21st Street–Queensbridge station

File:21 St platfotm.JPG

The current 63rd Street Line was the final version of proposals for a northern midtown tunnel from the IND Queens Boulevard Line to the Second and Sixth Avenue lines, which date back to the IND Second System of the 1920s and 1930s.{{Cite Routes Not Taken}}{{cite book |author1=Roger P. Roess |author2=Gene Sansone |title=The Wheels That Drove New York: A History of the New York City Transit System |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qfZ0VxuLoc0C&pg=PA416 |date=August 23, 2012 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-642-30484-2 |pages=416–417}}{{Cite map |author=Board of Transportation of the City of New York |title=Project for Expanded Rapid Transit Facilities - New York City Transit System |date=July 5, 1939 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1939_IND_Second_System.jpg |access-date=August 17, 2020 |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306091326/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1939_IND_Second_System.jpg |url-status=live }} The current plans were drawn up in the 1960s under the MTA's Program For Action, where the 63rd Street subway line was to be built in the upper portion of the bi-level 63rd Street Tunnel.{{NYCS const|trackref|trackbook}}{{Rp|5, 21}} In the original 1960s plans, there would have been a station (in addition to or as an alternative to 21st Street–Queensbridge) located farther east at Northern Boulevard, one block north of the Queens Plaza station of the Queens Boulevard line. There would have been a pedestrian transfer passageway between the two stations.{{cite news |last1=Burks |first1=Edward C. |title=Shortage of U.S. Funds May Delay Subway Link |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/06/06/76395030.pdf |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 27, 2015 |date=June 6, 1976}}{{cite news |last1=Burks |first1=Edward C. |title=New Subway Line Delayed 5 or 6 Years |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/07/29/78829669.pdf |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 27, 2015 |date=July 29, 1976}}{{cite news |last1=Burks |first1=Edward C. |title=Coming: Light at End of 63d St. Tunnel |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/09/24/79780193.pdf |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 27, 2015 |date=September 24, 1976 |archive-date=October 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005130248/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/09/24/79780193.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Burks |first1=Edward C. |title=New York Improving Subway, But Still Trails Foreign Cities |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/08/07/75544552.pdf |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 27, 2015 |date=August 7, 1976}}

The station was placed at 21st Street, serving the Queensbridge Houses to the west, and commercial and industrial buildings to the east. The station was added to the plans following lobbying from the local community.{{cite news |title=Planned 40-Mile Queens Subway, Cut to 15, is Costly and Behind Time |first=Grace |last=Lichtenstein |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/05/09/110949691.pdf |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 9, 1978 |page=68 |access-date=October 20, 2011}}{{cite news |last1=Daley |first1=Suzanne |date=November 1, 1984 |title=63d St. Subway Tunnel: More Setbacks for a Troubled Project |page=B1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/01/nyregion/63d-st-subway-tunnel-more-setbacks-for-a-troubled-project.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=September 27, 2015 |archive-date=October 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010100543/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/01/nyregion/63d-st-subway-tunnel-more-setbacks-for-a-troubled-project.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }} During construction, a large amount of disturbance was created along 41st Avenue, which runs through the heart of Queensbridge.

