The original Exchange Place station opened on July 19, 1909 at the western end of the Downtown Hudson Tubes adjacent to the Pennsylvania Railroad station and ferry terminal. The above ground entrance and platforms were refurbished in the late 1960s / early 1970s after the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took over operations of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad. A derailment on April 26, 1942 at this station resulted in five deaths and over 200 injuries. In that incident, the train operator Louis Vierbucken was charged with manslaughter, as he was under the influence of liquor. Court records recount that he "began to go faster and faster, disregarding warning signals and curves" and then the train derailed at the station.
Present day
The present-day station entrance pavilion at Exchange Place was constructed at a cost of $66 million, and was dedicated on September 13, 1989. At this time, the surrounding Paulus Hook area was beginning to undergo revitalization with new office building construction. In April 1994, a new entrance to the Exchange Place station was opened making the station ADA accessible. The new entrance was glass-enclosed and featured two elevators which led to a lower-level passageway down, from where another elevator went down the short distance to platform level. The Exchange Place station was closed as a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, due to water damage. Before the attacks, the station served 16,000 passengers daily. The World Trade Center station was also crucial, as that station contained a loop that enabled trains to turn around and reverse direction. New trackwork was installed at a cost of $160 million, which included an interlocking to allow the trains to switch tracks, thus enabling trains to terminate at Exchange Place. While the station was closed, the eight-car-long station platforms were lengthened by two car lengths so they could accommodate 10-car trains. On June 29, 2003, the Exchange Place PATH station reopened, restoring services to Newark, Hoboken, and 33rd Street. On November 23, 2003, service was restored to the World Trade Center site with the reopening of the World Trade Center station. In February 2006, the Transportation Security Administration established a pilot project to test airport-style security screening at the Exchange Place station. In 2012, the station was inundated by of saltwater from the Hudson River, which had overflowed as a result of Hurricane Sandy. The PANYNJ later announced a resiliency project in which it planned to replace the glass revolving doors and windows that surround the turnstiles with a seven-foot-high concrete wall and aquarium glass several inches thick. The project would include in the installation of two Kevlar curtains. In June 2019, the Port Authority released the PATH Improvement Plan. As part of the plan, two additional cross-corridors will be added at Exchange Place. The construction of the cross-corridors are expected to be completed by 2022.
Station layout
The station entrance is located approximately west of the former, original station entrance. The station features three -long escalators that provide access to the platform level, located beneath street level. In 1991, an elevator was installed to make the station accessible for the disabled, in accordance to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail began service in April 2000, initially providing connections to Bayonne. West of the station, there are 5 trackways, 2 outer tracks for Hoboken, 2 inner tracks for Newark and 1 Stub End Track connecting each of the Newark Tracks. East of the station, both lines continue into their weekday terminus. The station has two vestibules, each containing one side platform and one track for trains in a given direction. The platforms are connected through several corridors. There are switches within the platform at the far western end of the station, where the HOB-WTC line's tracks diverge. As a result, only NWK-WTC trains can serve the whole platform. The Newark–World Trade Center will terminate at Exchange Place on almost all weekends through 2020 for Sandy-related repairs, except on holiday weekends.
