Chambers Street–World Trade Center/Park Place/Cortlandt Street station

Chambers Street  ​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Express platform
Station statistics
Address	Church Street between Chambers Street & Vesey Street New York, NY 10007
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Financial District
Division	B (IND)
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services	A  (all times) ​      C  (all except late nights)
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	September 10, 1932 (1932-09-10)[6]
Station code	170[1]
Accessible	ADA-accessible to mezzanine only; platforms are not ADA-accessible
Wireless service	[2]
Opposite-direction transfer available	Yes
Station succession
Next north	Canal Street: A  ​C
Next south	Fulton Street: A  ​C
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times

Chambers Street is assigned to the through platform. Just north of Chambers Street is a third track between the uptown and downtown express tracks, with connecting switches at both ends, which was used to turn trains when Chambers Street was used as a terminal,[8] before the Broadway–Nassau Street (now Fulton Street) station opened on February 1, 1933.[9] It is served by the A and C trains. This platform is not wheelchair-accessible, although it can possibly gain accessibility in the future because the elevator to the local platform leads to the mezzanine that is shared with this station. However, it is one block away from the Chambers Street station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, which is wheelchair-accessible.

Track layout
to Canal St to Fulton St Ramp to mezzanine Passageway to Cortlandt Street Passageway to WTC PATH

World Trade Center
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Local platform
Station statistics
Address	Church Street between Chambers Street & Vesey Street New York, NY 10007
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Financial District
Division	B (IND)
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services	E  (all times)
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Other information
Opened	September 10, 1932 (1932-09-10)[6]
Station code	171[1]
Accessible	ADA-accessible
Wireless service	[2]
Opposite-direction transfer available	N/A
Former/other names	Hudson Terminal
Station succession
Next north	Canal Street: E
Next north	West Fourth Street–Washington Square: E
Next south	(Terminal): E
Next south	none: E
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times

World Trade Center is the name given to the terminating platform.[8] It is served by the E train. Southbound local trains reach the platform by ramping underneath the express tracks south of Canal Street station. The northern end of the World Trade Center station has a signal tower and a diamond crossover switch that are roughly at the middle of the through-platform.

The local tracks end at bumper blocks at the south end of the platform. In addition, there is a platform-level passageway on the western side of the station toward the platform's south end, evidence of a former half-length side platform for the western track; while in passenger use as a connection to the rest of the station, the former platform is now fenced off from the rest of the local platform level, and passengers must now use the mezzanine to access the island platform.[10] A connection to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub is also available at the station's south end;[11] this, in turn, gives access to the Fulton Center (via the Dey Street Passageway), the Cortlandt Street station of the BMT Broadway Line, and the WTC Cortlandt Street station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line.[12] Another passageway also leads directly to the southbound BMT Broadway Line platform.

The station was formerly named Hudson Terminal or H&M, after the nearby Hudson Terminal of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now the PATH). Since 1973, this station has been named after the two World Trade Centers. Wall tiles reading "H AND M" remained on the walls of the World Trade Center station as late as December 1974,[13] a year after the first World Trade Center was completed. The tiles were initially painted over, but since the station's renovation, they have been covered over.

Doorway to PATH station, including preserved door from 9/11 with the words "MATF 1 / 9 13" spray-painted on it

At the extreme southern end of the station is the exit to the Cortlandt Street station,[11][14] along with a few High Entrance-Exit Turnstiles (HEETs). In the past, and even today, only this platform is ADA-accessible. The ramp was installed in 1987, making the station one of the earliest in the New York City Subway system to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The doors and original ADA-accessible ramp, as well as the structure from the first World Trade Center leading into the station, survived the September 11 attacks.[14] The station itself was not damaged, but it was covered by dust and was subsequently closed.[15] The passageway reopened for a while to provide an ADA-connection from the New York City Subway station to the temporary World Trade Center PATH station, but was closed again when the temporary PATH station closed for a reconstruction.[15] The passageway was then covered in plywood for preservation purposes.[11]

The renovated entrance, leading from the New York City Subway station to the newly rebuilt PATH station's Oculus headhouse as well as to the Westfield World Trade Center, opened on December 19, 2016.[14][15] The newly reopened passageway retained its pre-9/11 design, save for a door on display that has the words "MATF 1 / 9 13" spray-painted on it (a message from Urban Search and Rescue Massachusetts Task Force 1 of Beverly, Massachusetts, who searched the World Trade Center site on September 13, 2001). There is a plaque above the spray-painting, explaining the message on the door.[11] PATH was required to preserve the passageway's original design as per Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, as a condition for getting funding to construct the Oculus and new stations. The passageway was not made ADA-accessible again until 2017, as there are twenty-six steps down from the mezzanine to the Oculus headhouse's lobby.[11] The World Trade Center platform is ADA accessible as of December 31, 2017, via this passageway as well as a side entrance to the Oculus headhouse.