The project faced extensive delays. As early as 1976, the Program for Action had been reduced to seven stations on the Archer Avenue and 63rd Street lines and was not projected to be complete for another decade.{{cite news |last=Burks |first=Edward C. |date=July 29, 1976 |title=New Subway Line Delayed 5 or 6 Years |page=35 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/07/29/78829669.pdf |access-date=October 20, 2011}} By October 1980, officials considered stopping construction on the 63rd Street line.{{cite news |last=Andelman |first=David A. |date=October 11, 1980 |title=Tunnel Project, Five Years Old, Won't Be Used |page=25 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/10/11/111805802.pdf |access-date=October 20, 2011}}{{Cite web |title=New York City Transit 63rd Street-Queens Boulevard Connection-New York City – Advancing Mobility – Research – CMAQ – Air Quality – Environment – FHWA |url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/Environment/air_quality/cmaq/research/advancing_mobility/03cmaq08.cfm |access-date=July 3, 2016 |website=Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) |archive-date=August 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808044438/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/Environment/air_quality/cmaq/research/advancing_mobility/03cmaq08.cfm |url-status=live }} Usage estimates for the 21st Street–Queensbridge station were calculated in 1984 at 220 passengers per hour unless a connection was made to the rest of the system.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NaI4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA83 |title=Queens Subway Options Study, New York: Environmental Impact Statement |date=May 1984 |publisher=United States Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Urban Mass Transit Administration |pages=83 |access-date=July 10, 2016}} The MTA voted in 1984 to connect the tunnel to the local tracks of the IND Queens Boulevard Line at a cost of $222 million. The section of the line up to Long Island City was projected to open by the end of 1985,{{Cite news |last=Daley |first=Suzanne |date=December 15, 1984 |title=M.T.A. Votes to Extend 63rd St. Line |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/15/nyregion/mta-votes-to-extend-63rd-st-line.html |access-date=February 2, 2018 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=February 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203064749/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/15/nyregion/mta-votes-to-extend-63rd-st-line.html |url-status=live }} but flooding in the tunnel caused the opening to be delayed indefinitely.{{cite news |last=Daley |first=Suzanne |date=June 28, 1985 |title=63d St. Subway Tunnel Flawed; Opening Delayed |page=1 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/28/nyregion/63d-st-subway-tunnel-flawed-opening-delayed.html |access-date=October 20, 2011 |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524172220/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/28/nyregion/63d-st-subway-tunnel-flawed-opening-delayed.html |url-status=live }} The MTA's contractors concluded in February 1987 that the tunnel was structurally sound,{{cite news |last=Levine |first=Richard |date=February 7, 1987 |title=M.T.A. Proposes Opening 63d Street Tunnel in '89 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/07/nyregion/mta-proposes-opening-63d-street-tunnel-in-89.html |access-date=October 20, 2011 |archive-date=March 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325091505/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/07/nyregion/mta-proposes-opening-63d-street-tunnel-in-89.html |url-status=live }} and the federal government's contractors affirmed this finding in June 1987.{{cite news |title=New Money Gives 63d Street Tunnel Somewhere To Go |first1=Mary |last1=Connelly |first2=Carlyle C. |last2=Douglas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/28/weekinreview/the-region-new-money-gives-63d-street-tunnel-somewhere-to-go.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 28, 1987 |access-date=October 20, 2011 |archive-date=December 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206055431/http://nytimes.com/1987/06/28/weekinreview/the-region-new-money-gives-63d-street-tunnel-somewhere-to-go.html |url-status=live }}

