A once pristine $500 million subway station in Lower Manhattan remains completely devastated after it was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.
The South Ferry terminal, which opened in 2009 equipped with a large concourse filled with public art installations and polished white walls, is now in need of an estimated $600 million rehabilitation, NBC News reports.
‘It’s a complete gut job,’ MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told the New York-based news channel. ‘Every component of the station needs to be replaced.’
Ghost station: The once pristine $500 million South Ferry subway station in Lower Manhattan remains completely devastated after it was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy
In need of a fix: The South Ferry terminal, which opened in 2009 equipped with a large concourse filled with public art installations and polished white walls, is now in need of an estimated $600 million rehabilitation
First steps: The dozens of workers at the station are just getting started on South Ferry¿s rehabilitation by scrapping mold from almost every surface throughout it
The dozens of workers at the station are just getting started on South Ferry’s rehabilitation by scrapping mold from almost every surface throughout it.
Before the storm hit in late October, 30,000 people passed through South Ferry each day, according to NBC News.
Now, the empty station resembles an underground burial site with decaying walls and pungent air.
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The 90-foot platform remains completely vacant with construction bulbs lighting the two subway tracks while the tunnel walls remain covered in grit and debris from Sandy.
The station’s drywall and tiles have been ripped out by construction workers exposing a film of mold that quickly developed after the storm hit South Ferry six months ago.
The greatest damage inflicted on the station from Sandy came when ocean water flooded South Ferry eighty feet below street level, corroding almost every piece of equipment in the underground tunnel.
Busy hub: Before the storm hit in late October, 30,000 people passed through South Ferry each day
Major damage: The greatest damage inflicted on the station from Sandy came when ocean water flooded South Ferry eighty feet below street level, corroding almost every piece of equipment in the underground tunnel.
Destroyed: More than 700 relay components, critical to the signaling systems of subway trains, were destroyed by corrosion
More than 700 relay components, critical to the signaling systems of subway trains, were destroyed by that corrosion.
A separate room of signaling equipment at the end of the platform, which was flooded to the ceiling, is now a ‘complete loss,’ Joseph Leader, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s chief maintenance officer, told the news channel.
Leader was the first person to see the damage from Sandy and is now overseeing the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the station, which recently reopened, but needs far more work done.
The original South Ferry station, which opened in 1905, was designed as the last stop on a busy subway line that connects the Staten Island Ferry to the rest of the city.
The MTA is now ‘considering all options’ that would lessen the effects of a similar storm as it rebuilds the station and the federal government will be chipping into a large part of the $600 million cost to do so.
‘As we work to bring our system back to normal, we must also make the necessary investments to protect this 108-year old system from future storms. We must rebuild smarter. The South Ferry subway station is a perfect example,’ MTA Chief Executive Thomas Prendergast told NBC.
'All options': The MTA is now 'considering all options' that would lessen the effects of a similar storm as it rebuilds the station and the federal government will be chipping into a large part of the $600 million cost to do so