Abstract: The large lateral displacement of soft soil layer is the main factor to cause the severe earthquake damage of subway stations. To confirm how the depth of soft soil layer affects the earthquake responses of subway stations, the finite-element method is used to model the dynamic interaction system of soil-subway station when five soft sites and one general site are used as the foundation of subway station respectively. The nonlinear dynamic properties of soft soils are modeled by the dynamic visco-plastic memorial nested yield surface model developed by the authors. The dynamic viscous-plastic damaged model is used to model the characteristics of concrete under cyclic loadings. The acceleration response, displacement response and stress response of subway stations lying in different soft sites are compared with those corresponding responses of subway stations lying in the general site. Many important results are given in this paper and the research achievements can be used in the seismic design of subway stations built in soft soil layers.