42nd Street-Bryant Park (IND Sixth Avenue Line) - IND Sixth Avenue Line Platforms

IND Sixth Avenue Line Platforms

42nd Street – Bryant Park, opened on December 15, 1940, on the IND Sixth Avenue Line is an express station, with four tracks and two island platforms. B and D trains stop at the inner express tracks while F and M trains stop at the outer local tracks.

Both outer track walls have a scarlet red trim line with a chocolate brown border and small white "42" signs on a black background below them at regular intervals. Red i-beam columns run along both sides of both platforms at regular intervals with alternating ones having the standard black station name plate in white lettering. Some of the columns between the express tracks have black "42" signs on a white background.

This station has a full length mezzanine above the platforms and tracks. It originally extended south from 42nd Street to the 34th Street – Herald Square station, with additional entrances at 38th Street. The passageway was long, dim, and lightly traveled and closed in the mid-1980s after a murder took place there. It is now used for storage. The mezzanine has a flourist and orange i-beam columns and lit-up ads and space rentals along the walls.

On either ends of the mezzanine is a fare control area. The full-time side is at the north end. This is where the passageway to the IRT Flushing Line is. Two staircases from each platform go up to a turnstile bank, where outside there is a token booth, one staircase going up to the southwest corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, and a passageway through some abandoned ticket counters under 1095 Avenue of the Americas that lead to a staircase that goes up to the building's pedestrian plaza.

On the south end of the mezzanine, two staircases from each platform go up to an unstaffed bank of regular and HEET turnstiles. Outside fare control, there are four staircases going up to all corners of 40th Street and Sixth Avenue with the northwest one being built inside a building.

This station has another fare control area at its extreme north end. A staircase from each platform go up to a mezzanine, where a bank of regular and HEET turnstiles provide access to/from the station. Outside fare control, there is a Customer Assistance Booth and a staircase built inside 1100 Avenue of the Americas (HBO headquarters) that goes up to the northeast corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue. Two modern, glass enclosed staircase and elevator go up to the northwest corner of this intersection outside of the Bank of America building. This station is not ADA accessible, however, as no other elevators exist.

South of this station, there are three sets of crossovers, allowing trains to switch between the express tracks or the local and express track in the same direction.