Inch by inch, the new World Trade Center is being stripped of its connection to the World Trade Center that was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001.

Not without reason. Who would want to work or shop where 2,753 people were killed?

The trident-shape columns so emblematic of the wreckage are housed in a glass pavilion that makes them hard to see from outside. The battered “Sphere” sculpture from the trade center plaza was moved to the Battery (though it may come back). Panels on a nearby pedestrian bridge that were damaged are being replaced.

The latest erasure is occurring along the main wall of an east-west underground gallery that links Santiago Calatrava’s transportation hub to Battery Park City.

Much of the wall follows the footprint of the original 1 World Trade Center, the first building to be hit by a hijacked jetliner during the attack. The footprint also defines the edge of the National September 11 Memorial’s north pool, which is about 25 feet behind the gallery wall.