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On Nov. 23, Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) opened its temporary station at the World Trade Center site — a month ahead of schedule.

The $323 million station is the final piece of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $566 million program to restore rail service between Lower Manhattan and New Jersey. The facility’s also the first construction project to be completed at the World Trade Center site since Sept. 11, 2001, and the first public space to open within the site since the terrorist attacks, according to a prepared statement.

Designed to provide a basic level of service so rail connections could resume as quickly as possible, the station does not include several amenities, such as heating and air conditioning. Federal Emergency Management Agency funds helped pay for the project, which included repairing PATH tunnels below the Hudson River ($106 million), and restoring and enhancing Jersey City’s Exchange Place Station ($137 million).

PATH plans soon to begin building a $2 billion permanent World Trade Center Transportation Hub. Scheduled to open in 2006, the station would include underground pedestrian connections to New York City Transit subway stations and Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed Fulton Street Transit Center. Preliminary engineering for the project is expected to be complete in spring 2004.