The Cortlandt Street station on the 1 train reopened today. The portion of the line between Vesey Street and Battery Place runs under Greenwich Street, where it was built cut-and-cover (i.e., just below the street surface). When the original World Trade Center complex was built, the portion of Greenwich between Vesey and Liberty Streets was demapped, the tunnel structure was braced, and the site excavated around it. The station and the adjacent tunnel were crushed during the collapse of WTC1 and 2.
The 1 train was returned to service in September 2002 with the damaged portion of the tunnel rebuilt. The Cortlandt station was not rebuilt then because it would have been in the middle of the empty excavation after the debris had been removed. This station is the last meaningful piece of non-building infrastructure damaged on 9-11 to be reopened, below the newly remapped Greenwich Street.
The southern portion of the 1 train opened in 1918. So this station has been out of commission for 17 of the hundred years since it was first built. Today’s opening didn’t get a lot of attention, but it feels like a big deal.
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