This station opened on October 29, 1989,{{cite web |date=October 31, 2014 |title=63 St Subway Extension Opened 25 Years Ago this Week |url=http://www.mta.info/news/2014/10/31/63-st-subway-extension-opened-25-years-ago-week |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817095216/http://www.mta.info/news/2014/10/31/63-st-subway-extension-opened-25-years-ago-week |archive-date=August 17, 2020 |access-date=July 28, 2016 |website=mta.info |publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority}} along with the entire IND 63rd Street Line, serving as the line's northern terminal prior to the connection with the IND Queens Boulevard Line.{{cite news |last=Lorch |first=Donatella |date=October 29, 1989 |title=The 'Subway to Nowhere' Now Goes Somewhere |page=37 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/29/nyregion/the-subway-to-nowhere-now-goes-somewhere.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 26, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817095331/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/29/nyregion/the-subway-to-nowhere-now-goes-somewhere.html |archive-date=August 17, 2020}}{{cite news |last=Kershaw |first=Sarah |date=December 17, 2001 |title=V Train Begins Service Today, Giving Queens Commuters Another Option |page=F1 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/17/nyregion/v-train-begins-service-today-giving-queens-commuters-another-option.html |url-status=live |access-date=October 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817095436/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/17/nyregion/v-train-begins-service-today-giving-queens-commuters-another-option.html |archive-date=August 17, 2020}} The {{NYCS|Q}} train served the station on rush hours and weekday middays, the {{NYCS|B}} train stopped there on evenings and weekends, and the F terminated here during late nights; all services used the Sixth Avenue Line. For the first couple of months after the station opened, the JFK Express to Kennedy Airport also served the station until it was discontinued on April 15, 1990.{{Cite news |last=Grynbaum |first=Michael M. |date=November 25, 2009 |title=If You Took the Train to the Plane, Sing the Jingle |work=The New York Times |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/if-you-took-the-plane-to-the-train-sing-the-jingle/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200721193137/https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/if-you-took-the-plane-to-the-train-sing-the-jingle/ |archive-date=July 21, 2020}} The tunnel had gained notoriety as the "tunnel to nowhere" both during its planning and after its opening, with 21st Street being the line's only stop in Queens.{{cite news |last1=Knowles |first1=Clayton |date=December 16, 1964 |title=Proposed Subway Tube Assailed As 'Nowhere-to-Nowhere' Link |page=33 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/16/proposed-subway-tube-assailed-as-nowheretonowhere-link.html?_r=0 |url-status=live |access-date=September 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817094120/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/16/archives/proposed-subway-tube-assailed-as-nowheretonowhere-link.html |archive-date=August 17, 2020}} The connection to the Queens Boulevard Line began construction in 1994 and was completed and opened in 2001, almost thirty years after construction of the 63rd Street Tunnel began. Since then, the F train has been rerouted to serve this station at all times.{{cite report |title=Review of F Line Operations, Ridership, and Infrastructure |url=http://www.nysenate.gov/files/pdfs/flinereport_0.pdf |website=nysenate.gov |publisher=MTA New York City Transit Authority |access-date=July 28, 2015 |date=October 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531101000/http://www.nysenate.gov/files/pdfs/flinereport_0.pdf |archive-date=May 31, 2010 |url-status=dead}}{{rp|5}}{{cite report |url=http://web.mta.info/nyct/service/G_LineReview_7_10_13.pdf |title=Review of the G Line |date=July 10, 2013 |publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority |access-date=August 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224164006/http://web.mta.info/nyct/service/G_LineReview_7_10_13.pdf |archive-date=December 24, 2019 |website=mta.info}}{{rp|2}}{{cite news |last1=O'Neill |first1=Natalie |date=April 13, 2012 |title=History shows it's not the G train 'extension' — it's the G train renewal |website=The Brooklyn Paper |url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/history-shows-its-not-the-g-train-extension-its-the-g-train-renewal/ |url-status=live |access-date=August 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817095915/https://www.brooklynpaper.com/history-shows-its-not-the-g-train-extension-its-the-g-train-renewal/ |archive-date=August 17, 2020}}{{cite web |url=http://www.subwaynut.com/brochures/63detour.htm |title=E, F Detour in 2001, F trains via 63 St, E no trains running, take R instead |work=The Subway Nut |access-date=October 20, 2011 |archive-date=March 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302103832/http://www.subwaynut.com/brochures/63detour.htm |url-status=dead}}{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Randy |date=May 25, 2001 |title=Panel Approves New V Train but Shortens G Line to Make Room |page=B6 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/25/nyregion/panel-approves-new-v-train-but-shortens-g-line-to-make-room.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817100133/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/25/nyregion/panel-approves-new-v-train-but-shortens-g-line-to-make-room.html |archive-date=August 17, 2020}}

