I haven't posted a picture in a while, so I think I'll torture you all with a little photo-essay I meant to post a few months ago.
One of the many things damaged on September 11, 2001 was the subway system. While New York Transit did amazing work to get the affected lines running, the PATH train, which runs between Manhattan and New Jersey, was slower to return to service.
The PATH trains were deep under the World Trade Center, and following the attack, the tunnels partially filled with water from the Hudson River. It has taken a while for the PATH trains to resume their route to lower Manhattan, but in late November, the first train pulled into the new PATH station.
The new station is quite nice. It has an open floor plan, which gives it a spacious feel. And, though it is thirty feet below street level, it gets lots of natural light. This will change once the Trade Center reconstruction starts, I imagine.
I was on one of the first commuter trains of the week that pulled into the new station. The mood on the train was noticeably tense. The PATH train travels from New Jersey, under the Hudson river into Manhattan. Because the World Trade Center isn't there anymore, the PATH train emerges from a tunnel directly into the foundation of the Trade Center. And the new station looks directly into the pit of the former foundation.
All along the fencing separating the pit from the station, the PATH people have attached semi-opaque banners with quotes about the city. That is a nice touch. The banners let you see outside, but seem to provide protection and separation from the reality of what you must walk past.
But no matter what is put up on the walls, no matter what is constructed around the station, this is the World Trade Center. Too many people have tragic memories attached to the land here. No matter how many people pass through here carrying a briefcase, sipping coffee, heading to work, we're all thinking about what happened on that beautiful September morning, the day so many lives changed.
One of the many things damaged on September 11, 2001 was the subway system. While New York Transit did amazing work to get the affected lines running, the PATH train, which runs between Manhattan and New Jersey, was slower to return to service.
The PATH trains were deep under the World Trade Center, and following the attack, the tunnels partially filled with water from the Hudson River. It has taken a while for the PATH trains to resume their route to lower Manhattan, but in late November, the first train pulled into the new PATH station.
The new station is quite nice. It has an open floor plan, which gives it a spacious feel. And, though it is thirty feet below street level, it gets lots of natural light. This will change once the Trade Center reconstruction starts, I imagine.
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I was on one of the first commuter trains of the week that pulled into the new station. The mood on the train was noticeably tense. The PATH train travels from New Jersey, under the Hudson river into Manhattan. Because the World Trade Center isn't there anymore, the PATH train emerges from a tunnel directly into the foundation of the Trade Center. And the new station looks directly into the pit of the former foundation.
All along the fencing separating the pit from the station, the PATH people have attached semi-opaque banners with quotes about the city. That is a nice touch. The banners let you see outside, but seem to provide protection and separation from the reality of what you must walk past.
But no matter what is put up on the walls, no matter what is constructed around the station, this is the World Trade Center. Too many people have tragic memories attached to the land here. No matter how many people pass through here carrying a briefcase, sipping coffee, heading to work, we're all thinking about what happened on that beautiful September morning, the day so many lives changed.
posted by Eric Hancock at
1:09 AM
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