Planning and opening The plans for the Archer Avenue Lines emerged in the 1960s under the city and MTA's
Program for Action. It was conceived as an expansion of
IND Queens Boulevard Line service to a "Southeast Queens" line along the right-of-way of the
Long Island Rail Road Atlantic Branch towards
Locust Manor, and as a replacement for the dilapidated eastern portions of the elevated
BMT Jamaica Line within the Jamaica business district. Business owners and residents sought removal of the structure. Both lines would meet at the double-decked line under Archer Avenue. The two-track spur from the Queens Boulevard Line would use the original Van Wyck Boulevard bellmouths. Design on the station began on October 1, 1974, and was completed on August 18, 1982, by MLA/Brodsky. Construction on Section 7 of Route 131D, the Southeast Queens Line, which included the Jamaica–Van Wyck station started on October 17, 1979. At this point, the segment of the Archer Avenue Line under the Van Wyck Expressway had been completed. Because of the
1975 New York City fiscal crisis, the Archer Avenue Line was never fully built to Springfield Boulevard, and was instead truncated to Parsons Boulevard. The shortened version of the line contained three stations, including Jamaica–Van Wyck, and was long. It serves as the replacement for the former
Metropolitan Avenue and
Queens Boulevard stations of the
BMT Jamaica Line.
Later years To save energy, the MTA installed variable-speed escalators at Jamaica–Van Wyck and three other subway stations in August 2008, although not all of the escalators initially functioned as intended. In 2020, the MTA announced that it would reconstruct the track and third rail on the IND Archer Avenue Line, which had become deteriorated. From September 19 to November 2, 2020, E service was cut back to Jamaica–Van Wyck, with a shuttle bus connecting to Sutphin Boulevard and Jamaica Center. The station was cleaned and repaired in 2024 as part of the MTA's Re-New-Vation program. ==Station layout==