The MTA completed a refurbishment of the station in May 2023. The project included repairing the platforms and stairways, adding lighting, fixing the canopy above the main entrance, and renovating employee rooms.{{Cite web |last=Worrell |first=Carolina |date=May 3, 2023 |title=NYMTA Completes Renovation of Queensbridge Station |url=https://www.rtands.com/passenger/nymta-completes-renovation-of-queensbridge-station/ |access-date=May 8, 2023 |website=Railway Track and Structures |language=en-US |archive-date=May 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508083653/https://www.rtands.com/passenger/nymta-completes-renovation-of-queensbridge-station/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web | title=MTA advances NYCT subway station rebuild project |date=May 2, 2023 | website=Progressive Railroading | url=https://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/news/MTA-advances-NYCT-subway-station-rebuild-project--69154 | access-date=May 9, 2023}} From August 28, 2023, through April 1, 2024, F trains were rerouted via the 53rd Street Tunnel between Queens and Manhattan due to track replacement and other repairs in the 63rd Street Tunnel, and an F shuttle train ran between Lexington Avenue-63rd Street and 21st Street–Queensbridge at all times except late nights, stopping at Roosevelt Island.{{Cite web|title=Service changes on the F and M lines starting August 28|url=https://new.mta.info/article/service-changes-f-and-m-lines-starting-august-28|access-date=July 30, 2023|website=MTA|language=en}}{{cite web | title=F, M changes start Monday: What to know about the subway interruptions lasting until 2024 | website=NBC New York | date=August 25, 2023 | url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/f-m-changes-start-monday-what-to-know-about-the-subway-interruptions-lasting-until-2024/4624625/ | access-date=August 26, 2023}} In 2024, Skanska was hired to replace 21 escalators across the New York City Subway system for $146 million, including six escalators at the 21st Street–Queensbridge station.{{cite web | last=Sweet | first=Rod | title=Skanska to replace 21 escalators in New York subway | website=Global Construction Review | date=January 22, 2024 | url=https://www.globalconstructionreview.com/skanska-to-replace-21-escalators-in-new-york-subway/ | access-date=February 3, 2025}}{{cite web | title=Skanska Awarded MTA 21-Escalators Replacement Contract | website=Elevator World | date=January 19, 2024 | url=https://elevatorworld.com/news/daily-news/skanska-awarded-mta-21-escalators-replacement-contract/ | access-date=February 3, 2025}}

File:21 St Queensbridge entrance vc.jpg

File:21st Street-Queensbridge Elevator.jpg

The 21st Street–Queensbridge station has two tracks and two side platforms. The F train serves the station at all times, while the train serves the station northbound during AM rush hours and southbound during PM rush hours.{{NYCS const|timetable|F}} The next station to the north is Jackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue during the day and 36th Street at night. The next station to the south is Roosevelt Island.{{NYCS const|map}}

This underground station's only mezzanine is at the east end of station adjacent to the Manhattan-bound platform. Access to both platforms is via an overpass above the tracks, with staircases, escalators and elevators to platform level. At this point, the station has a high ceiling.{{cite report |url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/applicants/env-review/silvercup_west/ch10_feis.pdf#page=6 |title=Silvercup West FEIS: 10.0 Transit and Pedestrians |date=June 30, 2006 |publisher=New York City Department of City Planning |access-date=August 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817100323/https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/applicants/env-review/silvercup_west/ch10_feis.pdf#page=6 |website=nyc.gov |archive-date=August 17, 2020 |url-status=live}} The platform walls as well as the floor are made of brick, and towards the top of the platform walls is a line of larger brown sheets, on these are the station signs at regular intervals that say "21 Street–Queensbridge." Above this is a thin black strip of metal and above this are yellow squares that take the platform walls up to the station ceiling that is made of concrete.{{Cite web |url=http://subwaynut.com/ind/21_queensbridgef/index.php |title=21 St-Queensbridge (F) – The SubwayNut |last=Cox |first=Jeremiah |website=subwaynut.com |access-date=August 15, 2016 |archive-date=July 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706141041/http://subwaynut.com/ind/21_queensbridgef/index.php |url-status=dead}} There are no columns between the two tracks or on the platforms, except near the mezzanine and overpass.

