The Cortlandt Street station on the 1 train has been closed since 9/11, long enough that some straphangers may not even remember it. Now though, plans are in the works to eventually get it reopened. NY1's Jose Martinez filed this report.
Beneath the site of the World Trade Center is a ghost station. Riders on southbound one trains can see the outlines of the Cortlandt Street stop, which has been closed since September 11th.
After the station was destroyed along with the World Trade Center, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said Monday they hope to reopen the station in 2018.
"This is a station that was directly underneath the Twin Towers. So you can imagine the level of devastation and the amount of time and work that it took just to clean up the station," said MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz.
Full service on the 1 line resumed a year after the attack, with trains bypassing the station.
The Port Authority, which owns the site, began the rebuilding project and the MTA on Monday agreed to finish the $100 million project—making it look like a station again. It's complex work.
"It would have been easier to just shut it down and then build it from bottom up," said Steven Plate of WTC Construction.
The Cortlandt Street stop served 19,000 straphangers every weekday, about five million a year.
Riders have had to find other ways to get around.
"Everything here has been completely messed up since 9/11," said one rider.
"Most people who commute from Lower Manhattan have gotten used to the inconvenience of not having the 1 train. So yeah, it would be great if it could open sooner," said another.
The work will take place behind these walls in the Port Authority's costly new Transportation Hub, which eventually will link PATH service to 11 subway lines.
"Everything has to be done via underground. Materials have to be brought in via train, which makes this a bit more complicated," said Ortiz.
That translates to no 1 trains south of Chambers Street on weekends, when the work will be done.
At least an end is in sight, though.
Once the Cortlandt Street along the 1 line finally reopens, it will be the 473rd station in the MTA subway system. This after the opening of the 7 train extention to 34th Street/Hudson Yards and the three new stations along the Second Avenue Subway.