World Trade Center (PATH Station) - Temporary PATH Station

Temporary PATH Station

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) and Hoboken – 33rd Street (blue)) and one intrastate New Jersey service (Hoboken – Journal Square (green)) were put into operation.

Cleanup of the Exchange Place station was needed after the attacks. As well, the downtown Hudson tubes had been flooded, which destroyed the track infrastructure. Modifications to the tracks were also required since the Exchange Place station was never designed as a terminal station. The Exchange Place station re-opened in June 2003. PATH service to Lower Manhattan was restored when a temporary station opened on November 23, 2003. The inaugural train was the same one that had been used for the evacuation (see photo at left).

The temporary PATH station was designed by Port Authority chief architect Robert I. Davidson and constructed at a cost of $323 million. 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.

In the 9/11 attacks, some sections of the station including the floor and the signage on the northeast corner, were only lightly damaged in the collapse of the World Trade Center. These sections of the station were retained in the temporary PATH station, and will remain in the new station, where it connects with the platforms for the A C E 2 3 trains. 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.

The World Trade Center PATH 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. The booth closed in Spring 2007 to make way for construction at the World Trade Center site. In June 2007, the street entrance to the temporary station was closed and demolished as part of the ongoing 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. 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. That entrance on Church Street was closed in April 2008 when the entrance was relocated once again. On April 1, 2008, the third new temporary entrance to the PATH station opened for commuters. The entrance is located on Vesey Street, adjacent to 7 World Trade Center. It will serve as the entrance until the opening of the permanent station, designed by Calatrava.