2 Avenue  ​
View from northbound platform
Station statistics
Address	East Houston Street & Second Avenue New York, New York
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	East Village,Lower East Side
Coordinates	40°43′25″N73°59′28″W / 40.723616°N 73.991117°W /40.723616; -73.991117
Division	B (IND)[1]
Line	IND Sixth Avenue Line
Services	F  (all times) <F>  (two rush hour trains, peak direction)​
Transit	NYCT Bus:M15,M15 SBS,M21
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2island platforms cross-platform interchange
Tracks	4 (2 in regular service)
Other information
Opened	January 1, 1936; 89 years ago (January 1, 1936)
Accessible	notADA-accessible; accessibility planned
Former/other names	Lower East Side–Second Avenue
Traffic
2024	4,241,785[2]  1.2%
Rank	67 out of 423[2]
Services Preceding station New York City Subway Following station Broadway–Lafayette Street F  <F> ​ towardJamaica–179th Street Local Delancey Street F  <F> ​ towardConey Island–Stillwell Avenue
Location Show map of New York City Subway Show map of New York City Show map of New York
Track layout Legend toBroadway–Lafayette Street toDelancey Street
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times Stops rush hours in the peak direction only (limited service)

TheSecond Avenue station is astation on theIND Sixth Avenue Line of theNew York City Subway, located at the intersection ofSecond Avenue andHouston Street on the border between theEast Village and theLower East Side, inManhattan. It is served by theF train at all times and the<F> train during rush hours in the peak direction.

The station opened on January 1, 1936, as part of the portion of the Sixth Avenue Line betweenWest Fourth Street–Washington Square andEast Broadway. Upon opening,E trains, which ran fromJackson Heights, Queens toHudson Terminal, were shifted to the new line to East Broadway.^[3] Two express tracks were built from West Fourth Street, under Houston Street, until Essex Street-Avenue A, with the express tracks effectively terminating at the Second Avenue station since there were no stops east of there. The tracks were intended to travel under the East River and connect with the never-builtIND Worth Street Line in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.^[4][5][6][7]

From December 2001^[8] to June 2010, this station was known on transit maps and announced on digital announcements as theLower East Side–Second Avenue station, when it served as the southern terminal forV trains.^[9] A limited number of rush-hourM trains from Queens terminated here between July 2017 and April 2018 during a reconstruction project on theBMT Myrtle Avenue Line (replicating the former V service).^[10]

In 2019, the MTA announced that this station would becomeADA-accessible as part of the agency's 2020–2024 Capital Program.^[11]

Ground	Street level	Exit/entrance
Mezzanine		Fare control, station agent
Platform level	Northbound local	← towardJamaica–179th Street(Broadway–Lafayette Street)
	Island platform
	Termination track	← No regular service
	Termination track	← No regular service
	Island platform
	Southbound	→ towardConey Island–Stillwell Avenue(Delancey Street) →

Second Avenue has twoisland platforms and four tracks.F trains serve the station at all times and run on the outer tracks, while the inner tracks are not used in regular service. The station is betweenBroadway–Lafayette Street to thewest (railroadnorth) andDelancey Street to theeast (railroadsouth).

When the station opened, all four Sixth Avenue tracks ran continuously from West Fourth Street through Second Avenue. During the construction of theChrystie Street Connection in the 1950s and 1960s, the center express tracks at Broadway–Lafayette Street were severed from the tracks at Second Avenue and rerouted to the Chrystie Street subway, running throughGrand Street station to the north side of theManhattan Bridge.

West (railroad north) of the station, the inner tracks are connected by adiamond crossover before merging with the outer local tracks; this allows the station to be used as a terminal for southbound trains. East (railroad south) of the station, the express tracks end at bumper blocks, while the local tracks continue along Houston Street before curving south into Essex Street and continuing through the Delancey Street station.^[12]

The trackside walls have a medium Parma violet trim line with a slightly darker border, and small tile captions reading "2ND AVE" in white on black run below it at regular intervals. The platform columns are concrete and painted indigo, and there are especially large columns with built-in benches at the centers of the platforms. Despite the station's name, the exit andmezzanine at Second Avenue is only open part-time. The full-time booth is located at theFirst Avenue mezzanine. The station previously had a full-length mezzanine. However, most of the mezzanine was closed, and the closed areas currently hold offices while the rest are used for storage space.

