The West 81st Street B and C train station. Photo by Scott Etkin.
By Gus Saltonstall
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced on the final day of 2025 that an Upper West Side train stop was among 40 stations where LED lighting was installed in the past year.
The new LED lighting was recently installed within the 81st Street B and C train station.
“NYC Transit is committed to providing safe and reliable service, and that effort starts right when customers enter the system with brighter and cleaner stations,” said New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow, in a news release.
In the past year, the lights at the 110th Street Cathedral Parkway B and C train station were also converted to LED.
The 81st and 110th Street stations were among the last stops in New York City to receive LED lighting, as all 472 stations in the subway system have now been converted to the more modern lights. The conversion project began in January 2024 and included the replacement of more than 181,000 light fixtures throughout the subway system.
The MTA was able to complete the project ahead of its original target date of mid-2026. The new LED lighting is both more cost efficient and brighter than the old fluorescent lighting, which will also help provide clearer images from the around 15,000 security cameras across the train system.
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