The 15 million gallons of seawater that Superstorm Sandy dumped into the three-year-old South Ferry subway station in lower Manhattan are gone. What still lingers are what specific measures the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's New York City Transit division (NYCT) will take to safeguard the station when it reopens.
The $545-million South Ferry subway station at Manhattan's southern tip opened in spring 2009 with platforms long enough to accommodate 10-car trains rather than five, replacing the nearby original station. After Sandy sent corrosive saltwater flooding through the reinforced-concrete structural box, which includes the 500-ft-long station and a 1,200-ft-long tunnel, the agency spent about $2 million to recommission the old station, says spokesman Kevin Ortiz.