Flushing–Main Street  ​
View from Track M platform
Station statistics
Address	Main Street andRoosevelt Avenue Queens, New York
Borough	Queens
Locale	Flushing
Coordinates	40°45′34″N73°49′49″W / 40.75944°N 73.83028°W /40.75944; -73.83028
Division	A (IRT)[1]
Line	IRT Flushing Line
Services	7  (all times) <7>  (rush hours until 9:30 p.m., peak direction)​
Transit	NYCT Bus:Q12,Q13,Q15,Q16,Q17,Q20,Q27,Q44 SBS,Q58,Q61,Q90,Q98 MTA Bus:Q19,Q25,Q26,Q28,Q50,Q63,Q65,Q66 NICE Bus:n20G,n20X LIRR:Port Washington Branch (atFlushing–Main Street)
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2island platforms
Tracks	3
Other information
Opened	January 21, 1928; 97 years ago (1928-01-21)[2]
Accessible	ADA-accessible
Traffic
2024	14,592,853[3]  5.2%
Rank	10 out of 423[3]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Mets–Willets Point 7  <7> ​ toward34th Street–Hudson Yards Terminus
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend toMets–Willets Point
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Main Street Subway Station (Dual System IRT)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
MPS	New York City Subway System MPS
NRHP reference No.	04001147[4]
Added to NRHP	October 14, 2004

TheFlushing–Main Street station (signed asMain Street on entrances and pillars, andMain St–Flushing on overhead signs) is the eastern (railroad north)terminal on theIRT Flushing Line of theNew York City Subway, located atMain Street andRoosevelt Avenue inDowntown Flushing,Queens.^[5] It is served by the7 local train at all times and the<7> express train during rush hours in the peak direction.^[6]

The Flushing–Main Street station was originally built as part of theDual Contracts between theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and theBrooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). It opened on January 21, 1928, completing the segment of the Flushing Line inQueens. Although plans existed for the line to be extended east of the station, such an extension was never built. The station was renovated in the 1990s. TheMetropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began constructing additional staircases, including four new entrances, at the station in 2022.

The station has twoisland platforms and three tracks; the platforms are connected at their eastern end. There are nine entrances at street level, leading to two separatefare control areas at Main Street and at Lippmann Plaza. There is an elevator, which makes the station compliant with theAmericans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The station is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places. In 2024, it was the second-busiest station outside of Manhattan, as well as the 10th busiest subway station in the system.

The 1913Dual Contracts called for theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) andBrooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, orBMT) to build new lines inBrooklyn,Queens, andthe Bronx. Queens did not receive many new IRT and BRT lines compared to Brooklyn and the Bronx, since the city's Public Service Commission (PSC) wanted to alleviate subway crowding in the other two boroughs first before building in Queens, which was relatively undeveloped. The IRT Flushing Line was to be one of two Dual Contracts lines in the borough, and it would connect Flushing andLong Island City, two of Queens's oldest settlements, to Manhattan via theSteinway Tunnel. When the majority of line was built in the early 1910s, most of the route went through undeveloped land, and Roosevelt Avenue had not been constructed.^[7]: 47 Community leaders advocated for more Dual Contracts lines to be built in Queens to allow development there.^[8]

At the time of the line's planning, Downtown Flushing was a quiet Dutch-colonial-style village; what is now Roosevelt Avenue in the area was known as Amity Street, a major commercial thoroughfare in the neighborhood.^[9][7]: 49 In late 1912, Flushing community groups were petitioning the Public Service Commission (PSC) to depress the proposed line in Flushing into a subway tunnel, rather than anelevated line.^[7]: 51 Unlike a subway, an el would cause disturbances to the quality of life and a loss in nearby property values, as well as a widening of Amity Street that would cause more changes to the already existing town. One Amity Street property owner compared the planned effect of an elevated Flushing Line on Amity Street to the degradation ofMyrtle Avenue in Brooklyn after theMyrtle Avenue Elevated was built there. On the other hand, a subway would only require that the street be widened, even though it was more expensive than an elevated of the same length.^{[7]: 52–53}

On January 20, 1913, because of these concerns, the Flushing Association voted to demand that any IRT station in Flushing be built underground.^[7]: 54 Due to advocacy for elevated extensions to the line past Flushing (see§ Proposed extension of the line), the PSC vacillated on whether to build a subway or elevated for the next few months.^{[7]: 56–60} The PSC finally voted to bring the Flushing portion of the line underground in April 1913. However, as the costs of a subway had increased by then, they decided to postpone discussion of the matter.^[7]: 60 In June 1913, theNew York City Board of Estimate voted to allow the line to be extended from103rd Street–Corona Plaza east to Flushing as a three-track line, with a possible two-track second phase toBayside.^[7]: 61