As with other stations constructed as part of the Program for Action, the 21st Street–Queensbridge station contained technologically advanced features such as air-cooling, noise insulation, CCTV monitors, public announcement systems, electronic platform signage, and escalator and elevator entrances.{{Cite news |last=Burks |first=Edward C. |date=August 7, 1976 |title=New York Improving Subways, But Still Trails Foreign Cities |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/07/archives/new-york-improving-subways-but-still-trails-foreign-cities.html |access-date=July 14, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714190811/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/07/archives/new-york-improving-subways-but-still-trails-foreign-cities.html |url-status=live }}

Outside of fare control, the mezzanine leads to two street stairs at the northeast corner of 21st Street and 41st Avenue. An elevator and escalators are at the northwest corner of the same intersection.{{cite web |title=MTA Neighborhood Maps: Long Island City |url=http://web.mta.info/maps/neighborhoods/qns/Q3-LIC_2015.pdf |publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority |access-date=September 27, 2015 |date=2015 |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605050653/http://web.mta.info/maps/neighborhoods/qns/Q3-LIC_2015.pdf |url-status=live }}

Until the connection to the Queens Boulevard Line opened, this station shared the characteristic of a two side platformed terminal station with Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College on the IRT Nostrand Avenue Line. This is an inefficient terminal setup,{{cite report |url=https://archive.org/details/metropolitantran00newy |title=Metropolitan transportation, a program for action. Report to Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor of New York. |last=Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority |date=November 7, 1967 |publisher=New York |access-date=October 1, 2015 |via=Internet Archive}} requiring passengers to know which track the next train will depart from before going to the platform level. As a terminal from 1989 to 2001, the station had tail tracks that continued eastward as far as 29th Street, ending at bumper blocks.{{cite book |title=Queens Subway Options Study, New York: Environmental Impact Statement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NaI4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA83 |access-date=July 10, 2016 |date=May 1984 |publisher=United States Department of Transportation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Urban Mass Transit Administration |pages=83–}}{{cite news |date=October 18, 1998 |title=Playing in the Neighborhood: Long Island City; Tortoise Heads into Queens |page=15 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/nyregion/playing-in-the-neighborhood-long-island-city-tortoise-heads-into-queens.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817100720/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/nyregion/playing-in-the-neighborhood-long-island-city-tortoise-heads-into-queens.html |archive-date=August 17, 2020}} Also, this station has "punch boxes", with buttons to indicate route selection to the train dispatcher; a control tower on the west end of Manhattan-bound platform, which can be used if necessary; and a diamond crossover switch to the west which was used to turn trains.{{NYCS const|trackref|469}}

East of the station, before the line connects to the IND Queens Boulevard Line, the tracks veer left while the tunnel wall goes straight, stopping around Northern Boulevard.{{cite journal |last1=Silano |first1=Louis G. |last2=Shanbhag |first2=Radmas |date=July 2000 |title=The Final Connection |journal=Civil Engineering |volume=70 |issue=7 |pages=56–61 |issn=0885-7024 |id={{ProQuest|228460673}}|eissn=2381-0688|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/228460673?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&sourcetype=Scholarly%20Journals}}{{cite web |title=MTA 63rd Street Connector |url=http://nycsubway.org.s3.amazonaws.com/images/logo/63rdconn.jpg |publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority |access-date=October 1, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030120053/http://nycsubway.org.s3.amazonaws.com/images/logo/63rdconn.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 30, 2014}} This bellmouth is part of an intended "super-express" bypass of the IND Queens Boulevard Line running along the mainline of the Long Island Rail Road between Queens Boulevard and Forest Hills–71st Avenue planned in 1968. At a proposed station at Northern Boulevard, for which the 29th Street tail tracks might have also been built, a transfer concourse to the Queens Plaza station would have allowed transfers between local, express, and bypass trains.{{cite journal |last1=Erlitz |first1=Jeffrey |title=Tech Talk |journal=New York Division Bulletin |date=February 2005 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=9–11 |url=https://issuu.com/erausa/docs/2005-02-bulletin/11 |access-date=July 10, 2016 |publisher=Electric Railroaders Association |archive-date=August 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816150449/https://issuu.com/erausa/docs/2005-02-bulletin/11 |url-status=live }}

