MTA New York City Transit resumed service April 4 on the 1 subway line to South Ferry Station by reopening a closed loop platform while the main station continues repairs necessitated by Hurricane Sandy.

“Reopening the ‘new’ old South Ferry Station means that our customers who live on Staten Island have an easier time to connect to the No. 1 subway rather than walk half a mile up to Rector Street,” said Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Acting Chairman Fernando Ferrer, who was on hand for the reopening. “We don’t want to leave any of our customers behind.  This was an important thing to do.”

The return of service to the southern tip of Manhattan is expected to ease commutes for more than 10,000 daily ­riders, including Staten Island Ferry passengers, while rebuilding efforts continue.

The reopened old station, which was taken out of service in 2009, is located directly above the damaged “new” station. It is on a sharp curve, requiring movable platform edge extenders to bridge gaps between the platform and the cars, and it can accommodate only five cars of a 10-car subway train.

Work to reopen the old station included opening a new connection point between the new station mezzanine and the old loop station. Work crews also restored two escalators and installed electrical feeds, closed-circuit television systems to monitor the platform, customer assistance intercoms, security cameras, and radio communications in the dispatcher’s office. They restored lighting in the station, repaired and repainted the station walls, and ­created a new fare control area.

Sandy’s storm surge in October 2012 sent 15 million gallons of salt water into the new South Ferry Station, destroying all electrical and mechanical systems and components and flooding the structure from the track level to the mezzanine, a depth of 80 feet.

Photo courtesy of New York MTA Construction at the old South Ferry Station, on the 1 subway line, included the creation of a new passageway and stairs to allow access and transfer to the R train at the end of the platform.