http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1960.pdf
A World Trade Center
On March 10, [1960], the Port Authority Board of Commissioners submitted a report on a year-long study of the feasibility of a World Trade Center to the Governors of New Jersey and New York and to the Mayor of the City of New York "for their consideration and determination of any further action they may wish to direct toward the establishment of a World Trade Center in the Port of New York...
Hudson & Manhattan Railroad
In September 1960, the Port Authority outlined a proposal for financing the purchase, modernization, and operation of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad. This development was the result of a series of meetings and discussions between Dwight R. G. Palmer, New Jersey State Highway Commissioner, and the Port Authority, starting in February 1960, which sought to find a means by which the Authority could assist in the solution of the trans-Hudson rail transit problem and still carry out the essential self-supporting port development program authorized by the two States.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1961.pdf
In September 1960, the Port Authority announced that, within the framework of financial limitations which would make it possible to continue marketing its bonds for all purposes authorized by the legislatures of the two States, it would study the feasibility of purchasing and rehabilitating the entire Hudson and Manhattan Railroad system, including the existing H&M Terminal facilities. Following a comprehensive study of all aspects of the H&M, the Port Authority indicated on January 27, 1961 that it was prepared to undertake the acquisition and modernization of the H&M Railroad following appropriate legislative authorization.
In March 1961, after a year's intensive study, the Port Authority reported to the Governors of New Jersey and New York, and to the Mayor of the City of New York, that a World Trade Center on the east side of lower Manhattan would be feasible, but found that it could be built successfully only by a public agency.
The World Trade Center and the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad are of great importance to the welfare and prosperity of the Port District. The World Trade Center would greatly enhance business and employment by stimulating the movement of cargo through the Port District. It also would bolster the Port's competitive position by making port operations more effective, efficient and economical.
The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad is a critical link in the Port District's transportation system. Although it carried over 31 million passengers in 1960, it is dangerously near a physical and financial breakdown, and prompt remedial measures are required if the service is to be preserved and improved. At the same time its usefulness and effectiveness, and the over-all strength of the New Jersey commuter railroads, would be greatly enhanced by improving the transfer facilities between the H&M and the New Jersey commuter railroads.
The State of New York in March 1961 adopted legislation authorizing the Port Authority to attempt to develop a World Trade Center as proposed. It combined this authorization with authority to purchase and to rehabilitate the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad. In order for this authorization to be effective, the State of New Jersey would have had to adopt identical combined legislation.
Public statements of government leaders in New Jersey indicated their support for the proposal to purchase and rehabilitate the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, but that they preferred to consider separately the World Trade Center proposal since they regarded it at that time as a separate project. As a result, no joint legislation was enacted in 1961 and decision on the two proposals remained unresolved through the year.
Late in 1961, the two proposals were revitalized by a plan to combine these two public undertakings into a single port development project which would promote the unity of the Port District and contribute to the welfare and prosperity of its people. The key to this proposal contemplates the removal of the Hudson and Manhattan terminal buildings at 30 and 50 Church Street; the transfer of the World Trade Center complex, previously proposed for a location on the east side of lower Manhattan to a site on the west side, maintaining the basic functional concept; and the construction, as part of the World Trade Center development, of completely new and modern H&M terminal facilities, including trackage realignment to increase allowable train speeds, platform expansion to increase train capacities, and completely new lobby and concourse facilities.
According to preliminary estimates, the total cost of the project would be about $450,000,000. The World Trade Center must be a self-supporting operation, while it is estimated that the H&M and its extensions will develop annual deficits of from 7 to 10 million dollars.
The proposal for the combined project has a number of distinct advantages over the earlier separate proposals to develop the World Trade Center and Hudson and Manhattan Railroad as individual projects. In the first place, since the major part of the acquisition cost of the west side site is represented by the H&M Buildings, the World Trade Center property which would have been acquired over and above the H&M property would be considerably reduced under the new plans. Of great importance is the fact that the program will make possible the reconstruction of the H&M terminal and track layout to achieve improvements to correct the present antiquated layout which would have been impossible under the original plan.
Secondly, the joint project represents a marked improvement over the original WorldTrade Center proposal in terms of availabletransportation facilities including the H&M, and a unique concentration of subways, bus lines and vehicular access facilities.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1962.pdf
The Port Authority became a rail transit operator at 12:01 a.m., on September 1, 1962, when the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH), a subsidiary of the bi-state agency, acquired title to and began operation of the Hudson Tubes, the former Hudson & Manhattan Railroad system.
The assumption of responsibility for operating and rehabilitating the H & M system was the signal for the commencement of a projected $150,000,000 modernization program to change this rundown but key interstate rapid transit line into an efficient, convenient, and dependable public transportation service.
