Outgoing New York mayor Michael Bloomberg was among a group of special guests to take the inaugural ride on the city’s 7 Line subway extension last month.

Terminating at a new station on 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue, the $2.4 billion project will extend the IRT Flushing Line west from Times Square to the proposed Hudson Yards development – a luxury mixed-use riverside development designed to revitalise a forgotten corner of Manhattan.

Bloomberg, who stepped down as mayor on New Year’s Day after 12 years in office, said the milestone was a symbol of New York’s growing reputation as “a place where big projects can get done”.

He added: “This project is the linchpin of an ambitious transit-oriented, mixed-use development that is already transforming Manhattan’s Far West Side, and it demonstrates our administration’s commitment over the past 12 years to invest in infrastructure that will allow our city to grow for generations to come.”

The new line will open this summer, seven years since construction began and tunnel boring machines (TBMs) were put to work on constructing a section of New York’s subway system for the first time.

Images courtesy of MTA Photos CC BY 2.0