World Trade Center station (PATH)

Photos of the original WTC bathtub from Liberty Street (1969)

Looking northeast. The frame of the South Tower is on the left. PATH eastbound tunnel F can be seen in the center, penetrating the slurry wall on its way up Cortlandt Street to Hudson Terminal. The slurry wall runs along the west side of Greenwich Street. The IRT subway tunnel runs below the street (behind the slurry wall).

Looking northwest. PATH eastbound tunnel F supported on a temporary trestle in foreground. Slurry wall with tie-backs can be seen on the left, and the frame of the North Tower in the background. Also note the since-removed West Side Elevated Highway, which ran above West Street (today's West Side Highway).

Groundbreaking on the World Trade Center took place in 1966. The site was on land fill, with bedrock located 213 feet (65 m) below the surface.[31] A new method was used to construct a slurry wall to keep out water from the Hudson River. During excavation of the site and construction of the towers, the original Hudson Tubes remained in service as elevated tunnels.[32] The new station cost $35 million to build. At the time, it had a passenger volume of 85,000 daily.[33]

The Hudson Terminal station closed on July 2, 1971, to allow a three-day maintenance period to divert service to the World Trade Center PATH station.[34] The new PATH station opened on July 6, 1971, west of the original terminal.[35] Larger balloon loops in the PATH station platform allowed 10-car trains; the previous station with its tight loops could only handle trains of up to 6 cars.[32] When the station opened, it had nine high-speed escalators between the platform level and the mezzanine level.[33] The WTC PATH station was served by Newark–World Trade Center and Hoboken–World Trade Center trains. The station was connected to the World Trade Center towers via an underground concourse and a shopping center. There were also underground connections to the New York City Subway (A, ​C, and ​E trains at World Trade Center, and N, ​R, and ​W trains at Cortlandt Street–Church Street). By 2001, the volume of passengers using the WTC PATH station was approximately 25,000 daily.[36] While the construction of the World Trade Center neared completion, a temporary corridor was provided to take passengers between the station and a temporary entrance on Church Street.[33]

The station sustained minor damage during the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; a section of ceiling in the station collapsed and trapped dozens.[37][38] Within a week, the Port Authority was able to resume PATH service to the World Trade Center.[39]

The station was closed on September 11, 2001, after American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m.. In the minutes afterward, three PATH trains pulled into the station. One had arrived from Newark and two others from Hoboken. The first Hoboken train turned around without stopping, not letting off passengers or opening any doors. The second Hoboken train arrived on track 3 at 8:52 a.m. and was ordered to be evacuated, employees included; the train never left the World Trade Center complex and was found during the 9/11 recovery process.[40] Two lightly damaged cars from that train were subsequently sent to museums.[41][42] A train from Newark came into the terminal at 8:55 a.m. and stopped only to pick up passengers. After United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m., dispatchers ordered the closure of the Exchange Place and World Trade Center stations; the former was closed due to severe water damage. A fourth train was sent to the station at 9:10 a.m. to pick up a dozen PATH employees and a homeless individual, leaving the station empty. The station was subsequently destroyed during the collapse of the World Trade Center.[40]

View of the balloon loop at the temporary PATH station from above.

Platform of temporary station

Inaugural train arrives from Newark at PATH's temporary WTC station on November 23, 2003 at 2:08 p.m.

With the station destroyed, service to Lower Manhattan was suspended for over two years. Exchange Place, the next station on the Newark–World Trade Center line, also had to be closed because it could not operate as a terminal station. Instead, two uptown services (Newark–33rd Street, red on the official PATH map; and Hoboken–33rd Street, blue on the map) and one intrastate New Jersey service (Hoboken–Journal Square, green on the map) were put into operation.[43] Cleanup of the Exchange Place station was needed after the attacks. In addition, the downtown Hudson tubes had been flooded, which destroyed the track infrastructure.[44] Modifications to the tracks were also required since the Exchange Place station was not a terminal station.[43] The uptown PATH tubes, ferry routes, and NJ Transit lines across the Hudson River could not handle the displaced ridership on their own, and it was deemed necessary to rebuild the World Trade Center terminal.[3]^: S.3 After the reconfiguration of the Exchange Place station was completed, it was reopened to PATH trains on June 29, 2003. The setup was temporary: passengers at Exchange Place would transfer to ferries to Lower Manhattan until the World Trade Center station could be reopened later that year.[45]

