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Delancey Street/Essex Street  ​ ​
New York City Subway station complex
Stair at southeast corner of Essex and Delancey
Station statistics
Address	Delancey Street & Essex Street New York, NY 10002
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Lower East Side
Coordinates	40°43′07″N 73°59′18″W / 40.71851°N 73.988199°W / 40.71851; -73.988199Coordinates: 40°43′07″N 73°59′18″W / 40.71851°N 73.988199°W / 40.71851; -73.988199
Division	B (BMT/IND)
Line	IND Sixth Avenue Line       BMT Nassau Street Line
Services	F  (all times)​       J  (all times)       M  (all times except late nights)       Z  (rush hours, peak direction)​
Transit connections	NYCT Bus: M9, M14A, B39
Structure	Underground
Levels	2
Other information
Opened	July 1, 1948; 70 years ago (1948-07-01)
Station code	625[1]
Accessible	not ADA-accessible; accessibility planned
Wireless service	[2]
Traffic
Passengers (2017)	8,128,719 (station complex)[3]  3.9%
Rank	44 out of 425
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York Show map of the United States
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops all times except late nights Stops rush hours in the peak direction only

Delancey Street/Essex Street is a station complex shared by the BMT Nassau Street Line and the IND Sixth Avenue Lines of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of Essex and Delancey Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, just west of the Williamsburg Bridge. It is served by the:

• 
  F and J trains at all times


• 
  M train at all times except late nights


• 
  Z skip-stop train during rush hours in the peak direction

In addition to the two track levels—the BMT platforms are on the upper level and the IND platforms are on the lower—an intermediate mezzanine built for the IND platforms provides the passenger connection between the two lines. As the BMT and the IND were originally separate systems, the transfer passageway was not within fare control until July 1, 1948.^{[citation needed]} The full-time entrance is on the north side of Delancey Street, on either side of Essex Street.

Station layout

G	Street level	Exit / entrance
B1	North mezzanine	Fare control, exits/entrances
	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Westbound[note 1]	← ( AM rush hours) toward Broad Street (Bowery) ← toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue weekdays (Broadway–Lafayette Street)
	Center track[note 1]	→ ( PM rush hours) toward Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer weekdays and late nights (Marcy Avenue) → → toward Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue weekends (Marcy Avenue) →
	Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
	Eastbound[note 1]	→ toward Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer weekends (Marcy Avenue) → → toward Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue weekdays (Marcy Avenue) →
	Trolley trackways	Emergency exit, planned Lowline
B2	South mezzanine	Fare control, exits/entrances
B3	Side platform, doors will open on the right
	Northbound	← toward Jamaica–179th Street (Second Avenue)
	Southbound	→ toward Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue (East Broadway) →
	Side platform, doors will open on the right

Since June 2010, both the F and M operate local along the Sixth Avenue Line north of the Delancey Street/Essex Street station. This resulted in many riders waiting in the stairwells connecting the Sixth Avenue Line's lower-level northbound platform, where the F stops, and the Nassau Street Line's upper-level southbound platform, where the M stops before merging onto the Sixth Avenue Line northbound. This phenomenon did not occur in other stations where two services have separate platforms before merging into the same direction, such as 50th Street–Eighth Avenue.^[4] In 2017, the MTA installed train-arrival "countdown clocks" across the New York City Subway system, which show how much time will elapse until the next train arrives on each respective platform.^[5]

Exits

Both the IND and the BMT stations have additional closed exits. The IND station had four additional exits; two were at both the north end of the station at Rivington Street and the other two were at the south end at Broome Street. Two of the staircases were sealed on street level, but the other two are blocked by metal trapdoors. A former exit to the southeastern corner of Rivington Street and Essex Street, adjacent to the rear of the Essex Street Market building, remains as an northern emergency exit, and a former exit to the southeastern corner of Broome Street and Essex Street similarly remains as a southern emergency exit.

As part of the construction of the nearby Essex Crossing development, Site 9 (120 Essex Street), located on the east side of Essex Street between Rivington and Delancey Streets, contains an easement for a future elevator entrance.^[7]

BMT Nassau Street Line platforms

Essex Street  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Westbound platform
Station statistics
Division	B (BMT)
Line	BMT Nassau Street Line
Services	J  (all times)       M  (all times except late nights)       Z  (rush hours, peak direction)​
Platforms	1 island platform cross-platform interchange (eastbound only) 1 side platform
Tracks	3
Other information
Opened	September 16, 1908; 110 years ago (1908-09-16)[8]
Station code	102[1]
Accessible	not ADA-accessible; accessibility planned
Wireless service	[2]
Former/other names	Delancey Street
Station succession
Next east	Marcy Avenue: J  M  Z ​
Next west	↑ Broadway–Lafayette Street: M  none (Terminus): M  ↓ Bowery: J  ​Z
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops all times except late nights Stops weekends only Stops weekdays only Stops rush hours in the peak direction only

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Track layout
Legend
to Marcy Av to Bway-Lafayette St to Bowery

Essex Street on the BMT Nassau Street Line has three tracks, one side platform, and one island platform. The side platform is used by trains coming from the Williamsburg Bridge. The other two tracks serve the island platform. The middle track, which was formerly the peak-direction express track, is now used for outbound J and Z trains over the Williamsburg Bridge on weekdays and late nights, as well as short turning weekend M trains.

