World Trade Center (PATH station)

The World Trade Center PATH station, originally opened on July 19, 1909 as the Hudson Terminal. When the Hudson Terminal was torn down to make way for the World Trade Center, a new station was built, which opened in 1971. This station served as the terminus for the Newark-World Trade Center and Hoboken-World Trade Center routes until it was destroyed during the September 11, 2001 attacks. A temporary station was built, which opened on November 23, 2003.

Hudson Terminal

Hudson Terminal was built by the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad at the turn of the twentieth century and was located between Greenwich, Cortlandt, Church, and Fulton Streets. It was an architectural and engineering marvel of its time, carefully planned and designed with a series of ramps descending from the street level to the mezzanine, to allow pedestrian traffic to flow in and out of the station quickly and easily. The station was served by two single-track tubes connected by a loop to speed train movements. The loop included five tracks and six platforms and is somewhat similar to the current arrangement.

Above the Hudson Terminal were two office towers — then the largest office development in the world — which brought in rental income to the Railroad. When the H&M was sold to the Port Authority in 1962 following years of bankruptcy, it was decided that the new World Trade Center development would be built on the Hudson Terminal site (and not at an East River site, as had been planned). The new station opened simultaneously as the old station closed in July of 1971.

World Trade Center

The 1971 station was sited at a different location from the original Hudson Terminal, and was slightly longer than its predecessor.

The station was served by Newark-World Trade Center and Hoboken-World Trade Center trains. Sections of the station, particularly the floor and the signage on the northeast corner, were lightly damaged in the collapse of the World Trade Center and remain today by the A/C platforms. They are to remain in the new station.

Temporary PATH station

A temporary PATH station, designed by Port Authority chief architect Robert I. Davidson and constructed at a cost of $323 million, opened on November 23, 2003. The station features a canopy entrance along Church Street and a 118-by-12 foot mosaic mural, "Iridescent Lightning," by Giulio Candussio of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli in Spilimbergo, Italy. The station is also adorned with opaque panel walls inscribed with inspirational quotes attesting to the greatness and resilience of New York City. These panels partially shield the World Trade Center site from view.

Following its reopening and the resumption of Newark-World Trade Center and Hoboken-World Trade Center service, the station quickly reclaimed its status as the busiest station in the PATH system.

Visitors can arrange to give oral recorded histories of the disaster at the Storycorps booth near the A-C entrance.

New York City Subway connections

The station also connects to several New York City Subway services:

• The A train (all times) and C train (all times except late nights) at the Chambers Street station of the IND Eighth Avenue Line
• The E train (all times) at the World Trade Center station of the IND Eighth Avenue Line
• The 2 train (all times) and 3 train (all times except late nights) at the Park Place station of the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line

Two connections are currently closed:

• The 1 train at the Cortlandt Street station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (closed indefinitely pending reconstruction of the World Trade Center site)
• The N, R, and W trains at the Cortlandt Street station on the BMT Broadway Line (closed until 2007 due to construction of the Fulton Street Transit Center)

The Fulton–Broadway–Nassau station complex is one block away. An underground passageway along Dey Street is being constructed as part of the Fulton Street Transit Center project. Currently, there is street-level connection to the following services:

• The 4 train (all times) and 5 train (all times except late nights) at the Fulton Street station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line
• The J train (all times except weekends), M train (rush hours only), and Z train (rush hours only) at the Fulton Street station on the BMT Nassau Street Line.

Plans for the new station

Background

Template:New World Trade Center The temporary PATH station will be replaced with a permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which is being built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at a cost of $2 billion.

A large transit station was not part of the 2003 Memory Foundations master plan for the site by Daniel Libeskind, which called for a smaller station along the lines of the original subterranean station that existed beneath the World Trade Center. Libeskind's design called for the space to be left open, forming a "Wedge of Light" so that sun rays around the autumnal equinox would hit the World Trade Center footprints each September.

In early 2004, the Port Authority, which owns the land, modified the Libeskind plan to include a world-class transportation station downtown that was intended to rival Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal. In a nod to the Liebeskind concept, the station will be at an angle to maximize the effect of the autumnal equinox rays.

Lower Manhattan has never had an ambitious transit or railroad center, as the former complex at the World Trade Center was built beneath the buildings. The station is designed to connect the PATH to the New York City Subway system. A proposal for a connection to the Long Island Rail Road via a new tunnel under the East River, the Lower Manhattan-Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project, is currently in the alternatives analysis stage.

Design

Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava, designer of the station, said it resembles a bird being released from a child's hand. Herbert Muschamp, architecture critic of The New York Times, wrote:

Santiago Calatrava's design for the World Trade Center PATH station should satisfy those who believe that buildings planned for ground zero must aspire to a spiritual dimension. Over the years, many people have discerned a metaphysical element in Mr. Calatrava's work. I hope New Yorkers will detect its presence, too. With deep appreciation, I congratulate the Port Authority for commissioning Mr. Calatrava, the great Spanish architect and engineer, to design a building with the power to shape the future of New York. It is a pleasure to report, for once, that public officials are not overstating the case when they describe a design as breathtaking.

Another critic wrote:

The World Trade Center PATH Terminal by Santiago Calatrava, the renowned Spanish architect and engineer, is what we should have at ground zero. Not modified suburban malls with water fountains, but a major cultural contribution to our city.

However, Calatrava's original soaring spike design has been scaled back because of security issues. The Times observed, "In the name of security, Santiago Calatrava's bird has grown a beak. Its ribs have doubled in number and its wings have lost their interstices of glass.... [T]he main transit hall, between Church and Greenwich Streets, will almost certainly lose some of its delicate quality, while gaining structural expressiveness. It may now evoke a slender stegosaurus more than it does a bird."

The station has also stirred problems with developer Larry Silverstein, who owns the lease for the World Trade Center site, since it took away available space for his proposed buildings.

Construction of the station calls for relocation of the landmark World Trade Center cross in 2006. The permanent station is scheduled to be completed in 2009.

Nearby attractions

• African Burial Ground
• Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
• Battery Park City
• Battery Park
  • Ferries to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty
• Bowling Green
  • Charging Bull at Bowling Green
• Castle Clinton
• Federal Hall
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• Fraunces Tavern
• Irish Hunger Memorial
• National Museum of the American Indian
• New York City Hall
• New York Stock Exchange
• Skyscraper Museum
• St. Paul's Chapel
• Trinity Church
• Wall Street
• Woolworth Building
• World Financial Center

See also

• Port Authority Trans-Hudson
• World Trade Center
• World Trade Center site

External links

• PATH - Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
• PATH/Downtown Restoration
• Fulton Street Transit Center
• nycsubway.org