Second Ave. Sagas

Video: A glimpse at the old South Ferry loop

Written by

Benjamin Kabak

in

With the new South Ferry terminal out of service for the foreseeable future, Staten Island politicians and MTA Board members called upon the agency to do something for those heading to and from the ferry terminal building. Although the MTA has resisted putting a public timeline on any action, work crews have spent the last few weeks doing, well, something to the old one-track South Ferry loop station.

The above video hit the Internet yesterday. One SubChat poster rode the 1 south from Rector St. and through the loop in an effort to check out just what’s been going on there. The videographer has shot two scenes down there in recent works, and it’s clear that some sort of assessment is going on. The gap-fillers are reportedly in place, but there has been no word of operating conditions. Crews have been seemingly trying to maximize space as well, and a photo reportedly of a new entrance made the rounds recently too.

I reached out to the MTA for comment on the old South Ferry loop and was told that the agency is, in the words of a spokesperson, “still assessing” the situation. There is, in other words, no official decision one way or another. Reopening the old loop would not preclude restoring the new station, and the MTA fully plans to do so. It would mean, however, service to and from South Ferry only in the first five cars of the 1 train, no wheelchair access to the station and creaky gap-fillers at a station smaller than anyone would prefer.

But train service to South Ferry in any way, shape or form, and we’ll know soon if this work is for the reactivation of revenue service at the 1 train’s old haunt or not.

Comments

31 responses to “Video: A glimpse at the old South Ferry loop”

  1. Avi

    What is that room at the end of the video? I don’t remember that being part of the old station. Is there some connection to the new station that is in the works?

    Reply
    1. Someone

      It’s a passageway, I think.

      Reply
    2. Jerrold

      It might be the entrance/exit being worked on.
      I remember that in the years between the post-9/11 reopening of the loop station, and the closing of the loop station, the entrance/exit had been moved to the front end of the platform.

      Reply
      1. The Cobalt Devil

        The exit was always at the middle of the platform for the 100 years the station was in use. Not sure what station you’re thinking of, but South Ferry never had end-of-platform exits.

        Reply
        1. Jerrold

          Wait a second, pal!
          When South Ferry was finally reopened after 9/11
          (in 2003? 2004? I’m not sure)
          the two old mid-platform stairways were no longer in use.
          A new entrance/exit had been constructed and it remained in use until the deep station was opened.
          That exit was definitely at the FRONT end of the loop platform.

          BEN, do you remember that?

          Reply
        2. Jason

          When the Ferry Terminal was being renovated, new temporary exits for the South Ferry station were constructed near the “leaving end” of the loop station. This was around 2003 or so.

          Reply
  2. Jerrold

    SOUNDS like good news!
    I mean, the MTA could not be THAT crazy that they would spend money on some kind of continuing work at the old station if they were NOT in the process of reluctantly putting it back into service.

    What I DON’T understand is why they are NOT publicly saying so.

    Reply
    1. Patrick

      Well they could be working on the station and then come upon a problem that cannot be easily/cheaply fixed, so they’ll have to bag the Old South Ferry Loop plan altogether, and that wouldn’t look all that good in the public eye after they made an announcement saying trains would be rolling into there at some point.

      Reply
  3. Someone

    Surprisingly, the upper SF is very clean. And shiny, too!

    Reply
    1. VLM

      Nothing surprising about it at all. Water is always going to settle at the lowest point, and that was the new South Ferry, not the old one.

      Reply
      1. Someone

        No, I meant that with the flooding from Sandy and everything, you’d think that the pumps near SF would also have failed.

        Reply
        1. Frank B

          I too was surprised that South Ferry Loop was in such good condition; right before they closed it, it was still in rough condition.

          Reply
        2. John-2

          Remember the tracks coming out of the loop station back towards Rector Street slop downhill, because they have to pass under the loop tracks connecting SF with Bowling Green. That’s the path the upper station’s floodwaters took during Sandy — north from the look to the junction with the track leads to the new station, and then downhill into that.

