Chambers Street–World Trade Center (IND Eighth Avenue Line)

About 4 pages (1,266 words)


Chambers Street–World Trade Center
New York City Subway station

Station information
Line	IND Eighth Avenue Line
Services	A (all times) C (all except late nights) E (all times)
Transfer	2 3 at Park Place (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	4
Other
Borough	Manhattan
Opened	September 10, 1932^[1]
Accessible
Connection	PATH at World Trade Center
Next north	Canal Street: A C E
Next south	Broadway–Nassau Street: A C

Chambers Street–World Trade Center, is a station on the IND Eighth Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located on Church Street between Chambers and Vesey Streets in Lower Manhattan, it is served by the A and E trains (all times), and by the C train (all times except late nights). In an unusual layout, the two local tracks, which terminate here, are east of the two express tracks. South of Canal Street station, the southbound local track dips underneath both express tracks and then rises again to a level grade with the northbound express track. The local tracks are also offset slightly south of the express tracks, terminating at the northern edge of the World Trade Center site, under 5 World Trade Center. The passenger connection is at mezzanine level, also allowing a free transfer to the Park Place station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Both island platforms can accommodate 600-foot trains. The northern end has a signal tower and switches that are roughly at the middle of the A and C platforms. Just north of the station is a third track between the uptown and downtown express tracks, with connecting switches at both ends, which was used to relay trains when Chambers Street was used as a terminal, before the Broadway–Nassau Street station opened on February 11 1933. The station has been portrayed in a variety of ways on 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 appears 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. Wall tiles reading "H AND M" remained on the walls of the former Hudson Terminal/current World Trade Center station as late as December 1974^[2], a year after the World Trade Center was completed. The tiles were initially painted over, and have since been removed during the station's renovation; as of 2007, the station walls are currently blank. On the current map published by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it is shown as two separate stations with a free transfer — Chambers Street (served by A and C trains) and World Trade Center (served by E trains). At the extreme southern end of the complex is the wheelchair accessible exit via the PATH station, along with a few High Entrance-Exit Turnstiles (HEETs). Only the local platform is ADA-compliant. The doors and ramp, and structure from the World Trade Center leading into the station survived the September 11, 2001 attacks. The station itself was not damaged, but was covered by dust. Throughout the station there are eyes within the mosaics, which are part of the 1998 installation Oculus created by Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel. These eyes were modeled on photographs of three hundred New Yorkers.

1 Bus connections
2 Nearby points of interest
3 January 23, 2005 fire
4 References
5 External links

Bus connections

M20: To/from Battery Park City or Lincoln Center via West Street (S/B) or Eighth Avenue (N/B)
M22: To/from Chinatown or Battery Park City via Chambers Street

Nearby points of interest

January 23, 2005 fire

Around 2:00 p.m. on January 23, 2005, a fire destroyed the interlocking plant at Chambers Street. This caused restriction of A service and complete suspension of C service. Specifically, about one-third of the normal number of A trains ran. Some newspaper articles have blamed the fire on a homeless person trying to keep warm, but that has not been confirmed. The C in Brooklyn (east of Jay Street) was replaced by an extension of V service on weekdays. The upper level platforms of the Eighth Avenue Line at 50th Street are only served by the C, and were thus closed; the only uptown service to 50th Street was via the Queens Boulevard Line's connection (E service) into the lower level of the station. Additionally, the A, which had formerly used the express tracks on the Eighth Avenue Line south of 168th Street (the C's northern terminus), switched to local at 145th Street, serving the two local stations that were only served by the C (155th Street and 163rd Street–Amsterdam Avenue). The A also used the local tracks in Brooklyn, serving all stations. Direct rush-hour A trips to Rockaway Park–Beach 116th Street were suspended in favor of the always-running Rockaway Park Shuttle. Before the fire, on weekday nights from 9 p.m. to midnight, the C was the only service on the local tracks north of 59th Street; the D was switched to local to cover this. The A was switched to local service on weekends to pick up the slack. During rush hour, extra B trains were added, starting on or before January 28. Until the morning of January 28, the MTA moved the A to the parallel Sixth Avenue Line, Rutgers Street Tunnel and 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. The last suspended service, rush-hour trips to Beach 116th Street, was restored on February 14, 2005; until then those trips required a transfer to the Rockaway Park Shuttle. Initial estimates gave a time of three to five years to restore full service, due to the rareness of the destroyed equipment. 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. On April 21, full service was restored.

References

^ New York Times, List of the 28 Stations on the New 8th Av. Line, September 10, 1932, page 6
^ [1] NYCSubway.org: Photograph of H&M/World Trade Center station dated December 12, 1974