Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station

New York City Subway station in Manhattan

The station has two platform levels; trains headed southbound to downtown and Brooklyn use the upper level, while trains headed northbound to uptown and Queens use the lower level. This is one of the deepest stations in the subway system, requiring several banks of long escalators or elevators. Construction started at this station in 1969, but as a result of the New York City fiscal crisis in 1975, the station did not open until 1989. Originally, the station was intended to be a transfer point for Sixth Avenue/Queens Boulevard and Broadway/Second Avenue services. As such, the station was designed to allow for cross platform interchanges on both levels. However, construction of the Second Avenue Subway was halted in 1975 during the station's construction. As a result, the north side of the station, intended for service to Second Avenue, was hidden with a temporary orange brick wall, and space intended for an exit at Third Avenue was left unused. While the south side of the station opened for service in 1989, the north side was only used for storing trains. In 2007, construction resumed on the Second Avenue Subway, and the north side of the station was renovated so it could be used. The orange wall on the platform was removed, while beige white wall tiles were installed on the station walls adjacent to the tracks. The unopened entrance at Third Avenue was fitted with multiple elevators, and the station's false ceiling was removed. The first phase of the Second Avenue Subway opened on January 1, 2017, and ridership has increased at the station since then.

The current 63rd Street lines were 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. The Second System was a plan to expand the city owned and operated Independent Subway System (IND), which often ran in direct competition with the two privately owned subway companies in the city, Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) and Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). As a result, the plan for the line only had it connect to two planned IND lines, the Second and Sixth Avenue Lines. Consequently, plans for the proposed line were modified. The current plans were drawn up in the 1960s under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Program For Action. Under this plan, the line was to connect to the IND Sixth Avenue and BMT Broadway Lines. The IND line was to be built on the upper portion of the bi level 63rd Street Tunnel, which would run under the East River. On the south side of the station are the IND 63rd Street Line tracks, which continue from the IND Sixth Avenue Line, while on the north side of the station are the BMT 63rd Street Line tracks, which continue from the BMT Broadway Line. Directly to the west of the station is a crossover to facilitate a connection between the BMT and IND lines. Construction on the 63rd Street Line, including the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station, began on November 25, 1969. The station was built using a combination of cut and cover construction and tunneling machines. After the construction of the Second Avenue Subway ceased in 1975 due to the city's severe fiscal crisis, the BMT 63rd Street Line side, the northern tracks, basically led to a non existent subway line. The BMT side was abandoned and walled off with a temporary orange brick wall, and a false ceiling was placed on the upper level's IND 63rd Street Line side, the southern side. The remainder of 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. By October 1980, officials considered stopping construction on the 63rd Street line. The MTA voted in 1984 to connect the Queens end of 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, but flooding in the tunnel caused the opening to be delayed indefinitely. The MTA's contractors concluded in February 1987 that the tunnel was structurally sound, and the federal government's contractors affirmed this finding in June 1987.

The IND side of the station, the southern side, had been completed in 1984, It opened for passenger service on October 29, 1989, along with the rest of the IND 63rd Street Line. Upon the station's opening, it operated as a typical one track, one side platform station on each level, with only the IND side in use, while the BMT side of each level was hidden beyond an orange tiled false wall. Switches on both levels connected the lines to the west of the station. East of this station on the IND side are turnouts heading southwest for a connection to Phase 3 of the Second Avenue Subway, clearly visible from a moving train, which would allow future service from Queens towards Midtown and Downtown Manhattan. Also to the east, the eastbound track of the IND line rises to the upper level of the tunnel, as both IND tracks are located on the upper level of 63rd Street Tunnel for the trip under the East River. The two tracks on the lower level of that tunnel are being connected to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) via the East Side Access project. The lower tunnels eventually opened in January 2023, after years of delays. East of this station on the BMT side, the planned track connections to the Second Avenue Subway curved slightly north. After the tracks ended, the roadbed went on for a few hundred feet before ending. With the Second Avenue Subway connection, these tunnels now merge into the tunnels of Phase 1 of the IND Second Avenue Line.

In 2007, the Second Avenue Subway resumed construction. As part of the project, the station was to undergo renovation to finish the BMT side, which would serve Second Avenue Line trains. The renovation included installation of new platform staircases, new wall tiles, new columns and column cladding, new platform pavings, new entrances/exits, new low vibration track, and new mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and communication systems. The contract for renovation of the station was awarded to Judlau Contracting on January 13, 2011. On September 22, 2011, a Second Avenue Subway tunnel boring machine completed its run to the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station's bellmouth from 92nd Street and Second Avenue. Controlled blasting for the section of tunnel between Third Avenue/63rd Street and Second Avenue/65th Street was completed in March 2012. The orange false walls at platform level were removed in 2012 as part of construction, but the orange tiles at the Lexington Avenue mezzanine, as well as on the corridors to platform level, were kept for the time being. In spring 2012, temporary blue walls separating most of the IND and BMT sides were erected for the duration of construction. Both sides had large white and grey panels on the track side, as well as "temporary" tiles that said "Lex 63" at regular intervals. This differed vastly from the small beige tiles that were on the IND side of the tracks from 1989 to 2013. New platform signs for the Second Avenue Subway were erected in December 2016. When the contract was awarded, renovation was estimated to be finished by May 2014, but the completion date had been pushed back constantly, and as of August 2015, the completion date was Spring 2016, though this was later pushed back to Summer 2016. as of July 2015, the renovation was 90% complete, and as of June 2016, 98% complete with only cosmetic finishes and power upgrades to be completed. These entrances opened on December 30, 2016. The MTA inaugurated Phase 1 of Second Avenue Subway service on January 1, 2017.

This station opened on October 29, 1989, along with the entire IND 63rd Street Line. The train served the station on weekdays and the train stopped there on weekends and late nights; both services used the Sixth Avenue Line. 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. On July 22, 2001, concurrent with the closure of the IND Sixth Avenue Line tracks of the Manhattan Bridge, B and Q train service to this station ceased and was replaced with a full time shuttle. At this time, the northern tracks of the bridge were closed to allow for bridge repairs to take place. The southern BMT Broadway Line tracks were reopened allowing for half of the tracks on the bridge to remain open. On December 16, 2001, the 63rd Street Connector, which was built to connect the IND 63rd Street Line and the IND Queens Boulevard Line officially opened. Since then, the F train has been rerouted to serve this station at all times. When this happened, a free MetroCard out of system transfer to the Lexington Avenue–59th Street station was added. This was to provide a transfer to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line for F train customers as such a connection had been provided at the Lexington Avenue–53rd Street station along the previous routing of the F train. The MTA's plans for Second Avenue Subway service extended the Q train (and selected rush hour N train short turn trips), running via the BMT Broadway Line, along the BMT 63rd Street Line to serve this station, beyond which the trains turn north and run along the Second Avenue Line to 96th Street. This new service pattern was put into effect on January 1, 2017. From August 28, 2023, to 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.