After a 2004 reconfiguration, the former northbound local track was taken out of regular service. It was only used for special reroutes from Chambers Street until 2010. The Chrystie Street Connection between Broadway–Lafayette Street and Essex Street was not used for regular revenue service from 1976 to 2010. On June 28, 2010, with the re-routing of M trains to the IND Sixth Avenue Line and IND Queens Boulevard Line, the connection again saw regular use for those aforementioned trains only. On June 8, 2014, another service reconfiguration occurred with the extension of weekend M trains. On weekdays, outbound M trains coming from the Chrystie Street Connection stop on the outer local track while outbound J and Z trains from Broad Street use the center track. On weekends, the configuration is reversed; since M trains short-turn at Essex Street on the center track, all J trains stop at the outer track.

This station is a bottleneck for eastbound trains, which are frequently delayed momentarily at this station because the two eastbound tracks merge into one track before crossing the Williamsburg Bridge.

History

Williamsburg Bridge and Delancey Street, 1919. Kiosks in center go down to underground trolley terminal; larger one to left goes to subway. Foreground: waiting areas for Manhattan streetcars

The Essex Street station during its construction.

Next to the Brooklyn-bound local track is a closed trolley terminal, which was built along with the subway station and opened several months earlier. There are about three to four tracks against a wall and eight turning loops, which were used for trolley service from 1908 to 1948 that traveled over the Williamsburg Bridge to different parts of Brooklyn.^[9][10][11]

The underground terminal for the subway adjacent to the trolley terminal opened on September 16, 1908. The station originally contained only two tracks which ended at the west end of the station. It also had an additional southern side platform adjacent to the trolley terminal, with the station organized in a Spanish solution.^[9] The station was rebuilt for through service from 1911 to 1913 in order for the Centre Street Subway to extend to Chambers Street. The rest of the subway line has four tracks while there was room at Essex Street station for only three tracks and two platforms. There is provision for a fourth track to run through the trolley terminal area and join the subway west of the trolley terminal, should a four-track subway station be wanted.

For many years, the elevated train service was very intensive and a fourth track at Essex Street would have been useful to handle the crowds, but at the same time the trolley service was also well patronized, so no expansion was ever proposed. This would have added a second side platform to the south of the southernmost track, directly against the trolley terminal. The island platform would have been demolished to make room for the fourth track; alternatively, the fourth track would have been constructed adjacent to the southernmost track, resulting in a 2 side-platform, 1 island-platformed station.

After streetcar service ended in 1948, the former track area on the south side of the bridge was rebuilt into auto lanes with a new ramp from street level closing off the former downhill ramp to the trolley terminal.^[12][13] The trolley terminal itself, however, was left vacant, and small portions were converted to storerooms and an emergency exit to the southern corners of Norfolk Street and Delancey Street.^[14] The vacant space is the proposed location of the Low Line, a planned underground park.^[15] Prior to 1913, the BMT station was also known as Delancey Street.

Image gallery

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  Platform
  

  
  

  
  


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  Name mosaic
  

  
  

  
  


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  Letter mosaic
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Abandoned trolley terminal
  

  
  

  
  


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  Abandoned trolley terminal
  

  
  

  
  

IND Sixth Avenue Line platforms

Delancey Street
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Station statistics
Division	B (IND)
Line	IND Sixth Avenue Line
Services	F  (all times)
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	January 1, 1936; 83 years ago (1936-01-01)
Station code	233[1]
Accessible	not ADA-accessible; accessibility planned
Wireless service	[2]
Station succession
Next north	Second Avenue: F
Next south	East Broadway: F
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times

Track layout
Legend
to 2 Av to E Bway

Northbound waiting area

Delancey Street (announced as Delancey Street-Essex Street) on the IND Sixth Avenue Line has two tracks and two side platforms. The station has a part-time booth on the south side of Delancey Street and has two street staircases. Crossovers connect both platforms to the BMT platforms, which are above and perpendicular to the IND platforms. The tile band (purple with black border) and station name tablets have been replaced, replicating the style of the original design. In a departure from the norm of recent restorations, every other column at platform level has a large "D" for the station name.

The station formerly had two mezzanine areas, split by the BMT station. Twelve staircases, six on each platform, led to the mezzanine. Most were removed; only the staircases at extreme north end and the extreme south end of both platforms remain as stairways to emergency exits and storage space.

There are two large wall-sized pieces of artwork, one on each wall where the staircase exits and transfers are located. The artist for both glass mosaics is Ming Fay (2004). The artwork on the downtown side is titled Shad Crossing and details two giant shad fish swimming, along with another wall mosaic of blue waters. In the late 19th century, shad were found along the Hudson River when new immigrants came to New York, many of whom settled on the Lower East Side. The new staircase to the relocated full-time booth also has another painting of a shad wrapped around the bottom of the stairs.

The uptown side is titled Delancey Orchard and has a cherry orchard tree mosaic, which symbolized the tree owned by the Delancey family in the 18th century. Miniature versions appear along all staircases leading from the Delancey Street platforms to either fare control.

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Delancey Street – Essex Street (New York City Subway).

External video

Essex St Trolley Terminal, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; November 23, 2011; 4:15 YouTube video clip

Subway station:

• nycsubway.org – BMT Nassau Street Line: Essex Street
  


• nycsubway.org – IND 6th Avenue: Delancey Street
  


• Station Reporter – Delancey Street/Essex Street Complex
  


• MTA's Arts For Transit – Delancey Street–Essex Street
  


• Delancey Street and Essex Street entrance from Google Maps Street View


• Delancey Street and Norfolk Street entrance from Google Maps Street View


• IND platforms from Google Maps Street View


• Westbound BMT Platform from Google Maps Street View


• Eastbound BMT Platform from Google Maps Street View

Trolley terminal:

• Abandoned Stations – "Williamsburg Bridge Railway terminal". Joseph Brennan, Columbia University, 2001.