Proposals for the acquisition and rehabilitation of the Hudson & Manhattan were first publicly advanced by the Port Authority in September, 1960, following intensive studies of the Port District commuter rail situation over a period of many years.
The Hudson & Manhattan, in bankruptcy since 1954 and hampered by obsolete and inadequate facilities and equipment, faced abandonment. In view of the key role which the line played in the Port District's transportation system, such abandonment could not be permitted.
It was on this note that the Port Authority proposed late in 1960 that it should be authorized to acquire, operate and rehabilitate the H & M. At the same time, the Port Authority advised that investors in its bonds should be given adequate safeguards by the Legislatures of New Jersey and New York against the irreparable impairment of Port Authority credit which would result if there were no limit to the Port Authority's future involvement in additional deficit undertakings.
In 1962, therefore the two Legislatures enacted identical bills empowering the Port Authority to go forward with both the Hudson Tubes and the World Trade Center facilities as a unified port development project, with appropriate safeguards to the Port Authority's credit. Governor Hughes signed the New Jersey statute on February 13, 1962. With the signing of the New York statute by Governor Rockefeller on March 27, 1962, the statutory authorization was completed and the great port project was officially approved and authorized by the two states.
On May 10, the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary corporation of the Port Authority, was established to acquire, operate and develop the Hudson Tubes. On July 26, the New York County Supreme Court granted the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation's application to acquire the Hudson Tubes and the New York Terminal buildings. The required approval of the New Jersey Superior Court came in a confirmatory order granted on August 9, 1962.
On August 28, the Interstate Commerce Commission granted the Port Authority Trans-Hudson's application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity.
The ICC said:
"If the Port Authority, through the applicant, is willing to take over the operation of the line for the benefit of the metropolitan area population of New Jersey and New Y ork, knowing that the operation will probably continue to incur deficits, it should be permitted to do so. In view of the present operating deficits, it is doubtful that the operation of the line could long continue otherwise."
The power of the Port Authority, through PATH, to acquire and operate the Hudson Tubes properties is under attack in the courts. In the condemnation proceeding in which PATH took title, tenants in the New York terminal buildings resisted the condemnation application on the ground that PATH did not have the power to condemn. Their claim is based on the fact that the two States authorized both the World Trade Center and Hudson Tubes as part of a single "unified project" under a single statute. They admit that there would be no constitutional objection to the authorization of the Hudson Tubes program alone, but they claim there are constitutional objections to the World Trade Center authorization and that, since the two facilities were authorized together as part of a single project, the alleged constitutional objections with regard to the World Trade Center pervade the entire statute and vitiate the authorization even to proceed with the Hudson Tubes part of the program.
The principal attacks on the World Trade Center authorization are that it is not for a public purpose and that it exceeds the bounds for "the future development of terminal, transportation and other facilities of commerce" to which the Port Authority was directed by the two states in the original Port Compact of 1921.
These arguments against the constitutionality of the World Trade Center are made not only in the condemnation proceeding but in a separate parallel declaratory judgment action brought by the same attorneys on behalf not only of tenants in the New York terminal buildings of the Hudson Tubes but also of other occupants in and around the site of the proposed World Trade Center.
The Port Authority and the Attorneys General of the two States have stated that the two States intended to authorize the Hudson Tubes effectuation by the Port Authority only if they had validly authorized the effectuation of the World Trade Center. They have argued vigorously in support of the constitutionality of the World Trade Center concept and the statutory powers given to the Authority by the two states to effectuate it.
In the lower courts the petition by PATH to condemn the property was granted and a motion in the parallel action for a preliminary injunction to stop all Port Authority activities to effectuate the Hudson Tubes and the World Trade Center was denied. As the year ended, both these decisions in favor of the Port Authority position were on appeal to the New York Appellate Division.
On February 19, 1963 the Appellate Division, by a vote of 3-2, reversed the condemnation orders and the denial of the motion for preliminary injunction, holding the authorizing legislation contains constitutional defects. The majority upheld the World Trade Center concept (as well as the Hudson Tubes) as a public use for which property may be condemned but interpreted the Act as authorizing other condemnations exceeding the proper scope of the World Trade Centre concept. This interpretation was challenged on appeal to the Court of Appeals in argument heard on February 28, 1963, by the Port Authority and the Attorneys General of the two States. Decision of the Court of Appeals is awaited. In the meanwhile, PATH has continued to operate the Hudson Tubes properties as caretaker pursuant to a stay granted by the Appellate Division, suspending its plans for rehabilitation and improvement of the terminals, extension of the lines and replacement of the 50-year old railroad cars.