          Lower South Ferry served as a drain for upper South Ferry, just as the Montague Tunnel served as a drain for Whitehall Street. So while the upper station was inundated by the bay, the water didn’t stay there as it did with the lower level.

          Reply
  4. g

    rebar + lots of bag concrete + plywood = some sort of ramp connection to the new mezzanine to satisfy ADA requirement? Should be relatively easy to get elevator access/lighting/fare control from street level to the new mezz operational.

    Maybe they still require a limited waiver and don’t want to get people worked up yet.

    Reply
  5. Think twice

    I always wondered why they built a new SF, when they could’ve extended the old SF platform under Battery Park along the old tunnel where the loop is straighter? They had to construct right through Battery Park anyway for the new SF.

    http://www.downtownexpress.com…..hferry.gif

    Reply
    1. Someone

      Because the platform extension will then interfere with the switches to the 5 train loop.

      Reply
      1. Larry Littlefield

        Not according to the track map linked below. The switch to the inner loop is on the inside. The South Ferry platform is on the outside. What is in the way is an abandoned track and shuttle platform. Perhaps they put a signal room there, or something, but it would have to be replaced in any event after the flood.

        http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/…..oferry.png

        The preferred alternative was to move the whole platform back to the straight part of the track. That was killed off by some NIMBY’s upset that some old growth trees (on landfill) would have to be cut down and replaced. So they did the deep station instead.

        Again, I’d consider the option that was not considered. Live with the gap fillers, and just extend the existing platform back. If the whole station looked like that section, it wouldn’t be so bad, would it? And the capacity issues due to slow speed around the circle, and time required to extend and retract the gap filler, are offset by the lack of tail tracks in the new station.

        The ongoing costs would perhaps be a little higher — gap filler maintenance and operation, more frequent rail replacement. But less escalator and water leak headaches, and a quicker walk to the street.

        Reply
        1. The Cobalt Devil

          Jesus, i haven’t been on this forum in months and you’re still just as stupid now as you were then. Who exactly are these “NIMBYS” who are hugging Battery Park trees? You can’t make one damned comment without dragging out NIMBY, can you? What an asswipe.

          Reply
      2. The Cobalt Devil

        And it would have taken longer to build since there’d have been lots of service disruptions. Also, train capacity would not have increased because you’d still have had a single loop track instead of a two track terminal that allows for a few more trains per hour.

        Reply
        1. Benjamin Kabak

          There were actually a group of people who continually protested tree removal in Battery Park when plans for the new South Ferry station were under discussion. It’s not totally clear if they were NIMBYs or just enviro-hippies who, pardon the expression, couldn’t see the forest for the trees here.

          Reply
          1. Someone

            Wait a minute, if the new station was deep-bore, why would trees have to be removed?

            Reply
            1. Larry Littlefield

              The switched to the deep one to avoid removing the trees. Thanks for finding the link, Ben. I may be a stupid asswipe, but I have a damn good memory.

              Reply
              1. Jerrold

                Larry, you know how I would answer somebody like that?
                “Asswipes like me are necessary, to wipe away dumb shit such as you”.

                Reply
            2. Jerrold

              They are saying that an ALTERNATIVE to the deep station was rejected because it would have meant cutting down some trees, so the deep station was built.

              Reply
    2. Think twice

      I looked at the ’06, ’08, and ’10 satellite maps on http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/ and it looks like they still managed to cut down a crazy number of trees. Honestly in ’06 it looks like they were practically carving a new road from Greenwich Street to SF.

      Reply
  6. gooch

    My sister just posted today about noticing half-built turnstiles at Rector St.

    Reply
    1. Someone

      MoitiƩ construites tourniquets, eh? Always half-built with the MTA.

      Reply
    2. Jerrold

      Posted WHERE?

      Reply
      1. Someone

        Some social network. It’s confusing from gooch’s original comment, but that’s the implication.

        Reply
  7. asar

    Wow,its come2that.opening up the old crusty stupid south ferry loop

    Reply
  8. Simon

    The state announced this morning that it’s opening the first week of April…

    Reply

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