All entrances/exits are single-wide street stairs serving both platforms via the two mezzanine areas. The western mezzanine has two exits leading to the northwest corner of Houston Street and Second Avenue and the southwest corner of Houston Street and Chrystie Street. The eastern mezzanine has two exits leading to the northwest corner of Houston Street and First Avenue and the southwest corner of Houston Street and Allen Street.^[13] The closed mezzanine area had an exit to the median of Houston Street near Forsyth Street.

There is another, unfinished mezzanine on the east side of First Avenue. This second mezzanine is accessible only through now-blocked passages past the east end of the platforms.^[14] This mezzanine was built to address a subway down First Avenue, if one were to be built.

East of the station, the center tracks continue disused along Houston, but rise to an upper level and stub-end nearAvenue A atbumper blocks. Near the end, these tail tracks begin to separate to create a provision for a center track which only extends about 10 or 15 feet and stops at the bulkhead at the end of the tunnel. It was planned that these tracks would continue under theEast River to theSouth Fourth Street Line, part of a never-built system expansion.^[15] These tracks east of the station were previously used for train storage but became an oft-frequented spot for the homeless due to its location near local missions and soup kitchens.^[15][16] The area was cleared out in 1990, and corrugated metal walls withbumper blocks were installed just past the east end of the platforms to seal the tunnels.^[17]

As part of the1929 IND Second System, theunbuilt plans for theSecond Avenue Subway called for the new line to run directly above the existing Second Avenue station. Room was left for the anticipated four-track right-of-way above the Sixth Avenue trackways and directly east of the entrance at Second Avenue; on the west end of the platforms, the ceiling drops.^[18] Above this lower ceiling is an empty space that can fit either four trackways, two side platforms, and one island platform (similar to34th Street–Penn Station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line)^[19] or two trackways and two side platforms.^[20] The trackways can be made out from the ceiling pattern from the active platforms. The mezzanine at Second Avenue, possibly intended as temporary, has doors that lead to the unused track space.^[21] Crew rooms were built on most of the space prior to the introduction of the V.

As part of the 21st-centuryconstruction of the Second Avenue Subway, a newHouston Street station will instead be built below the existing one, with a free transfer between them.^[22][23] The decision to use a deeper alignment under Chrystie Street was made to simplify construction and lessen impact to the community.^{[a][24][25][26][27]} Second Avenue service would be tentatively provided by theT train once Phase 3 of construction is complete. When this happens, the station would become a terminal station for southbound service. There will be a double crossover north of the station.^[26] However, Phase 4 of construction would extend the line south, below Houston Street, in the direction ofHanover Square.^[28][29]

In addition to the current entrances, the Second Avenue Subway station will utilize a new entrance to be constructed at Second Avenue and Third Street.^[30] In accordance with theAmericans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Second Avenue Subway platform will be wheelchair-accessible;^[30] however, it is unknown if the Sixth Avenue Line platforms will also become accessible.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSecond Avenue (IND Sixth Avenue Line).

• nycsubway.org –IND 6th Avenue: 2nd Avenue
• Station Reporter —F Train
• Abandoned Stations —IND Second System unfinished stations
• Second Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• First Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Mezzanine from Google Maps Street View
• Platforms from Google Maps Street View

• Future accessible New York City Subway stations
• IND Sixth Avenue Line stations
• New York City Subway stations in Manhattan
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1936
• 1936 establishments in New York City
• Proposed IND Second Avenue Line stations
• Lower East Side
• East Village, Manhattan
• Second Avenue (Manhattan)

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