World Trade Center station (PATH)

The World Trade Center station is a terminal station on the PATH system, within the World Trade Center complex in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City. It is served by the Newark–World Trade Center line at all times, as well as by the Hoboken–World Trade Center line on weekdays, and is the eastern terminus of both.

The World Trade Center station is near the site of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad's (H&M) Hudson Terminal, which opened in 1909. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey bought the bankrupt H&M system in 1961, rebranded it as PATH, and redeveloped Hudson Terminal as part of the World Trade Center. The World Trade Center station opened on July 6, 1971, as a replacement for Hudson Terminal, which was closed and demolished as part of the construction of the World Trade Center. Following the September 11 attacks, a temporary PATH station opened in 2003 while the World Trade Center complex was being rebuilt. Work on a permanent station building commenced in 2008. The main station house, the Oculus, opened on March 3, 2016, and the terminal was renamed the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, or "World Trade Center" for short.

The station has five tracks and four platforms in the middle of a turning loop. Trains from New Jersey use the loop to turn around and head back to New Jersey. The platforms are four floors below ground level. The floor immediately above the platforms is occupied by the station's fare mezzanine. The New York City Subway's WTC Cortlandt station is adjacent to and above the mezzanine.

The $4 billion Oculus station house, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, consists of white ribs that interlock high above the ground. The interior of the station house contains two underground floors, which house part of the Westfield World Trade Center mall. The transportation hub connects the various modes of transportation in Lower Manhattan, from the Fulton Center in the east to the Battery Park City Ferry Terminal in the west, and includes connections to various subway stations. It is the fifth-busiest transportation hub in the New York metropolitan area. The new station has received mixed reviews: although the hub has been praised for its design, it has also been criticized for its high costs and extended delays.

The station has five tracks served by three island platforms and one side platform in a basement four stories underground. Platform A, next to tracks 1 and 2, opened as part of the Transportation Hub on February 25, 2014. Platform B between tracks 2 and 3 opened on May 7, 2015. The other two platforms opened on September 8, 2016.

Above the station, there are three mezzanine levels. The top two levels contain shops as part of the Westfield World Trade Center. The first mezzanine level below ground also contains the Cortlandt Street–Greenwich Street station for the 1 train and a direct entrance to the northbound platform. A connection to the Cortlandt Street–Church Street station's southbound platform, for the N, ​R, and ​W trains, is located at the far east end of the mezzanine, past the mall's shops. The second mezzanine level contains the entrances to the station, as well as more connections to the subway. The third mezzanine level, located directly above the platform, contains the fare control and access to the platforms.

Prior to reconstruction, there was a temporary entrance on Church Street, which opened along with the rest of the temporary station in November 2003. With the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, the entrances and size of the temporary station have changed over time. In 2007, the Church Street entrance was relocated to the south, and the old entrance was closed and demolished. In April 2008, a third and final temporary entrance to the station was located at Vesey Street, facing Greenwich Street and adjacent to 7 World Trade Center. The temporary entrance was a one-story building on the south side of Vesey Street. On March 3, 2016, the permanent PATH station building opened and the temporary entrance was closed. The former temporary entrance was demolished later that year to make way for the Performing Arts Center.

A connection to Brookfield Place opened on October 27, 2013, through a permanent passageway known as the West Concourse. On August 16, 2016, the Westfield World Trade Center entrance opened. To accommodate repairs to the Downtown Hudson Tubes, service on the Newark–World Trade Center line between Exchange Place and World Trade Center was suspended during almost all weekends in 2019 and 2020, except on holiday weekends.