NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has reopened the northbound side of the Cortlandt Street R/W subway station. The station is located next to the Century 21 department store, the Millennium Hotel and the World Trade Center site.
“Today we celebrate a significant step forward in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan,” MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder said. “The MTA has played a key role in the revival of Downtown and we’re excited to provide customers with an improved station just in time for the holidays. The opening re-establishes a key travel link for Lower Manhattan residents, commuters, shoppers and tourists.”
The re-opened station includes several improvements: wider stairways will now allow for more people to enter and exit the station with less crowding; a 150-foot long section of the newly rehabilitated northbound platform is now wider than before; and the walls have been re-tiled.
“The opening of the northbound platform signifies an important milestone towards the completion of the Fulton Street Transit Center Project,” said Michael Horodniceanu, president of MTA Capital Construction. “This is an important day for the community and we will continue this great momentum so that customers enjoy additional benefits as each element of the project is completed.”
The Cortlandt Street station, like the neighboring Cortlandt Street station on the 1 line, was badly damaged in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Following the attacks, the R/W station initially reopened on Sept. 15, 2002, before being closed again on Aug. 20, 2005, to accommodate excavation and construction of the Dey Street underground pedestrian concourse, a part of the Fulton Street Transit Center being built by MTA Capital Construction.
The $7.25 million project to rehabilitate and improve the northbound side of the station was funded entirely by the Federal government. The MTA expects to open the southbound platform, which is within the World Trade Center reconstruction footprint, on September 11, 2011.
The Cortlandt Street subway station is served by three subway lines at different times of day: the R train at all times except late nights (midnight to 6:30 a.m.), the W train on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. until about 10 p.m., and the N train during late nights. The station served an average of 15,000 customers per day when it was last open. It was originally opened on Jan. 5, 1918, by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co.