PATH service to Lower Manhattan was restored when a temporary station opened on November 23, 2003.[9] The inaugural train was the same one that had been used for the evacuation.[46] The temporary PATH station was designed by Port Authority chief architect Robert I. Davidson[47] and constructed at a cost of $323 million.[9] It was located at the same place as the original station.[3]^: S.4 The station featured a canopy entrance along Church Street and a 118-by-12-foot (36 by 3.7 m) mosaic mural, "Iridescent Lightning," by Giulio Candussio[47] of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli in Spilimbergo, Italy. The station was also adorned with opaque panel walls inscribed with inspirational quotes attesting to the greatness and resilience of New York City. These panels partially shielded the World Trade Center site from view.[48]

Some sections of the station, including the passageway and the signage on the northeast corner, were only lightly damaged on September 11, 2001, during the collapse of the World Trade Center. These sections of the station were retained in the temporary station, and remained in the new station.[49][50] Following its reopening and the resumption of Newark–World Trade Center and Hoboken–World Trade Center services, the station quickly reclaimed its status as the busiest station in the PATH system.[51] However, it had several limitations. The temporary station had 8-car-long platforms, whereas the original station had 10-car-long platforms. The station frame was also not strong enough to support development above it, and parts of the station were located outdoors in the "bathtub".[3]^: S.4 The temporary station had only one entrance, at Church Street, and disabled patrons needed to take four elevators to go from street level to platform level.[3]^: S.5

The station was also home to a StoryCorps booth, which opened in 2005. Through this program, visitors could arrange to give oral recorded histories of the disaster.[52] The booth closed in the spring of 2007 to make way for construction at the World Trade Center site.[53] In June 2007, the street entrance to the temporary station was closed and demolished as part of the site construction. A set of new staircases was constructed several feet to the south, and a "tent" structure was added to provide cover from the elements.[10] The tent structure, by Voorsanger Architects and installed at a cost of $275,000, was designed to have an "aspiring quality," according to architect Bartholomew Voorsanger.[54] That entrance on Church Street was closed in April 2008 when the entrance was relocated once again. On April 1, 2008, the third temporary entrance to the PATH station opened for commuters. The entrance was located on Vesey Street, adjacent to 7 World Trade Center.[11] It was demolished with the opening of the permanent Calatrava-designed station, since it was on the site of the future Performing Arts Center.[55]

After the September 11 attacks, officials proposed a $7 billion redesign of transit in Lower Manhattan. This included a new PATH terminal, the Fulton Center, the South Ferry/Whitehall Street terminal further downtown, and the reconstruction of the West Side Highway.[3]^: S.5[60] Other development projects to restart Lower Manhattan's economy were also proposed, and a new PATH terminal was seen as instrumental in making this happen.[3]^: S.5 In August 2002, the U.S. government allocated $4.5 billion to build a terminal linking the subway and PATH stations at the World Trade Center site.[61] Four locations were considered,[3]^: S.8 and it was ultimately decided to build the new terminal four levels underground, along the base of the World Trade Center "bathtub".[3]^: S.11

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 proposed that the current station house's site be left as an open plaza, forming a "Wedge of Light" so that sun rays around the autumnal equinox would hit the World Trade Center footprints each September.[62][63][64] The plaza would have included a wedge whose lines showed the sun's rays at 8:46 a.m. and 10:28 a.m. on September 11 of each year. These times respectively represented when American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower and when it collapsed.[65][64]

