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WTC
PATH station to reopen Nov. 23
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NEW YORK CITY -- The first
train cars that will return to the rebuilt
station under the World Trade Center were the
last to leave it, moving terrified passengers
as far as possible from the collapsing twin
towers, according to this Associated Press
report that appeared in the New York Times.
The eight PATH train cars come back Nov. 23 to
a station that has the same name as before:
"World Trade Center."
The sign, still in bubble wrap, hung Thursday
on a platform that will open to the public for
the first time since Sept. 11, 2001.
On the restored platform for Tracks 3 and 4,
Gov. George Pataki stood with trade center
leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his
architects, Daniel Libeskind and David Childs,
and looked at the space where the towers
stood.
"You have the sense of the tragedy that
happened here," Pataki said.
"And then," he said, turning to the
sign. "you see the World Trade Center.
That's what we have to do: move beyond and
still remember."
The decision to keep the station's name was as
deliberate as every other detail of the
restored temporary rail station, which is
expected to serve 50,000 daily commuters.
Most important was whether commuters would
have views of the trade center site. The only
view will be at the platform. On Thursday,
those touring the site saw construction
trailers, stacks of steel beams, an American
flag.
At the top of the stairs, screens will shield
the site from public view.
Victims' family members requested that
passengers coming through the train station
have only a limited view of the towers'
footprints.
Above ground, passengers will enter the
temporary station on Church Street and descend
into a stark steel and concrete space.
The 16-month $253 million restoration of the
temporary station involved gutting the train
tunnels down to their iron frames and
installing nearly 7,000 feet of track and
50,000 tons of steel.
(The preceding Associated
Press report appeared in the New York Times
Friday, Oct. 31, 2003.) |
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