| by Joseph Brennan. Copyright 2001, 2002. |
Cortlandt St / World Trade CenterFirst station: July 1918 - September 2001. Second station: not completed. First station: Completely removed by March 2002. Second station: Shell for platforms. 1 and9 trains run through a new tunnel constructed in 2002 that passes through the shell of the new second station. construction and operationThe branch line from Chambers St to South Ferry via Greenwich Stwas built as part of the Seventh Ave subway, one of the IRT routesof the Dual System announced in 1913. It opened in July 1918. The routing plan is that Seventh Ave locals run by this branchto South Ferry, while Seventh Ave expresses turn off and run toBrooklyn via Park Place and William St. Although it is mostly just a two track line, construction was notsimple. The streets are narrow, and buildings already old in 1913 hadto be supported along the edges of the excavation. The 9 Ave El ranoverhead the length of Greenwich St. At Dey St, about the center ofCortlandt St station, the contractors came across the hull of a shipthat burned and sank in colonial times; and under Battery Park theyfound cannonballs. Greenwich St marks approximately the originalshoreline. Cortlandt St station was extended north in 1966 to a full ten carlength. It was extensively renovated in 1972-1976 after the WorldTrade Center opened and renamed Cortlandt St / World Trade Center. Theoriginal tile was completely covered or removed, but one of theoriginal mosaic pictures of a ferry is now in the Transit Museum.Several railroad ferries to New Jersey terminals had once been locatedclose by on West Street. A new street entrance was constructed at thenorth end, to provide access out to a public street at Vesey St.Modest stairway entrances with limited open hours were also availableoff the World Trade Center concourse. They were hard to find. Most of the subway between Park Place and Cedar Street was severelydamaged in the collapse of the World Trade Center on 11 September2001. This portion, originally under Greenwich St, ran through themiddle of the World Trade Center property. Part of the two plazabuildings, but not the Twin Towers, stood directly over the line, andso did the indoor mall or concourse at ground level. Deeperunderground levels were located below the grade of the subway with thesubway crossing over them like a bridge. The wide escalator bankgoing down to the PATH World Trade Center station crossed under thesubway station. It was the only place where a subway line raneffectively through a large building, but nothing was done to open itup and make this a point of interest. Part of the tunnel was daylighted by the middle of January 2002,and by March the damaged portion of the subway had been completelyremoved. In April, new structure was going up. A photograph shot on16 April showed the completed new concrete base and the first steelbents going up for the framework around the tracks. Test trains ran in August, and the line opened to regular service on 15September 2002. The first station at Cortlandt St is completely gone, the firstsubway station in New York to be not only closed but demolished. Thequick construction has provided about 1400 feet of new subway tunnelwith the shell of a second station at platform level. The stationwill be completed later when the site is redeveloped, fitting in withwhatever plans are adopted. |
diagram |
The section marked asunder WTC property was not the onlydamaged portion. New structure was being built approximately from ParkPlace to Rector St (the original Rector St station survived). New York City Transit released photos of Cortlandt St station tothe news media the week of 24 September. All of this is now gone. |
Above, subway columns are buckled from the impact, near the centerof the station. Below, nearby, probably facing uptown, steel members fromthe buildings speared through the earth and the roof and even into thetunnel floor. |
The following three all face to the downtown end of the station,where the tunnel has collapsed. The floor is covered with whitedust. |
On the downtown platform, the stop marker for short 5 and 6 cartrains put the rear car at the Vesey St end where the fulltimeentrance was located. The other entrance directly to the World TradeCenter was closed at off hours. Below is the uptown platform. The first one looks across tothe downtown side (compare the poster) and the second view is justto the left (compare the diagonal steel beams). |
Larry Fendrick grabbed a shot out the front train window two daysafter the line reopened, showing the shell of the unfinished newstation. . |
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