Inside the Oculus, leading to the Dey Street Concourse

Platform level

In early 2004, the Port Authority, which owns the land, modified the Libeskind plan to include a large transportation station downtown, intended to rival Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal.[66] Calatrava was hired as the architect for this new, $2 billion design, and he revealed his plan in January 2004.[64][65] Calatrava's design called for an above-ground station house (now the Oculus) with curved supports that extended outward, like wings. These wings would run the length of the concourse, which would run from Church Street in the east to the PATH station under Greenwich Street in the west. The building itself would be located on its own block, bounded clockwise from the north by Fulton, Church, Dey, and Greenwich Streets.[65]

Oculus during Pride Month

A skylight would run the length of the station building.[65] The roof was originally designed to mechanically open to increase light and ventilation to the enclosed space. In a nod to the Libeskind concept, the Oculus was built to maximize the effect of the autumnal equinox rays (coinciding with the skylight opening on or around September 11 every year).[67] On the actual anniversary of the attacks, the skylight would open for 102 minutes to commemorate the duration between the time the first tower was hit and the collapse of the second tower.[68] If needed, the skylight could also be manually opened to provide air ventilation.[65]

As outlined in the reconstruction plan, the new terminal would be rebuilt in several stages. The first phase would include the construction of a temporary northern entrance, which would be open between 2005 and 2006. The second phase would entail the construction of an East-West Concourse under the West Side Highway, connecting to the World Financial Center (now Brookfield Place). The third phase would include temporary structural underpinning for a temporary platform and track, as well as the construction of Platform D, the first permanent platform. The fourth phase would consist of the lengthening of the other three platforms, expansion of the mezzanine, and structural completion, while the fifth phase would include the construction of the station house. The complex would be completed by 2009 or 2010 under this plan.[3]^{: S.14–S.15}

The station design received critical acclaim.[69] In 2004, Herbert Muschamp, architecture critic for The New York Times, compared the design to the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain in Central Park. He congratulated the Port Authority for hiring Calatrava, and predicted that the new station would be able to impact the city's future. Muschamp continued that the architect's vision "should satisfy those who believe that buildings planned for ground zero must aspire to a spiritual dimension."[70] Another New York Times critic, Michael Kimmelman, wrote that the PATH hub was appropriate for the World Trade Center site, as it would be "a major cultural contribution" to the New York City skyline.[71] A committee for Manhattan Community Board 1 called the station design "beautiful" in 2005.[72]

Calatrava described the original design as representative of "a bird being released from a child's hand".[73] However, Calatrava's original soaring spike design was scaled back because of security issues. The New York Times observed in 2005 that the "bird has grown a beak", and that because of the new security features, the station might "now evoke a slender stegosaurus more than it does a bird".[74] The design was further modified in 2008 to eliminate the opening and closing roof mechanism because of budget and space constraints.[75]

A Curbed NY reporter wrote in 2015, "The platform's mezzanine level ... is kind of amazing and shows off the station's soaring ribbed structure",[76] but other reviews derided the station redesign as being more gaudy than utilitarian. In 2014, Benjamin Kabak, a blogger writing for The Atlantic's CityLab, criticized the emphasis placed on form over function, citing design flaws driven by aesthetic choices that detract from the station's usability as a transit hub. He stated that the staircases could not accommodate the number of passengers using the station during rush hours, and that any leaks caused the marble floors to become slippery. Kabak also said that "the PATH Hub is shaping up to be an example of design divorced from purpose."[77] Steve Cuozzo of the New York Post described the station in 2014 as it was being built as "a self-indulgent monstrosity" and "a hideous waste of public money".[78] Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic for The New York Times, referred to the structure as "a kitsch stegosaurus".[79] In 2015, as the station neared completion, New York magazine referred to the hub as a "Glorious Boondoggle" and, while withholding final judgement on the unfinished structure, did note the "Jurassic" appearance.[66] When the station opened in 2016, the New York Post editorial board called the hub the "world's most obscenely overpriced commuter rail station — and possibly its ugliest", deeming the transit hub a "white elephant" and "monstrosity", comparing the Oculus to a "giant gray-white space insect".[80]

