nyc subway | south ferry (old)

by sam on 06/20/2015

The South Ferry Station is one of the oldest in the system, and was not built to accommodate the current configuration of subway cars. Because of this, an entirely new station was built and opened in 2009. Unfortunately, the new South Ferry station suffered massive flood damage during Hurricane Sandy and was effectively destroyed, so the “old” South Ferry Station was brought back into use.

This station is one of the few without a straight platform – it consists of two “loops” – only the outer one is in use for passengers. It is also too short for the current 8-10 car train configurations, so you must be riding in the first 5 cars of the train to exit at this station. In addition, the curved nature of the platform requires moving platform “fillers” to fill the gap between the train and the platform at each train door. Needless to say, despite the incredibly beautiful mosaics and artwork in this station, there were a significant number of practical reasons why this station was taken out of service, and it was only the short-sighted failure to flood-proof the new station (which sits at the tip of lower manhattan below sea level in a massive flood plain) that brought this station back into view. Definitely a boon to someone like me who wants to photograph such classic features. Not so much for the hordes of people who have to commute in and out of here during the week.

Station opened: July 19, 1905; closed March 16, 2009; reopened April 4, 2013
Original system: IRT
Trains: 1
Source: Wikipedia (click here for some photos of the extensive damage to the new station as well)