46 Street  ​
View of northbound platform with anR160 M train leaving the station
Station statistics
Address	46th Street & Broadway Queens, New York
Borough	Queens
Locale	Astoria
Coordinates	40°45′24″N73°54′51″W / 40.756685°N 73.914256°W /40.756685; -73.914256
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Queens Boulevard Line
Services	E  (late nights) ​  F  (late nights) ​  M  (weekdays during the day) ​  R  (all times except late nights)
Transit	MTA Bus:Q104
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	August 19, 1933; 92 years ago (1933-08-19)
Traffic
2024	1,600,276[2]  3.7%
Rank	202 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Steinway Street E  ​F  ​M  ​R  viaQueens Plaza Local Northern Boulevard E  ​F  ​M  ​R  towardForest Hills–71st Avenue
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend toNorthern Boulevard toSteinway Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops late nights only Stops weekdays during the day

The46th Street station is a localstation on theIND Queens Boulevard Line of theNew York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 46th Street and Broadway inAstoria, Queens, it is served by theM train on weekdays, theR train at all times except nights, and theE andF trains at night.

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first lines built by the city-ownedIndependent Subway System (IND),^[3][4][5] and stretches between theIND Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan and179th Street and Hillside Avenue inJamaica, Queens.^[3][5][6] The Queens Boulevard Line was in part financed by aPublic Works Administration (PWA) loan and grant of $25 million.^[7] One of the proposed stations would have been located at 46th Street.

The first section of the line, west fromRoosevelt Avenue to50th Street, opened on August 19, 1933.E trains ran local toHudson Terminal (today's World Trade Center) in Manhattan, while theGG (predecessor to current G service) ran as a shuttle service between Queens Plaza andNassau Avenue on theIND Crosstown Line.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]}

The station entrances to 48th Street did not open until some time after October 1933, when the Astoria Heights Taxpayers Association circulated petitions demanding that these entrances be opened.^[14]

The station was closed in June 2023 for structural improvements.

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Platform level	Side platform
	Southbound local	← towardMiddle Village–Metropolitan Avenue weekdays(Steinway Street) ← towardBay Ridge–95th Street(Steinway Street) ← towardWorld Trade Center, towardConey Island–Stillwell Avenue late nights(Steinway Street)
	Northbound local	→ towardForest Hills–71st Avenue weekdays(Northern Boulevard) → → toward Forest Hills–71st Avenue(Northern Boulevard) → → towardJamaica Center–Parsons/Archer, towardJamaica–179th Street late nights(Northern Boulevard) →
	Side platform

This underground station has two tracks and twoside platforms. TheE andF trains serve the station at night,^[15][16] theM train serves the station on weekdays during the day,^[17] and theR train serves the station at all times except late nights.^[18] The station is betweenSteinway Street to the west andNorthern Boulevard to the east.^[19] The express tracks on the IND Queens Boulevard Line, used by the E and F trains during daytime hours, run via a separate routing under Northern Boulevard.

Both platforms have a purple tile band with a black border and mosaic name tablets reading "46TH ST." in whitesans-serif lettering on a black background and purple border. Small tile captions reading "46TH ST" in white on black run below the tile band, and directional signs in the same style are present under some of the name tablets.^{[citation needed]}The tile band was part of a color-codedtile system used throughout the IND.^[20] The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away fromLower Manhattan. As such, the purple tiles used at the 46th Street station were originally also used atQueens Plaza, the next express station to the west, while a different tile color is used atJackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue, the next express station to the east. Purple tiles are similarly used at the other local stations between Queens Plaza and Roosevelt Avenue.^[21][22]

Fixed platform barriers, which are intended to prevent commuters falling to the tracks, are positioned near the platform edges.^[23][24] Royal purple I-beam columns run along both platforms at regular intervals, alternating ones having the standard black station name plate with white lettering.^{[citation needed]} The I-beampiers are located every 15 feet (4.6 m) and supportgirders above the platforms. The roof girders are also connected to columns in the platform walls.^[25]: 3 The tunnel is covered by a U-shaped trough that contains utility pipes and wires. The outer walls of this trough are composed of columns, spaced approximately every 5 feet (1.5 m) with concrete infill between them. There is a 1-inch (25 mm) gap between the tunnel wall and the platform wall, which is made of 4-inch (100 mm)-thick brick covered over by a tiled finish. The columns between the tracks are also spaced every 5 feet (1.5 m), with no infill.^[25]: 3

Both platforms have one same-levelfare control area at either ends and there are no crossovers or crossunders. The full-time side is at the west (railroad south) end of theManhattan-bound platform. It has aturnstile bank, token booth, and one staircase to the northwest corner of 46th Street and Broadway. The fare control area on the same end ofForest Hills-bound platform has a part-time turnstile bank and token booth (with twoHigh Entry-Exit Turnstiles providing access to and from the station at all times) and one staircase to the southwest corner of 46th Street and Broadway.^[26]

The fare control area on the east (railroad north) end of the Manhattan-bound platform has a turnstile bank (with two High Entry-Exit Turnstiles providing access to and from the station at all times) and one staircase going up to the north side of Newtown Road between Broadway and 48th Street. The fare control area on this end of the Forest Hills-bound also contains full height turnstiles, as well as one staircase going up to the southeast corner of Broadway and 48th Street.^[26]

Old token booths at this station were located at the center of both platforms.^[27][28] Both token booths have since been repurposed; the Forest Hills-bound platform has a set of doors leading into an employee-only facility while the Manhattan-bound platform has a wide fenced off area.^[29]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to46th Street (IND Queens Boulevard Line).

• nycsubway.org –IND Queens Boulevard Line: 46th Street
• Station Reporter —R Train
• Station Reporter —M Train
• The Subway Nut —46th Street PicturesArchived January 28, 2020, at theWayback Machine
• 46th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 48th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Newton Road entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View

• IND Queens Boulevard Line stations
• 1933 establishments in New York City
• New York City Subway stations in Queens, New York
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1933
• Astoria, Queens

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