The station will tie into the Dey Street Concourse in late 2012

Lower Manhattan met another mass-transit and rebuilding milestone the afternoon of September 6th, as the southbound R train stopped at the Cortlandt Street station for the first time since 2005. The station, which serves the Brooklyn-bound R train as well as N train on late nights, was closed to riders in August 2005 in order for World Trade Center (WTC) rebuilding work to proceed just outside its western wall.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and other city and state officials were on hand for the opening, which joined the northbound platform in serving more than 15,000 people a day six years ago. The northbound side reopened in November 2009, and will share multiple Church Street entrances with the southbound platform via a new underground passage.

"We made a commitment to have this platform open before the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and today we are here to fulfill that commitment," said MTA Chairman and CEO Jay Walder.

Walder commended his team and thanked local officials and community leaders, among them were Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Councilmember Margaret Chin, and MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu.

"This is a significant customer benefit that we've been able to re-open ahead of schedule as we continue to make progress building the Fulton Street Transit Center,” said Horodniceanu.

The Cortlandt Street Station also will tie into the Dey Street Concourse in late 2012, linking pedestrians traveling between the rebuilt Fulton Transit Center to the WTC Transportation Hub.

Slated for full completion in 2014, several new components the Fulton Transit Center complex have reopened over the past several years, including the new entrance at William and Fulton on August 1st.

The MTA and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey funded the $20 million dollar project to reopen the southbound Cortlandt Street platform. The station’s artwork, Trade, Treasure and Travel, by artist Margie Hughto and commissioned in 1997, was undamaged in the 9/11 attacks, and were stored until they could be reinstalled in the station. The murals are comprised of 12 ceramic tile panels relating to finance, and decorated with real and mythical creatures connected to the sea trade.

Cortlandt Street originally opened on January 5, 1918 as part of the BMT Broadway Line.

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