PATH restorations on track.

Things are moving along quite smoothly for the Port Authority's PATH transit system, both in New York and in New Jersey. The Exchange Place station in Jersey City, which had to be closed after the World Trade Center attacks, reopened on June 29 after over 21 months of renovation. The repairs took that long due to the domino effect the attacks had on the station. The tunnels flooded, which caused shorting out of circuitry and some track destruction.

After the closing of the World Trade Center station, the Exchange Place station became a terminal, said Port Authority spokesperson Steve Culman. Huge holes were bored into the bedrock to create new tunnels and tracks, so the trains could be turned around there, instead of the World Trade Center. However, the appearance of the station and passenger service "is basically the same," said Culman.

About 5,000 passengers use the Exchange Place station each day. Before Sept. 11, it serviced about 16,000 passengers. The huge drop in commuters, Culman said, is mainly due to the PATH no longer stopping at the World Trade Center and with summer, many people are on vacation.

"Our projection for the end of the year is about 8,000 people a day," said Culman. "Once the vacation season is over and once we return service into Lower Manhattan and Midtown."

The hardest-hit World Trade Center station, still closed while under renovation, is scheduled to re-open in November of this year, said Greg Trevor, also a spokesperson for the Port Authority. Although an exact date hasn't yet been set, the original expected date for project completion was December, "so things are moving ahead of schedule," said Trevor.

The new World Trade Center station, same in design as the former one, will only be used temporarily. It will remain open for about five years or until a better, permanent station can be designed and constructed.

The temporary station will be far from perfect. It won't have climate control providing heat or air conditioning. There will be no elevators, no passenger connection to ferries, and limited connection to the New York Subway.

However, there is some good news for PATH riders. So far the renovations for the Exchange Place and World Trade Center stations, have stayed within the budget of approximately $550 million, and currently there are no plans to increase the $1.50 fair. Also, the completion of the temporary station isn't dependent on the construction date of the new World Trade Center buildings (a.k.a. the Freedom Towers.) Although on a deadline set by Governor Pataki, plans to re-build at the World Trade Center site have been plagued by creative disagreements between architect Daniel Libeskind and developer Larry Silverstein, of Silverstein Properties. One of the disagreements is the exact location of the new buildings.

However, none of those issues should impede progress at the PATH station there, despite plans to extend some platforms.

"It's all part of the spectacular, master plan being developed by Libeskind, which is currently being refined," said Trevor. "There's anticipated long-term growth, as Manhattan continues to recover."

Requests for proposals have already been sent out by the Port Authority, searching for a team of architects and engineers to work on the creation of the permanent station "within Libeskind's visions, his designs and the guidelines of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation," said Trevor.

Known facts so far about the permanent station, besides the extended platforms (to accommodate longer, 10-car trains) is that it will have a connection to the World Financial Center, giving passengers easier access to ferries. There will also be pedestrian access to 14 different subway lines at the Fulton St. station.