page_title: Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station
section_title: Station layout
hierarchical_section_title: Fifth Avenue/53rd Street station / Station layout
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking east down long stairway between escalators of IND 5th Avenue 53d Street station.
context_page_description: Fifth Avenue/53rd Street is a station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan, it is served by the E train at all times and the M train weekdays except late nights.
  Fifth Avenue/53rd Street was opened in 1933 as part of the Independent Subway System's Queens Boulevard Line. It contains two side platforms on separate levels: southbound trains to Lower Manhattan use the upper level, while northbound trains to Queens use the lower level. The station was renovated in the 1980s as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Culture Stations program, and was rebuilt with displays showing information about the cultural institutions in the area.
context_section_description: This underground station has two levels, with the upper level serving trains bound for Lower Manhattan and the lower level serving trains bound for Queens. Each level has one track and one side platform. The upper level, built in a tube design, is 59 feet (18 m) below street level while the lower level is 80 feet (24 m) below. Staircases connect each level at both ends.
  There is a junction just west (railroad south) of this station that is controlled by a tower on the south end of the upper level platform. E trains continue west along 53rd Street while M trains turn south and enter the IND Sixth Avenue Line.
caption: Long stairway and escalators between fare control mezzanine and upper level platform
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