The Mets–Willets Point station (formerly Willets Point–Shea Stadium station) is a rapid transit station on the IRT Flushing Line of the New York City Subway. Located near the Citi Field baseball stadium, It is served by the 7 train at all times and by the express <7> train rush hours in the peak direction or after sporting events. This station is located near Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Willets Point, Queens, on Roosevelt Avenue between 114th and 126th Streets. The station opened on May 7, 1927, as a local station named Willets Point Boulevard, with two side platforms and three tracks. It was rebuilt into the current layout of three tracks, two side platforms, and a center island platform for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The overpass to Flushing Meadows–Corona Park was rebuilt in the early 1940s. Ahead of the 1964 New York World's Fair, the original wooden platforms were replaced with more durable concrete slabs; shortly afterward, the station was renamed for the nearby Shea Stadium. After Shea Stadium was replaced by Citi Field in 2009, the station was renamed after the New York Mets baseball team, and a ramp was added to the Flushing-bound side platform. A connection to the proposed AirTrain LaGuardia people mover system was announced in 2015, but the people mover was indefinitely postponed in 2022. The station's peak use occurs during Mets games at Citi Field (and at Shea Stadium from 1964 until 2008), located on the north side of the station, and during events at the USTA National Tennis Center, on the south side. The side platform for Manhattan-bound local trains, as well as the island platform for express trains and Flushing-bound local trains, are in regular use. The side platform for Flushing-bound local trains is wheelchair-accessible but is only open during sports games and special events; the other platforms are not wheelchair-accessible. History Construction and opening The 1913 Dual Contracts called for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT; later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, or BMT) to build new lines in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Queens did not receive many new IRT and BRT lines compared to Brooklyn and the Bronx, since the city's Public Service Commission (PSC) wanted to alleviate subway crowding in the other two boroughs first before building in Queens, which was relatively undeveloped. The IRT Flushing Line was to be one of two