The most expensive train station in the world, on the site of the World Trade Center destroyed nearly 15 years ago in the 11 September 2001 attacks, is opening today.
There will be no official ceremony to mark the opening at 3pm local time (8pm Irish time) to rail commuters of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub next to where the Twin Towers were destroyed in the attacks claimed by al-Qaeda.
The building, designed by Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava and called Oculus, is a giant oval made up of steel ribs and glass laid out in elliptical shape, reaching for the sky like wings of a bird.
The space measures 107m long by 35m at its widest point, according to Calatrava's website.
The hub connects the PATH commuter rail to New Jersey with New York subway lines, provides indoor pedestrian access to the Trade Center towers and will also house an enormous shopping and restaurant plaza.
Today is only a partial opening and the shops are expected to open in August.
In the 12 years since the project was unveiled, it has been heavily criticised - for its appearance but also for spiralling so drastically off budget and closing seven years behind schedule.
Intially budgeted at $2bn, it has spiraled to $3.85bn according to a spokesperson in Calatrava's office, which would make it the most expensive station in the world.
In contrast, the temporary station which was built straight after the 2001 attacks cost just $323m.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey admitted in a report published in 2008 that the original cost estimate was "too low to begin with" but stressed the advantages it would afford the city.
It said that when completed, the transit hub will serve 250,000 people and more than 200,000 commuters each day, making it the third-largest transportation centre in the city.