The Flushing Line west of 103rd Street opened in 1917.^[10] The IRT agreed to operate the line under the condition that any loss of profits would be repaid by the city.^[11] As part of the agreement, the PSC would build the line eastward to at least Flushing.^[11] The station, as well as two other stations atWillets Point Boulevard and111th Street, was approved in 1921 as part of an extension of the Flushing Line past 103rd Street.^[9] Construction of the station and the double-deck bridge over theFlushing Creek began on April 21, 1923, with the station built viacut-and-cover methods.^[7]: 71 The bridge was completed in 1927, and the station opened on January 21, 1928, over a decade after the line initially began operation.^{[2][7]: 71 [12]}

The station was not intended to be the Flushing Line's terminus.^{[7]: 49 [13]} While the controversy over an elevated line in Flushing was ongoing in January 1913, the Whitestone Improvement Association pushed for an elevated toWhitestone,College Point, and Bayside. However, some members of that group wanted to oppose the Flushing line's construction if there was not going to be an extension to Whitestone. After the January 20 vote to demand that the subway line through Flushing be built underground, groups representing communities in south Flushing collaborated to push for an elevated along what was then the LIRR'sCentral Branch,^{[7]: 53–55} in the current right-of-way ofKissena Corridor Park.^[7]: 277 Eleven days later, the PSC announced its intent to extend the line as an el from Corona to Flushing, with a possible further extension toLittle Neck Bay in Bayside.^[7]: 56 There was consensus that the line should not abruptly end in Corona, but even with the 5.5-mile-long (8.9 km) extension to Bayside, the borough would still have fewer Dual Contracts route mileage than either Brooklyn or the Bronx.TheNew York Times wrote that compared to the Bronx, Queens would have far less subway mileage per capita even with the Flushing extension.^[14]

The Bayside extension was tentatively approved in June 1913, but only after the construction of the initial extension to Flushing.^[7]: 61 Under the revised subway expansion plan put forth in December 1913, the Flushing Line would be extended past Main Street, along and/or parallel to the right-of-way of the nearbyPort Washington Branch of the LIRR towards Bell Boulevard in Bayside. A spur line would branch off north along 149th Street towards College Point.^[11]

In 1914, the PSC chairman and the commissioner committed to building the line toward Bayside. However, at the time, the LIRR and IRT were administered separately, and the IRT plan would require rebuilding a section of the Port Washington branch between theBroadway andAuburndale stations. The LIRR moved to block the IRT extension past Flushing since it would compete with the Port Washington Branch service in Bayside.^[7]: 62 One member of the United Civic Association submitted a proposal to the LIRR to let the IRT use the Port Washington Branch to serve Flushing and Bayside, using a connection between the two lines in Corona.^[7]: 63 The PSC supported the connection as an interim measure, and on March 11, 1915, it voted to let the Bayside connection be built. Subsequently, engineers surveying the planned intersection of the LIRR and IRT lines found that the IRT land would not actually overlap with any LIRR land.^{[7]: 63 [15]} The LIRR president at the time,Ralph Peters, offered to lease the Port Washington andWhitestone Branches to the IRT for rapid transit use for $250,000 annually (equivalent to $7,770,000 in 2024), excluding other maintenance costs. The lease would last for ten years, with an option to extend the lease by ten more years. The PSC favored the idea of the IRT being a lessee along these lines, but did not know where to put the Corona connection.^[7]: 64 Even the majority of groups in eastern Queens supported the lease plan.^[16] The only group who opposed the lease agreement was the Flushing Association, who preferred the original Flushing subway plan.^{[7]: 64–65}

Afterward, the PSC largely ignored the lease plan since it was still focused on building the first phase of the Dual Contracts. The Flushing Business Men's Association kept advocating for the Amity Street subway, causing a schism between them and the rest of the groups that supported the LIRR lease. Through the summer of 1915, the PSC and the LIRR negotiated the planned lease to $125,000 a first year, equivalent to $3,890,000 in 2024, with an eight percent increase each year; the negotiations then stalled in 1916.^{[7]: 65–66} The Whitestone Improvement Association, impatient with the pace of negotiations, approved of the subway under Amity Street even though it would not serve them directly.^{[7]: 66 [17]} The PSC's chief engineer wrote in a report that a combined 20,600 riders would use the Whitestone and Bayside lines each day in either direction, and that by 1927, there would be 34,000 riders per day per direction.^{[17][7]: 67} The Third Ward Rapid Transit Association wrote a report showing how much they had petitioned for Flushing subway extensions to that point, compared to how little progress they had made in doing so.^[18] Negotiations continued to be stalled in 1917.^[7]: 67 Despite the line not having been extended past Corona yet, the idea of a subway extension toLittle Neck encouraged development there.^[7]: 68

