A year ago, the tunnels beneath the World Trade Center were teeming with life as hundreds of thousands of commuters sped to work beneath the southern tip of Manhattan.
Now, nearly a year after the attacks on the Twin Towers, the ghostly caverns that were home to the 1 and 9 subway lines are about to spring back to life.
“We’re moving quickly, and we’re on schedule,” said Paul Fleuranges of the Transit Authority, which is rushing the crippled train routes back into service.
“We hope to be finished soon. We’re hoping we’ll be done by Sept. 1, but we’ll certainly have the tunnels reopened by mid-September.”
Officials said the public will be able to use the Rector and South Ferry stations beginning Sept. 15.
A consortium led by two New York-based construction companies have been given incentives to complete the massive rebirth project two months ahead of time.
The elaborate engineering and construction work to repair the wreckage is now expected to come in about $50 million under budget.
Officials said they could soon begin test runs using empty trains.
Workers have put down almost 3,000 feet of subway lines, or about half a mile, and could receive as much as $3 million as an incentive bonus for finishing the work early.
The crews are getting $100,000 for every day that they beat the Sept. 30 deadline first set by the city.
“It’s worth every penny to get the line open,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, a transit-riders group.
“Nearly a million people were affected by the rerouting of the lines, and many people lost express service,” he said. “Subway passengers have had to put up with unreliable service for a year, so this is a very, very good development for all of us.”
Before the attacks, more than 300,000 riders passed every day through the three subway stations beneath the World Trade Center.
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HALLOWED GROUND (map graphic)
The path of the 1/9 line will take passengers under the site of the former World Trade Center, but not beneath the footprints.