks!

[Organgrinder]

Informative footnotes are most interesting. Excellent videos make watching almost as good as being there in person. Thanks!

[justinm.]

@5:16 I wonder if there’s either a sensor on the gap filler....unless the conductor hits a button that’s somewhere on the wall for the gap filler to come in lol

[joshs]

Great video. A lot has changed for the better in the NYC Subway since I left New York in 1998. Looking forward to coming back home.

[ricardoo]

I love so much the voice: There is, a, Downtown, Local, 6, train, to, Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall. Approaching the station. Please stand away from the platform edge

[scottyerkes]

Love the beautiful station entrance. Gap fillers are unique.

[shanicewheeler]

I live in brooklyn for my whole life and now i'm a Twenty and i'm by myself so now I live in Harlem 148st

[claudiahansen]

Very nice documentary. I rode their predecessors on this line in the 1970s when working and going to school.

[matthewgasparin]

Love these videos! The NYC subway is my favourite subway.

[raihanjoy]

(4) Train To Woodlawn The Bronx
(5) Train To Eastchester Dyre Ave The Bronx
(6) And <6> Train To Pelham Bay Park♿ Or Parkchester The Bronx
Downtown
(4) Train To Crown Heights Utica Ave Brooklyn ♿
(5) Train To Flatbush Ave Brooklyn College Brooklyn ♿
(6) Train To Brooklyn Bridge City Hall Manhattan ♿

[visionist]

Gap fillers?! You guys are living in luxury! In London we'd be expected to simply fly over the gap ;-)

Great video btw

[OGR-]

Big thanks to you! I love your videos, and they are so detailed! Subscribed!

[thehubproductions]

Amazing Video! New subscriber and keep up the good work.

[eligirl]

yep. when it says the train is coming in 2 min, its actually coming in 10 seconds

[jerry]

Lots of memories. Thanks for the captions. I use to get off at that stop 60 years ago as a child with my father. The gap fillers really fascinated me, same with the ones at South Ferry. Are they original?

[lexifillems]

Just come home from NYC. Love the city and its subway. Watching your excellent videos to get some of that holiday feeling back! I changed trains at Union Square only a few days ago. :)

[joestrike]

A bit of trivia about the station: before they opened that passageway (the one with those freestanding sections of subway wall) just above the downtown local track, there used to be an open catwalk connecting the north and south ends of the downtown platform! Once they opened that passageway they removed that catwalk as it was no longer needed. Up until a few years ago when they redid the mezzanine floor a patch of concrete that replaced the north end of the catwalk was still visible.