The MTA's elevator to the local platform, at the southeast corner of Church Street and Park Place, connects to the local platform via a long ramp from the main mezzanine shared with Chambers Street, but it was out of service between 2001 and 2018 due to long-term construction on the current World Trade Center.[16]

Exits/entrances through turnstiles to Church Street are located in the mezzanine of this station, along with a few High Entrance-Exit Turnstiles (HEETs). There are street stairs:

• at all four corners of Church and Chambers Streets[17]
• at both western corners of Church and Warren Streets[17]
• at both western corners of Church and Murray Streets[17]
• at all four corners of Church Street and Park Place; there is also an elevator to the local platform at the southeastern corner[17]
• at the southwestern corner of Church and Barclay Streets[17]
• at the northwestern and southeastern corners of Church and Vesey Streets[17]
• at the northeastern corner of Church and Fulton Streets[17]

There is also a passageway to the PATH station at the very southern end of the local platform (see § Accessibility).[11][14]

The only transfer between the local platform and the express platform is available only at the very tips of both platforms, where the two platforms are opposite each other for a few feet. Passengers must walk down the express platform to the southernmost staircase, go up to a different part of the mezzanine, crossover, and then go down a staircase to the northern end of the local platform. This complex transfer is to allow a continued underground mezzanine outside of fare control from the southern end at the World Trade Center, which is just one block west of the Fulton Street station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line, to the most northern street stairs at Chambers and Church Street, which is just one block east of the Chambers Street station of the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line.[17] The total length of the mezzanine is seven blocks.

A new entrance at Church Street and Park Place

The station has been portrayed in a variety of ways on New York City Subway maps since 1932. Originally, it was shown as a single station called Chambers Street–Hudson Terminal. Starting in about 1948, two stations were shown, Chambers Street–Hudson Terminal for the express trains continuing to Brooklyn, and Hudson Terminal for the local trains terminating at the station. A 1959 map showed two stations enclosed in a box, but a single label. The 1964 and 1966 maps were similar.

On the 1972 map, it once again appeared to be a single station, with the label showing Chambers Street, Hudson Terminal, World Trade Center, and PATH, although the Hudson Terminal office building complex had already been demolished by this time.

On the current map[18] published by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it is shown as two separate stations with a free transfer—Chambers Street (served by the A and C trains) and World Trade Center (served by the E train). Signs in the Fulton Center only show the E when pointing toward the World Trade Center station, as the A, C, 2 and 3 trains serve both station complexes.

Around 2:00 p.m. on January 23, 2005, a fire destroyed the interlocking plant at Chambers Street. As a result, two-thirds of A trains were canceled or rerouted, including all rush-hour trips to Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street. C service was completely suspended and replaced by the A and V in Brooklyn and A, B, D, and E in Manhattan. Some newspaper articles blamed the fire on a homeless person trying to keep warm, but that was never confirmed.[19] Until January 28, the MTA rerouted the A to the connected IND Sixth Avenue Line, Rutgers Street Tunnel, and IND Culver Line (the route used by regular F service) from West Fourth Street to Jay Street between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., in order to perform critical repairs.

Initial estimates gave a time of three to five years to restore full service because the destroyed equipment was custom-made for the MTA.[20] That was later cut back to six to nine months to bring back normal operations. However, C service and 70% of A service was restored at 5 a.m. on February 2, 2005, only ten days after the fire. The rush-hour A trips were restored on February 14. On April 21, full service was restored. However, effects of the fire continued into 2006 because the equipment had not been replaced.[20]

There are over 300 mosaics dispersed throughout the IND and IRT stations, which are part of the 1998 installation Oculus created by Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel. These eyes were modeled on photographs of the eyes of hundreds of New Yorkers.[21]

According to Jones and Ginzel,

Oculus is a constellation of stone and glass mosaics in the underground labyrinth of interconnected subway stations of lower Manhattan. Over three hundred mosaic eyes, drawn from a photographic study of more than twelve hundred young New Yorkers, are set into the white tile walls of the World Trade Center/Park Place/Chamber Street Stations. The work's centerpiece is a large exquisitely detailed, elliptical glass and stone mosaic floor (38 ft 8 in x 20'8") at the heart of the Park Place Station. The continents of the earth, interwoven with the City of New York amidst an ultramarine pool, surround a large eye in the middle of the mosaic. The mosaic is at once a vision of the world, a reflecting pool of water and a representation New York City in its proper geographical orientation.

The eyes of "Oculus"

The work's detailed renderings of the eye–the most telling, fragile and vulnerable human feature–offer a profound sense of intimacy within a public place. Together, the images create a sense of unity and flow: animating, orienting and humanizing the station. Oculus invites a dialogue between the site and those who move through it.

