125th st IND Station. 4 southern most stairs removed?

[N6 Limited]

I've noticed that in the 125th st IND station the two southern most stairs on both platforms have been removed, why is that?

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

 

I've noticed that in the 125th st IND station the two southern most stairs on both platforms have been removed, why is that?

 

What exactly do you mean by southern most stairs?

[Quill Depot]

They have been closed for a while for as long as I remember. I only remember open stairs near the center side of the station but I may be wrong. Try looking at pictures on nycsubway.org and see if you can pinpoint where exactly the stairs are.

[Fresh Pond]

The southern end of the station...

 

The front of the downtown platform, and the back of the uptown platform

[realizm]

Yeah it was shut down during renovations in the 1980's. But as to why they actually did that to begin with is what I am wondering now too.

[N6 Limited]

They have been closed for a while for as long as I remember. I only remember open stairs near the center side of the station but I may be wrong. Try looking at pictures on nycsubway.org and see if you can pinpoint where exactly the stairs are.

 

The locations are pretty obvious. If you look at the existing stairs you see at thick support type beams where the opening is to the mezz, so So all you have to do is look for them and you'll clearly see where the stairs were. This picture shows what I'm talking about.

 

Yeah it was shut down during renovations in the 1980's. But as to why they actually did that to begin with is what I am wondering now too.

Oh I see, I was curious because  when trains arrive at 125th street there's this large queue to the first set of stairs which is more toward the middle of the platform and more people are using the station now because of the M60 sbs and everything. So I started thinking "why are the first set of steps where they are?" Then I saw the Supports on the side of the stairs and walked to the south end of the platform and noticed two sets of them, and then looked across and noticed another two. I realized that 4 sets of stairs were removed.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

The locations are pretty obvious. If you look at the existing stairs you see at thick support type beams where the opening is to the mezz, so So all you have to do is look for them and you'll clearly see where the stairs were. This picture shows what I'm talking about.

 

Oh I see, I was curious because  when trains arrive at 125th street there's this large queue to the first set of stairs which is more toward the middle of the platform and more people are using the station now because of the M60 sbs and everything. So I started thinking "why are the first set of steps where they are?" Then I saw the Supports on the side of the stairs and walked to the south end of the platform and noticed two sets of them, and then looked across and noticed another two. I realized that 4 sets of stairs were removed.

May have something to do with traffic flow or something or maybe they were just too cheap spend the money to refurbish them.  That happens more times than not. 

[TheNewYorkElevated]

Actually, I really didn't notice that part. I was pretty caught off-guard when hearing about this. On somedays, I use that station with one of my parents for either Midtown, Macy's, or Lower Manhattan.

[MHV9218]

While closed stairways annoy me (West 4th lower, for example), nothing is more annoying to me than entire passageways shut. Astor Place, for example, used to have a crossover underneath the station. 23rd St on the 8th Ave, too. The problem of stations without crossovers is something that was created.

[Trainmaster5]

While closed stairways annoy me (West 4th lower, for example), nothing is more annoying to me than entire passageways shut. Astor Place, for example, used to have a crossover underneath the station. 23rd St on the 8th Ave, too. The problem of stations without crossovers is something that was created.

23rd St and 28th St on the as well as Astor Place had this provision removed. Nostrand Ave on the , also had this setup that allowed one to cross over at the northern end of the upper level express tracks. IIRC the reason given for closing most of these crossovers/unders was "passenger safety". In other words at the time of closure the Transit Police didn't want to expend the manpower to patrol these areas.Passenger convenience never entered the picture. Carry on.

[realizm]

23rd St and 28th St on the as well as Astor Place had this provision removed. Nostrand Ave on the , also had this setup that allowed one to cross over at the northern end of the upper level express tracks. IIRC the reason given for closing most of these crossovers/unders was "passenger safety". In other words at the time of closure the Transit Police didn't want to expend the manpower to patrol these areas.Passenger convenience never entered the picture. Carry on.

So basically politics was the reason for the closure of those staircases at 125th Street. Go figure.

[Kto168]

The station once had a full length mezzanine. The 4 removed staircases led to an exit between 124th and 125th Streets. I'm not sure if there was a staircase on west side of St. Nicholas Ave, but there was one on the east side. If you're ever in the area you'll see a Nine West store. A staircase used to be at that spot. IIRC it was removed in the late 80s or early 90s. I remember seeing it when I was a kid, but it was always blocked off and it reeked of urine. That part of the mezzanine is now used as flagging quarters.

[bobtehpanda]

So basically politics was the reason for the closure of those staircases at 125th Street. Go figure.

 

I don't know if this counts as "politics". There were many entrances at subway stations closed around the systems due to their low patronage and the inability of the police to adequately patrol every inch of subway ground. In particular, full-mezzanine stations on the IND like 125th St were extremely expensive to maintain and patrol, so many full-mezzanine stations were converted into half-mezzanine stations (which is significantly more common throughout the world for this very reason).

[realizm]

I don't know if this counts as "politics". There were many entrances at subway stations closed around the systems due to their low patronage and the inability of the police to adequately patrol every inch of subway ground. In particular, full-mezzanine stations on the IND like 125th St were extremely expensive to maintain and patrol, so many full-mezzanine stations were converted into half-mezzanine stations (which is significantly more common throughout the world for this very reason).

Toungue in cheek statement.

 

I had a feeling it had something to do with passenger flow and reduction of the fare control area but I couldn't find any confirmation of that until Trainmaster 5 cleared it up. So I decided not to speculate on it.