The Whitestone Branch would have had to be rebuilt if it were leased to the subway, withrailroad crossings removed and thesingle track doubled. The PSC located 14 places where crossings needed to be eliminated. However, by early 1917, there was barely enough money to build the subway to Flushing, let alone a link to Whitestone and Bayside.^[7]: 68 A lease agreement was announced on October 16, 1917,^[19] but the IRT withdrew from the agreement a month later, citing that it was inappropriate to enter such an agreement at that time.^[7]: 68 Thereafter, the PSC instead turned its attention back to the Main Street subway extension.^[7]: 71

Even after the station opened in 1928, efforts to extend the line past Flushing persisted. In 1928, theNew York City Board of Transportation (BOT) proposed allowing IRT trains to build a connection to use the Whitestone branch, but the IRT did not accept the offer since this would entail upgrading railroad crossings and the single-tracked line. Subsequently, the LIRR abandoned the branch in 1932.^[7]: 72 As part of the 1929IND Second System plan, the Flushing Line would have had branches toCollege Point andBayside east of Main Street.^{[7]: Chapter 3 [20][21]} That plan was revived in 1939.^[22] The BOT kept proposing an extension of the Flushing Line past Main Street until 1945, whenWorld War II ended and new budgets did not allow for a Flushing extension.^[7]: 72 In 1956, the Queens Chamber of Commerce and Queens Transit Committee again proposed the extensions east of the station to Bayside and College Point, along with a new spur alongKissena Boulevard running south toSutphin Boulevard in Jamaica and eventually leading toJohn F. Kennedy International Airport.^[23] Since then, severalNew York City Transit Authority proposals for an eastward extension have all failed.^[7]: 72

Following the station's opening, Downtown Flushing evolved into a major commercial and transit center, as development sprung around the section of Main Street near the station.^{[7]: 73–74} On April 24, 1939, express trains began operating to and from the station, in conjunction with the reconstruction of theWillets Point station for the1939 World's Fair.^[24][25] Due to the high level of passenger use, beginning in 1940 local residents requested an additional exit at the east end of the station, and the widening of existing staircases.^{[26][27][28][29]} A new eastern entrance was added afterWorld War II.^{[7]: 72 [30]} Ground broke on the new entrance on November 5, 1947,^[31][32] and it opened on October 28, 1948 with two new street stairs and an additional token booth.^[33][32][34] Upon its initial opening, the new entrance did little to relieve crowding at the main fare control area.^[33][32]

The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.^[35][36] The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of"R-type" rolling stock, which containedrollsigns with numbered designations for each service.^[37] The route from Times Square to Flushing became known as the7.^[38] On October 17, 1949, the joint BMT/IRT operation of the Flushing Line ended, and the line became the responsibility of the IRT.^[39] After the end of BMT/IRT dual service, theNew York City Board of Transportation announced that the Flushing Line platforms would be lengthened to 11 IRT car lengths; the platforms were only able to fit nine 51-foot-long IRT cars beforehand.^[40][41] The platforms at Main Street and all other stations on the Flushing Line, with the exception ofQueensboro Plaza, were extended in 1955–1956 to accommodate 565-foot-long (172 m), 11-car trains.^[42] An additional entrance was constructed to the north side of Roosevelt Avenue in the 1960s.^[43] However, nine-car trains continued to run on the 7 route until 1962, when they were extended to ten cars.^[44] With the opening of the1964 New York World's Fair, trains were lengthened to eleven cars.^[45][46]

A station renovation had been planned since the 1970s. In 1981, theMetropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system.^[47] The MTA finally found funding for the station's renovation in 1994—at the expense of the renovations of 15 other stations, including threeFranklin Avenue Line stations and theAtlantic Avenue–Pacific Street,Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street, and161st Street–Yankee Stadium station complexes—because the station was a "vital station" for commuters from Eastern Queens.^[48] Between 1999 and 2000, the station underwent a major renovation project. The renovation added an elevator near the eastern Lippmann Plaza exit that made the station compliant with theAmericans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The project also added new street entrances and a large entrance hall near Lippmann Plaza at the far east end of the station, beyond thebumper blocks at the end of the tracks.^{[12][49][50][51]}