The West Concourse

A 600-foot (180 m) pedestrian underpass under the West Side Highway, referred to as the West Concourse and formerly as the East-West Connector, links the WTC station mezzanine with Brookfield Place in Battery Park City, on the west side of the World Trade Center.[81] It contains stores as part of Westfield World Trade Center.[82] The concourse itself opened on October 23, 2013.[83][84] Access to One World Trade Center from the West Concourse became possible for employees when the tower opened on November 3, 2014.[85] On May 29, 2015, the same day the tower's observatory opened, the entrance to the observation deck opened.[86] The concourse cost $225 million to build, and has been described as the most expensive passageway in the world.[87][88]

Construction of the Oculus called for relocation of the World Trade Center cross in April 2006.[89] However, the Oculus's construction did not begin in earnest until July 8, 2008, when the first prefabricated "ribs" for the pedestrian walkway under Fulton Street were installed on the site.[90] The mezzanine level of the station was undergoing major construction and work on the foundation was underway.[91] By March 2011, over 225 of the 300 steel pieces that make up the roof of the station were installed.[92] Later that month installation of the Vierendeel Truss, one of the hub's key components, began with the installation of a 50 short tons (45 long tons) section of the 271-short-ton (242-long-ton) truss. The truss serves as the mezzanine roof and also acts as a support for the northeast corner of the WTC Memorial.[93]

Concourse above PATH tracks

The Oculus's $542 million construction contract was awarded to Skanska in summer 2010. The project included steel erection for the substructure; construction connecting to the Vehicular Security Center; the Greenwich Street corridor and the steel and concrete placing under the 1 train's subway box; and preparations for installation of east arch truss.[94] By June 2013, ten pieces of exterior arches were installed for the Oculus. The initial construction was expected to conclude at the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015, and the internal construction such as paint, turnstiles, and ticket booths, was expected to complete in the end of 2015, with an official opening scheduled for December 17, 2015.[92] On October 23, 2013, the West Concourse opened with access to the World Financial Center, now renamed the Brookfield Place. The storefronts were covered and not yet opened, and the second floor was still closed for construction of One World Trade Center.[15][16]

On February 25, 2014, half of the first platform of the new station, Platform A, was opened to the public with service to Hoboken. The new platform, an island platform, was fully modernized and contains new lighting, speakers, illuminated signs, escalators and elevators. The west side of the platform was walled off at the time.[5][16] On November 3, One World Trade Center opened, as did the PATH entrance from that building.[85][95] Eight days later, the Fulton Center and Dey Street Concourse opened to the public. The Dey Street Concourse entrance into the Transportation Hub was closed until the Hub opened.[96] On November 22, the last of 114 rafters was installed. Also by this date, one crane had been disassembled and painting of the hub continued.[97][16]

On May 7, 2015, Platform B and the remaining half of Platform A opened, and Platform C closed.[7][16] A few weeks later on May 29, the entrance to the observation deck in the West Concourse was opened on the same day One World Observatory also opened.[86] In late September, the temporary new West Walkway opened with access from the platforms to the West Concourse.[98]

The Transportation Hub has been described as either one of the world's most expensive train stations,[99] or the world's single most expensive station, for its massive reconstruction cost of approximately $4 billion.[13][78][100] By contrast, the proposed 2-mile (3.2 km) extension of the Newark–World Trade Center PATH service to Newark Liberty International Airport is projected to cost $1.5 billion.[101] The hub was also criticized for its delays, as the hub was completed almost 10 years later than originally projected.[66][102] However, even the original cost projections for the hub were high, as the original proposal was projected to cost almost $2 billion. The high cost for a single station is attributed to the extravagant design, which stems from the Port Authority needing to convince the government of New Jersey to pay for a project situated entirely in New York.[69]

Originally, the reconstruction was to be funded by the Federal Transit Administration, which gave approximately $1.9 billion to the project. The costs of the hub were still expensive, but it was to be finished at budget in 2009. In 2014 dollars, the cost of the hub was estimated at $4 billion. The hub cost twice as much in 2014 as it should have originally cost in 2004.[99] The West Concourse cost $225 million and was billed as the "world's most expensive hallway".[87] Construction, maintenance, and management alone cost $635 million; the Port Authority awarded several subcontracts, most of them costly.[99] The fees of the main construction team took up almost a billion dollars, and utility installation around the entire World Trade Center site cost another $400 million.[103] Over $500 million in cost savings was overlooked.[99]

