Friday, December 12, 2008

Sneak Peak at the New South Ferry Terminal

The South Ferry station in New York City has been in the works since 2003, and it will finally open for general use sometime in the next few weeks (slightly behind schedule, and slightly over projected costs). Second Avenue Sagas got a behind the scenes look at the station, and it looks great.

The old station was outdated and riders on the 1 train would find themselves heading back uptown if they didn't move forward to the first five cars (ahead of the conductor) by the time they reached Rector Street because South Ferry could only accommodate the first portion of the normal 10 car trains run by the MTA.

The new station solves that problem by providing two tracks with platforms capable of accommodating them. It increases capacity at rush hour as well and it has climate control. Climate control in NYC subways! Sweet jeebus.

That's what nearly $500 million brings these days. It's also important to keep in mind that the new station was built beneath the existing South Ferry station, the existing 5/6 trains, and construction had to proceed without interrupting both lines for extended periods. The costs and delays were due to the discovery of early settlement walls, which had to be excavated, cataloged, relocated, and are now integrated into the station's architecture.

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