The Flushing–Main Street station has been listed on theNational Register of Historic Places since October 2004. TheNational Park Service listed the station because it was considered a good historic example ofSquire J. Vickers architecture during the time of construction.^[52][4]

As part of the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program, New York City allocated $300 million to be used for projects to increase subway station capacity and to make them ADA accessible.^[53][54] One of the projects being funded will increase station circulation at Main Street. Four additional staircases would be added between the platforms and the mezzanine; additional street to mezzanine staircases would be added at the northeastern, northwestern and southwestern corners of Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street; and two new entrance staircases leading from the west-most area of the mezzanine to Roosevelt Avenue halfway between Main Street and Prince Street would be constructed. To provide space for the new staircases to and from the mezzanine, several employee rooms would be relocated.^[55] At the bottom of each new staircase, a new fare control area would be installed in the mezzanine, with four turnstiles. In addition, the project would strengthen or reframe the mezzanine wall liner and roof level beams, and the four existing platform-to-mezzanine staircases would be modified and would receive ADA-compliant handrails and guardrails.^[56] The project also included five countdown clocks, 15 digital information displays, and new cameras.^[57] The design for this project was completed in January 2020, and construction was to have started in September 2020.^[58] Work on the new staircases began in June 2022, with an estimated cost of $61 million;^[59][60] at the time, the work was expected to be complete in October 2023.^[60][61]

The MTA announced in late 2022 that it would open customer service centers at 15 stations; the centers would provide services such as travel information andOMNY farecards. The first six customer service centers, including one at Flushing–Main Street, were to open in early 2023.^[62][63] The customer service center at the Main Street station opened in March 2023.^[64] The new staircases, entrances, and turnstiles were finished in November 2023;^[65][66] the project had cost $49 million, less than the original budget.^[57] The MTA announced in 2024 that it would replace the station's existingwaist-high turnstiles with taller, wide-aisle turnstiles.^[67]

Ground	Street level	Entrances/exits
Mezzanine	Concourse toMain Street	Fare control, MetroCard and OMNY machines, station agent
Platform level	Track 1	← toward34th Street–Hudson Yards(Mets–Willets Point)	Lippmann Plaza, fare control, MetroCard and OMNY machines, escalator toRoosevelt Avenue Elevator on Roosevelt Avenue east of Main Street
	Island platform
	Track M	← ( AM rush) toward34th Street–Hudson Yards(Mets–Willets Point)
	Island platform
	Track 2	← ( AM rush) toward34th Street–Hudson Yards(Mets–Willets Point)

The station has three tracks and two relatively narrowisland platforms that are 16 feet 5 inches (5.00 m) wide.^[68]: 4 It is located entirely under Roosevelt Avenue, which is 50 feet (15 m) wide; the avenue was not widened when the subway was built.^{[7]: 73 [49]} The7 train stops here at all times, and the<7> train stops here during rush hours in the peak direction.^[6] The station is the eastern terminus for 7 trains; the next station to the west isMets–Willets Point.^[69] Main Street is one of only seven underground stations on the Flushing Line,^[a] one of three underground stations on the line in Queens,^[b] and the only underground station east ofHunters Point Avenue.^[70]

When peak-direction express service operates, express trains leave from the middle and southernmost tracks, Track M and Track 2 respectively, while local trains leave from Track 1. This system was instituted in November 1952.^[71] Fixed platform barriers, which are intended to prevent commuters falling to the tracks, are positioned near the platform edges.^[72][73]Mosaic wall tiles read "MAIN STREET", and small tiles along the platform walls read "M".^{[68]: 4 [74]} The station was built with thecut-and-cover method. Its exterior walls consist of columns located at 5-foot (1.5 m) intervals, with the intermediate spaces filled with concrete.^[68]: 3

At the west end of the platforms are the offices and dispatch tower for the IRT Flushing Line. Train crews report to the offices, while the dispatch tower dispatches trains and controls the Flushing Line. West of the station, the line rises from the tunnel via a portal at College Point Boulevard, and onto the elevated bridge across Flushing Creek.^[7]: 73

