14th Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line)

14th Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line)

14th Street is a local station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 14th Street in Manhattan, it is served by the F train at all times, and by the M train on weekdays.

This underground station opened on December 15, 1940 along with the rest of the IND Sixth Avenue Line from West Fourth Street – Washington Square to 47th–50th Streets – Rockefeller Center. Free transfers are available to Sixth Avenue on the BMT Canarsie Line (L train), which is directly underneath the extreme south end of this station, and a walkway from the Canarsie platform provides a transfer to 14th Street on the IRT Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line (1, 2 and 3 trains).

There are entrances at both 14th Street and 16th Street, with fare controls at both ends. The 14th Street entrance is shared with the PATH station of the same name, which has a separate fare control. There is a full length mezzanine over the platforms and tracks that is largely unused and dimly lit.

This station has the appearance of two side platforms to the inside of the tracks. Both platforms have a green trim line on a darker green border and name tablets reading "14TH STREET" in white sans serif lettering on a dark green background and a lighter green border. Beneath the trim line and name tablets are small directional and number signs in white numbering on a black background.

Trains open their doors to the left, which is unusual for a side platformed station in New York City. Most side platforms in the system are to the outside of the tracks and thus trains open the doors to the right. The PATH tracks and platforms are on the other side of the platform walls and not visible from this station. This means that the stations would be a cross-platform interchange, but the walls separate the different services. Since PATH and the subway use separate fares, the walls act as a fare control boundary between the two systems.

The Sixth Avenue express tracks are at a lower level beneath the PATH tracks and thus not visible from this station either. The deep-bore tunnel's round shape becomes square below this station and at 23rd Street, where provisions for lower level platforms were built.