Oculus was realized in collaboration with the Roman mosaicist, Rinaldo Piras, Sectile.[22]

The station has a mezzanine at each end. Towards the western end of the platform, two long staircases lead up to an intermediate landing where another, shorter staircase leads up to the main IND mezzanine near the full Oculus mosaic. From here, there is a bank of turnstiles leading to the street stair that goes to the northwest corner of Park Place and Church Street. A staircase in this mezzanine leads down to the very southern end of the IND express platform, where transfer to the local platform is via another set of stairs.[17]

The IRT platform has its own entrance/exit at its extreme eastern (railroad south) end. Here, a staircase and two escalators, none of which are together, lead up to a mezzanine just beneath the street. The staircase splits into two separate staircases at an initial landing and each of those have another intermediate landing. On this mezzanine, there are turnstiles, both regular and HEET (from when the mezzanine had a part-time token booth and the regular turnstiles could not be left unstaffed). A single street stair leads out to the northwest corner of Broadway and Park Place. The signage for this entrance is the only one in the complex that says "Park Place" with bullets only for the 2 and 3 trains. This stair is very close to the BMT Broadway Line's City Hall station, an entrance to which is about 200 feet (61 m) away, on the other side of Broadway.[17] A short staircase in that mezzanine once led to an entrance to the lobby of the Woolworth Building. It has been closed since the September 11 attacks.

• 
  Track wall mosaic
• 
  Entrance at Park Place & Broadway

Both eastern corners of Church and Dey Streets contain a staircase exit from the northbound platform. There is also a staircase to the northeast corner of Church and Cortlandt Streets.[34]

Both platforms are connected to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub via an underpass and to the Fulton Center via the Dey Street Passageway. This station is ADA-accessible via the latter connection.[34] An underground passageway also leads to One Liberty Plaza.[34] An exit at the north end of the southbound platform once led to the original World Trade Center's lower concourse, and now leads to the Westfield World Trade Center shopping mall within the WTC Transportation Hub.[34] A passageway at the north end of the southbound platform also leads to the World Trade Center subway station. The connection opened on December 29, 2017 along with a passageway connecting World Trade Center with Tower 2, and passageways connecting the southbound platform of Cortlandt Street to the Oculus and to Tower 4. Fare control areas had to be reconfigured.[35]

Connection to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub

Ribbon cutting for the reopening of the southbound platform

The station was overhauled in the late 1970s, with repairs made to the structural and cosmetic appearance. The original BMT wall tiles were removed and the "new" station walls contained cinderblock tiles (colored white with small recesses painted yellow), with black and white station-name signs bolted into the recesses. Lighting was converted from incandescent to fluorescent and staircases and platform edges were repaired.

Much of the cosmetic change that came with this renovation was undone in a subsequent 1998–1999 renovation. In addition to "state-of-repair" work and upgrades for ADA accessibility, the station's original 1918 tilework was restored. Other improvements were made to the public address system, directional signage, and concrete trackbeds.

During the September 11 attacks in 2001, a train operator reported an "explosion" to the MTA's Subway Control Center one minute after the first plane struck the World Trade Center's North Tower at 8:46 a.m. Subway service was halted shortly afterward, and as a result, no one in the subway system died. The station sustained significant damage during the collapse of the World Trade Center. It was closed for repairs, which included removal of debris, fixing structural damage, and restoring the track beds, which had suffered flood damage in the aftermath of the collapse.[36] The station reopened on September 15, 2002.

On August 20, 2005, the station was closed again for installation of the Dey Street Passageway below Dey Street as part of the Fulton Center project. At the same time, the station was made ADA-accessible in both directions. Previously, the station was accessible on the southbound side only via the temporary PATH World Trade Center station's elevator. MTA posters and flyers at that time indicated the station would reopen in the spring of 2006, and later by spring of 2007, but neither reopening schedules occurred.[37] The northbound side of the station finally reopened on November 25, 2009.[38][39] The southbound platform reopened on September 6, 2011, while continuing excavation along the Church Street side of the World Trade Center site was being performed.[40][32][33]

The Dey Street Passageway, outside of the fare control, connects the Fulton Street station complex to the Cortlandt Street station and to the World Trade Center Transportation Hub. It opened on November 10, 2014, while the World Trade Center was still under construction.[41] With the opening of the Dey Street Passageway, ridership at the station more than doubled, from 1,500,040 in 2014 to 4,270,036 in 2016.[42]

• 
  Name tablet mosaic
• 
  Monogram mosaic
• 
  Poster announcing opening of the southbound platform
• 
  Plaque on the Dey Street Underpass
• 
  Dey Street Passageway entrance