There are nine entrances at street level, leading to two separatefare control areas.^[5][49] The original street exit is in the middle of the platforms with a separatemezzanine above the tracks, which contains the fare control area and the 24-hour station agent's booth.^[27][29] Staircases lead up to all four corners of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue.^{[5][27][29][49]} Eight staircases lead from the mezzanine to platform level.^[68]: 3 An entrance used to lead from the mezzanine to the basement of aWoolworth's store, but this has been walled off.^[68]: 3 There were also restrooms along this mezzanine with corresponding tile mosaics.^[68]: 4

The fare control area at Lippmann Plaza has an extremely high ceiling, with the lobby itself located approximately 40 feet (12 m) below the street level. The mezzanine is at platform level, and provides an ADA-compliant elevator, three unidirectional escalators, and a stairway to street level at Lippmann Plaza.^{[12][49][68]: 3} New artwork titledHappy World was installed over the row of turnstiles in 1998.^{[12][49][75][76][77]} The plaza, also known as Lippmann Arcade, is a pedestrian walkway that leads to a municipal parking lot and several bus stops on 39th Avenue.^[5][49]

In addition to connecting with the nearbyLong Island Rail Roadstation of the same name, the station serves as one of the two busiest local bus-subway interchanges in Queens (along withJamaica Center) and the largest in North America,^[5][49][51] with over 20 bus routes running through or terminating in the area as of 2025^[update].^[78][79]

The passenger count for the station in 2019 was 17,568,837, making it the 12th busiest subway station system-wide, the busiest station outside of Manhattan, and the busiest station served by one service. This amounted to an average of 56,503 passengers per weekday.^[3] Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in New York City, ridership dropped drastically in 2020, with only 6,944,923 passengers entering the station that year.^[84][85] The Flushing–Main Street station was the 10th busiest station system-wide in 2020. However, due to a steep drop in ridership in Manhattan, it was no longer the busiest station outside Manhattan, having been surpassed by theJackson Heights–Roosevelt Avenue/74th Street station.^[86]

The station is located in Downtown Flushing, also known asFlushing Chinatown, one ofNew York City's largest Asian enclaves.^[87][88]

Several city and national landmarks are located on the Queens Historical Society's Freedom Mile, which runs around downtown Flushing:^[89]

• Flushing Armory, on Northern Boulevard between Linden Place and Union Street^[5][90]
• Flushing High School on Northern Boulevard between Union and Bowne Streets^[5][91]
• Flushing Town Hall, atNorthern Boulevard and Linden Place^[5][92]
• John Bowne House, at 37th Avenue and Bowne Street^[5][93]
• Kingsland Homestead and theWeeping Beech, at 37th Avenue west of Parsons Boulevard,^[5][94][95]
• Lewis H. Latimer House, at 137th Street and Leavitt Street^[96]
• Old Quaker Meeting House, at Northern Boulevard and Linden Place^[5][97]
• St. George's Church, on Main Street between 38th and 39th Avenues^[5][98]

Other points of interest include:

• Bowne Street Community Church, at Bowne Street and Roosevelt Avenue^[5][99]
• Flushing Main Post Office, on Main Street between Sanford and Maple Avenues^[5][100]
• Free Synagogue of Flushing, at Kissena Boulevard and Sanford Avenue^[5][100]
• Lippmann Plaza, between 39th Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue east of Main Street. Named after longtime Flushing businessmanPaul Lippmann.^[5][101]
• Queens Library, Flushing Branch, at Main Street andKissena Boulevard, the successor to the original Queens Library branch.^[5][88]

• 
  Eastern entrance, refurbished in 1999
• 
  Eastern entrance ticket hall
• 
  AQ65 bus outside the station, at Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue
• 
  One of two new entrances, opened in 2023

• Stookey, Lee (1994).Subway ceramics : a history and iconography of mosaic and bas relief signs and plaques in the New York City subway system. Brattleboro, Vt: L. Stookey.ISBN 978-0-9635486-1-0.OCLC 31901471.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toFlushing – Main Street (IRT Flushing Line).

• nycsubway.org –IRT Flushing Line: Main Street/Flushing
• nycsubway.org –Happy World Artwork by Ik-Joong Kang (1998)
• Station Reporter –7 Train
• The Subway Nut –Main Street–Flushing pictures
• MTA's Arts For Transit –Flushing–Main Street (IRT Flushing Line)
• Main Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Eastern entrance on Roosevelt Avenue from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View
• Lobby from Google Maps Street View

• Accessible New York City Subway stations
• IRT Flushing Line stations
• New York City Subway stations in Queens, New York
• New York City Subway terminals
• Flushing, Queens
• Railway and subway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1928
• National Register of Historic Places in Queens, New York

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