The ribs, as seen from outside the station at night

The design was costly, with Calatrava netting $80 million in design fees[104][103] and the overall architectural design being another $405.8 million.[103] Speeding up the pace of construction also contributed to the higher cost, with $100 million dedicated to building the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and another $24 million to speed up delivery of construction materials.[103] The price of the station was further driven up by Calatrava's architectural decisions.[lower-alpha 5] He wanted to import custom-made steel from a northern Italian factory, which cost $474 million, and have a columnless, aesthetically based design; skylights in the ground, instead of trees;[lower-alpha 6] and large, soaring "wings", or rafters.[99] Another $335 million was added to the cost overrun because the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had to build around the New York City Subway's IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (carrying the 1 train), since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority refused to close the line for fear of inconveniencing commuters from Staten Island taking the Staten Island Ferry. The line had to be supported on a bridge over the station instead of on columns through the station.[99] In 2012, Hurricane Sandy damaged several hundred million dollars worth of materials.[99] Some of the additional cost and delay was due to additions and modifications to the original plan by the Port Authority. Calatrava's original entry pavilion was scaled back for security reasons, for instance.[75]

The hub's skyrocketing costs also attracted much controversy. An editor at The New York Times wrote that "Mr. Calatrava is amassing an unusually long list of projects marred by cost overruns, delays and litigation", referring to his other projects around the world that were over budget.[105] Especially because the current station has a ridership of only 46,000 daily passengers compared to 250,000 at Grand Central Terminal, the renovation is sometimes depicted as overpriced and overstylized.[99] According to a writer for Esquire magazine, even if the hub's cost were disregarded, operating the PATH was itself a waste of money for the Port Authority.[69][lower-alpha 7]

In late 2015, the opening was delayed to early 2016 by a leaking roof.[107] When the hub opened in March 2016, the director of the Port Authority, Pat Foye, declined to hold an event to celebrate the opening of the Hub, describing it as "symbol of excess" and noting he was "troubled with the huge cost" of the construction project.[108]

Workers open up the glass ceiling to make repairs

On March 3, 2016, the Oculus partially opened to the public, along with new entrances. Only the west end of the Oculus and the Westfield Mall corridor to Four World Trade Center was opened.[13][109][110] Two months later, on May 26, 2016, PATH riders received a direct underground link to Fulton Center and the Cortlandt Street–Church Street station through the Oculus.[111] The PATH entrance into 2 World Trade Center opened on June 21, 2016, and the temporary PATH entrance to outside 7 World Trade Center closed five days later.[112][16] Yet another entrance opened to the public when the Westfield World Trade Center mall was opened on August 16.[17][18] On September 8, 2016, the restrooms were opened on the south side of the mezzanine. The last two station platforms in the hub, Platforms C and D, were also opened, as was the permanent West Concourse walkway.[8][16] On December 19, the direct underground link to the New York City Subway's World Trade Center station, at the northeast corner of the complex, reopened.[113][49]

Following the 17th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2018, the rubber seal of the Oculus's skylight broke.[114] As a result, for the 18th anniversary in 2019, the skylight was unable to open as scheduled.[68][115]

On October 13, 2016, the first birth inside the Oculus occurred.[116] A woman was walking through the station with her husband when she went into labor, eventually giving birth on the floor.[117] Another woman had previously given birth inside the old PATH station in August 2015.[118]

A few months later, on February 11, 2017, the first death inside the Oculus occurred.[119] A woman from New Jersey, Jenny Santos, fell to her death from an escalator. News reports initially said she was trying to retrieve a hat dropped by her sister, but lost her balance and fell;[120] it was later revealed that she "was pretending to be flying" while lying on the escalator's handrail.[121] After her death, there was some focus on the height of the 3-foot-4-inch (1.02 m) handrails, and how they could pose a safety risk.[121]