23 Street
View of northbound platform
General information
Location	West 23rd Street & Seventh Avenue Chelsea,Manhattan, New York
Coordinates	40°44′38″N73°59′46″W / 40.744°N 73.996°W /40.744; -73.996
Line(s)	IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
Platforms	2side platforms
Tracks	4
Connections	NYCT Bus:M7,M20,M23 SBS
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Accessible	future
Other information
Classification	A Division
History
Opened	July 1, 1918; 107 years ago (1918-07-01)
Original company	Interborough Rapid Transit
Passengers
2023	3,154,290  15%
Rank	103 out of 423[1]
Services
Preceding station New York City Subway Following station 28th Street 1  ​2  towardVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street Local 18th Street 1  ​2  towardSouth Ferry does not stop here
Track layout Legend to28th Street to18th Street
Location   Location within New York City Subway
Notes Service(s)   1  (all times) ​  2  (late nights) Station service legend Stops all times Stops late nights only Stops late nights and weekends

The23rd Street station is a localstation on theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of theNew York City Subway. Located at23rd Street andSeventh Avenue in theChelsea neighborhood ofManhattan, it is served by the1 train at all times and by the2 train during late nights. The station was built by theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of theDual Contracts withNew York City, and opened on July 1, 1918. The station had its platforms extended in the 1960s, and was renovated in the 1990s.

TheDual Contracts, which were signed on March 19, 1913, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in theCity of New York. The contracts were "dual" in that they were signed between the City and two separate private companies (theInterborough Rapid Transit Company and theBrooklyn Rapid Transit Company), all working together to make the construction of the Dual Contracts possible. The Dual Contracts promised the construction of several lines in Brooklyn. As part of Contract 4, the IRT agreed to build a branch of the original subway line south down Seventh Avenue,Varick Street, andWest Broadway to serve theWest Side of Manhattan.^[2][3][4]

The construction of this line, in conjunction with the construction of theLexington Avenue Line, would change the operation of the IRT system. Instead of having trains go via Broadway, turning onto 42nd Street, before finally turning onto Park Avenue, there would be two trunk lines connected by the42nd Street Shuttle. The system would be changed from looking like a "Z" system on a map to an "H" system. One trunk would run via the newLexington Avenue Line downPark Avenue, and the other trunk would run via the new Seventh Avenue Line upBroadway. In order for the line to continue down Varick Street and West Broadway, these streets needed to be widened, and two new streets were built, the Seventh Avenue Extension and the Varick Street Extension.^[5] It was predicted that the subway extension would lead to the growth of theLower West Side, and to neighborhoods such asChelsea andGreenwich Village.^[6][7]

On September 22, 1915, there was an explosion during construction of the 23rd Street subway station that caused the tunnel to collapse. Seven people were killed after a blast of dynamite in the subway tunnel destroyed the plank roadway over Seventh Avenue. As a result, a crowded trolley car, and a brewery truck fell into the excavation, accounting for most of the injuries.^[8]

23rd Street station opened as part of an extension of the line from34th Street–Penn Station toSouth Ferry on July 1, 1918.^[9][10] Initially, the station was served by a shuttle running fromTimes Square to South Ferry.^[9][11] The new "H" system was implemented on August 1, 1918, joining the two halves of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line and sending all West Side trains south from Times Square.^[12] An immediate result of the switch was the need to transfer using the 42nd Street Shuttle in order to retrace the original layout. The completion of the "H" system doubled the capacity of the IRT system.^[6]

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[13][14] On August 9, 1964, theNew York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) announced the letting of a $7.6 million contract to lengthen platforms at stations on the Broadway—Seventh Avenue Line fromRector Street to34th Street–Penn Station, including 23rd Street, and stations fromCentral Park North–110th Street to145th Street on the Lenox Avenue Line to allow express trains to be lengthened from nine-car trains to ten-car trains, and to lengthen locals from eight-car trains to ten-car trains. With the completion of this project, the NYCTA project to lengthen IRT stations to accommodate ten-car trains would be complete.^[15]

This station was renovated in the 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2021, as part of anetwork accessibility trial, theMetropolitan Transportation Authority installed a braille map along the northbound platform wall.^[16]: 76 As part of its 2025–2029 Capital Program, the MTA has proposed making the station wheelchair-accessible in compliance with theAmericans with Disabilities Act of 1990.^[17]

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Platform level	Side platform
	Northbound local	← towardVan Cortlandt Park–242nd Street(28th Street) ← towardWakefield–241st Street late nights(28th Street)
	Northbound express	← do not stop here
	Southbound express	→ do not stop here →
	Southbound local	→ towardSouth Ferry(18th Street) → → towardFlatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College late nights(18th Street) →
	Side platform

This underground station has twoside platforms and four tracks. The station is served by the1 at all times^[18] and by the2 during late nights;^[19] the center express tracks are used by the 2 and 3 trains during daytime hours.^[19][20] It is between28th Street to the north and18th Street to the south.^[21]

Both platforms have their original mosaic trim line and name tablets of a predominately brown and red color along with yellow and olive green. Except for at either end of the platforms where it gets narrower, both also have maroon I-beam columns running along them at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate with white lettering.

Each platform has one same-levelfare control area in their center and there are no crossunders or crossovers. The northbound platform has the station's full-timeturnstile bank and token booth and two staircases going to either eastern corners of 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue. The southbound platform has an unstaffed set of turnstiles and two staircases going up to either western corners of the same intersection.^[22]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to23rd Street (IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org –IRT West Side Line: 23rd Street

• IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations
• Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)
• New York City Subway stations in Manhattan
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1918
• 1918 establishments in New York City
• Chelsea, Manhattan
• 23rd Street (Manhattan)

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2024
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles using Infobox station with markup inside name
• Articles using Infobox station with links or images inside name
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from July 2021
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Pages using the Kartographer extension