The current bellmouth, built along with the Queens Boulevard connection, is two levels deep with two additional stub-end subway tracks named T1A and T2A. It is viable for future construction of the bypass or the Northern Boulevard transfer station. The original bellmouth stopped at 29th Street.{{cite book |title=Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 63rd Street Line Connection to the Queens Boulevard Line |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n943AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PT95 |access-date=July 23, 2016 |year=1992 |publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority, United States Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration |location=Queens, New York, New York}} The lower level of the bellmouth was excavated in 2003 for the LIRR East Side Access project, which also extended the subway stub tracks farther east towards Sunnyside Yard;{{cite book |title=East Side Access in New York, Queens, and Bronx Counties, New York, and Nassau and Suffolk Counties, New York: Environmental Impact Statement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USs3AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-SA2-PA12 |access-date=July 23, 2016 |date=March 2001 |publisher=Metropolitan Transportation Authority, United States Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration}}{{cite journal |last1=Nasri |first1=V. |last2=Lee |first2=W.S. |last3=Rice |first3=J. |title=Comparison of the predicted behavior of the Manhattan TBM launch shaft with the observed data, East Side Access Project, New York |journal=North American Tunneling |date=2004 |pages=537–544 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JCJnZLCuOUEC&q=%22east+side+access%22+%22bellmouth%22&pg=PA537 |access-date=July 23, 2016 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781439833759}}{{cite news |last1=Reed |first1=Mary |date=January 16, 2009 |title=Tunnel Boring Machines Core Under Big Apple's East River |work=ConstructionEquipmentGuide.com |url=https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/tunnel-boring-machines-core-under-big-apples-east-river/11976 |url-status=live |access-date=July 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200817102127/https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/tunnel-boring-machines-core-under-big-apples-east-river/11976 |archive-date=August 17, 2020}} the lower-level tracks opened in 2023.{{Cite news |last=Ley |first=Ana |date=January 25, 2023 |title=L.I.R.R. Service to Grand Central Begins Today at Long Last |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/nyregion/lirr-grand-central.html |access-date=January 25, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=January 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125230833/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/nyregion/lirr-grand-central.html |url-status=live }} Just above the connection sits the 29th Street Ventilation Complex, built with the connector, in the site of a former parking lot. West of the station, a second ventilation complex lies in Queensbridge Park between Vernon Boulevard and the East River.

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In 2019, the station had 3,516,992 boardings, making it the 144th most used station in the {{NYCS const|number|intl}}-station system. This amounted to an average of 11,184 passengers per weekday.

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{{Commons category}}

• [https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.754003,-73.942419&spn=0,0.013765&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.754079,-73.942348&panoid=lZkBWDDgAjtxKm6uapKhvg&cbp=12,115.92,,0,4.93 21st Street entrance from Google Maps Street View]
• [http://www.google.com/maps/@40.754509,-73.9421844,3a,75y,187.49h,90.71t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s-DtkY3xEUj_E%2FV4bZx5muo-I%2FAAAAAAAAJtI%2FvychskyvEaUdab_4xmEU6-0XAKgyEbn5wCLIB!2e4!3e11!6s%2F%2Flh4.googleusercontent.com%2F-DtkY3xEUj_E%2FV4bZx5muo-I%2FAAAAAAAAJtI%2FvychskyvEaUdab_4xmEU6-0XAKgyEbn5wCLIB%2Fw203-h100-p-k-no%2F!7i9728!8i4864!4m3!8m2!3m1!1e1!6m1!1e1 Platforms from Google Maps Street View]
• [http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/applicants/env-review/silvercup_west/ch10_feis.pdf#page=6 Station Diagram]

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Category:63rd Street Line stations

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