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 $4 billion Oculus station house, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, consists of white ribs that interlock high above the ground.

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.

[26] The Port Authority had initially proposed constructing the complex on the East River, on the opposite side of Lower Manhattan from Hudson Terminal.

[26] In late 1961, Port Authority executive director Austin J. Tobin proposed shifting the project to Hudson Terminal and taking over the H&M in exchange for New Jersey's agreement.

[29] On January 22, 1962, the two states reached an agreement to allow the Port Authority to take over the railroad and build the World Trade Center on the Hudson Terminal site, which was by then deemed obsolete.

After United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m., dispatchers ordered the closure of the Exchange Place and World Trade Center stations; the former was closed due to severe water damage.

[43] The uptown PATH tubes, ferry routes, and NJ Transit lines across the Hudson River could not handle the displaced ridership on their own, and it was deemed necessary to rebuild the World Trade Center terminal.

The setup was temporary: passengers at Exchange Place would transfer to ferries to Lower Manhattan until the World Trade Center station could be reopened later that year.

[3]: S.4  The station featured a canopy entrance along Church Street and a 118-by-12-foot (36 by 3.7 m) mosaic mural, "Iridescent Lightning," by Giulio Candussio[47] of the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli in Spilimbergo, Italy.

[48] Some sections of the station, including the passageway and the signage on the northeast corner, were only lightly damaged on September 11, 2001, during the collapse of the World Trade Center.

[55] The World Trade Center Transportation Hub is the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's formal name for the new PATH station and the associated transit and retail complex that opened on March 3, 2016.

[56][57] It was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and composed of a train station with a large and open mezzanine under the National September 11 Memorial plaza.

[3]: S.5  In August 2002, the U.S. government allocated $4.5 billion to build a terminal linking the subway and PATH stations at the World Trade Center site.

Libeskind's design proposed that the current station house's site be left as an open plaza, forming a "Wedge of Light" so that sun rays around the autumnal equinox would hit the World Trade Center footprints each September.

In a nod to the Libeskind concept, the Oculus was built to maximize the effect of the autumnal equinox rays (coinciding with the skylight opening on or around September 11 every year).

The second phase would entail the construction of an East-West Concourse under the West Side Highway, connecting to the World Financial Center (now Brookfield Place).

In 2014, Benjamin Kabak, a blogger writing for The Atlantic's CityLab, criticized the emphasis placed on form over function, citing design flaws driven by aesthetic choices that detract from the station's usability as a transit hub.

[79] In 2015, as the station neared completion, New York magazine referred to the hub as a "Glorious Boondoggle" and, while withholding final judgment on the unfinished structure, did note the "Jurassic" appearance.

[13][78][100] By contrast, the proposed 2-mile (3.2 km) extension of the Newark–World Trade Center PATH service to Newark Liberty International Airport is projected to cost $1.5 billion.

The high cost for a single station is attributed to the extravagant design, which stems from the Port Authority needing to convince the government of New Jersey to pay for a project situated entirely in New York.

[99] The fees of the main construction team took up almost a billion dollars, and utility installation around the entire World Trade Center site cost another $400 million.

[e] He wanted to import custom-made steel from a northern Italian factory, which cost $474 million, and have a columnless, aesthetically based design; skylights in the ground, instead of trees;[f] and large, soaring "wings", or rafters.

[99] Another $335 million was added to the cost overrun because the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had to build around the New York City Subway's IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (carrying the 1 train), since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority refused to close the line for fear of inconveniencing commuters from Staten Island taking the Staten Island Ferry.

[8][16] On December 19, the direct underground link to the New York City Subway's World Trade Center station, at the northeast corner of the complex, reopened.

News reports initially said she was trying to retrieve a hat dropped by her sister, but lost her balance and fell;[120] it was later revealed that she "was pretending to be flying" while lying on the escalator's handrail.

It would use the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch to Downtown Brooklyn and a tunnel to Lower Manhattan to provide faster service to John F. Kennedy International Airport.

[113] The renovated entrance, leading to the New York City Subway station from the Oculus headhouse and the Westfield World Trade Center, opened on December 19, 2016.

[113] The M55 New York City Bus route runs northbound on Church Street and 6th Avenue to Midtown, and southbound to South Ferry on Broadway.

... Calatrava and his partners said that the impact and utility of the Oculus would be diminished if it were shrunken further, that the temporary station did not meet requirements for circulation of air and pedestrians, and that columns would interrupt visitors' movement and provide a potential target for bombers.