The twelve Commissioners of the Port Authority also serve as the Board of Directors of PATH. The President of PATH is the Authority's Executive Director. The Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority is senior Vice-President of PATH. The Vice-President and General Manager of PATH is the Director of the Port Authority's Rail Transportation Department. The Authority's General Counsel serves as Counsel to PATH. PATH began operations on September 1st with virtually all of the 1,100 former H & M employees continuing in their jobs.
During this intermediate phase, arrangements initiated in 1962 by the State of New Jersey will enable passengers of the Central Railroad of New Jersey to make a direct transfer to the PATH system at Pennsylvania Station, Newark. Legislation to provide for the financing by the State of New Jersey of the connections required for this plan was passed by the New Jersey Legislature early in December. In the meantime, the PATH planning staff had initial studies under way to assure that additional car equipment and facilities would be available to handle the Jersey Central passengers routed into Newark.
Also, during the year, initial discussions were begun with the Pennsylvania Railroad on future arrangements for operation of the PATH-Pennsylvania Joint Service between Hudson Terminal in Manhattan and Pennsylvania Station in Newark.
According to present plans, the final phase of the PATH construction program would consist of certain fundamental additions to the existing facilities. These include construction of a major new bus-rail-parking transportation center above a rebuilt PATH station at Journal Square in Jersey City, and a new Hudson Terminal in lower Manhattan within the Hudson Tubes-World Trade Center area, and provision of transfer stations at Harrison, Secaucus and Bergen Junction. The proposed transfer stations, under study by the New Jersey Division of Rail Transportation, PATH and the commuter railroads, would provide passengers of virtually all northern New Jersey commuter lines with convenient, across-the-platform transfers to the PATH or Pennsylvania Railroad systems into Manhattan.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1963.pdf
Also included in the PATH program are construction of a new PATH Terminal in The World Trade Center, an improved station at Journal Square, and renovation of all New York and New Jersey passenger stations. Throughout the year, discussions continued with the Pennsylvania Railroad on future arrangements for operation of the PATH-Pennsylvania Joint Service between Hudson Terminal in lower Manhattan and Pennsylvania Station in Newark. The Pennsylvania Railroad agreed in February, 1964 to extend the terms and conditions of the present Joint Service agreement to August 31, 1964, pending the outcome of negotiations on the future of the service.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1964.pdf
Architectural plans for The World Trade Center to be constructed in lower Manhattan were made public on January 18, 1964. During the year, test borings on the site were virtually completed, detailed architectural and engineering planning proceeded on schedule and an extensive rentals program went forward. It is planned that excavation at the site will start in 1965, following authorization by the Board of Commissioners. The first phase of construction, comprising the North Tower and a part of the Plaza Building, will be completed in 1968. The balance of the project will be completed in stages during 1969 and 1970.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1965.pdf
Development of The World Trade Center moved forward during 1965. The Commissioners authorized acquisition of the Trade Center site in lower Manhattan, initial financing for the $525,000,000 project, and a program of tenant relocation and assistance for the present occupants of the site. In December, title to the required properties was vested in the Port Authority by the New York State Supreme Court. The Trade Center, which is being developed in accordance with legislation enacted by the States of New York and New jersey, is scheduled to be completed in stages over the next six years.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1966.pdf
Construction of The World Trade Center, the Port of New York's newest and greatest facility of commerce, started in 1966 immediately after the City of New York and the Port Authority reached agreement on their cooperation in the development of the project. Significant progress was made during the year in our rental efforts, tenant relocation, demolition of structures on the site and refinements in architectural design. Legality of the project was upheld by the Court of Appeals in 1966, and in January, 1967 the Supreme Court of the United States refused to review that decision.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1967.pdf
Significant progress was made during the year on the World Trade Center, the Port of New York's new focal point for international commerce. By midyear the City of New York had granted the necessary consents for the Trade Center construction and as of the end of the year over $206 million in construction contracts had been awarded. In addition, construction of a principal feature of the foundation system - the underground retaining wall around the westerly segment of the site - had been virtually complete.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1968.pdf
Construction of The World Trade Center—the Port of New York's new headquarters for international commerce—moved ahead rapidly during 1968. The first steel for one of the Trade Center's twin 110- story tower buildings, the tallest buildings in the world, was placed in August. By the end of the year, steel had risen to the fifth floor.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1969.pdf
By the year's end, both tower buildings were rapidly reaching skyward, with North Tower steel work completed to the 45th floor, and core steel for the South Tower up to the 15th floor.
http://corpinfo.panynj.gov/files/uploads/documents/financial-information/annual-reports/annual-report-1970.pdf
PATH passengers travelling to and from lower Manhattan soon will be using the ultra-modern rail transit terminal within The World Trade Center, located just west of the existing 61-year-old Hudson Terminal.
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