New York, NY —

This morning, for the first time since September 11, a PATH train will roll into Lower Manhattan. There is a huge blue and white sign that hangs over the platform. It says World Trade Center Station. In this reporter's notebook, WNYC's Andrea Bernstein takes a look at what's in that name.

What do we call this place, this vast pit? For tourists confronting it for the first time, the words are hard to come by.

Tourists 1 and 2: The site of the World Trade Center disaster, I guess I don't know, ground zero, I suppose yeah, the world trade center. I think that's how we know it.

Tourist 3: At this moment I am at ground zero

Toursit 4: On the place where it was the tragic, for me it will always be the tragical, you know.

Tourist 5: En este lugar, world trade center, no? La zona zero?

Tourist 6: No not now, its not the World Trade Center anymore is it?

It isn't, of course. Looking out into the open air, instead of up at massive buildings, there is a vast emptiness.

For two years, almost no one in New York could bring themselves call this place, the World Trade Center. There were signs in subway stations, but in announcements hyphenated names became truncated.

The A train's Chambers Street/World Trade Center stop became simply - Chambers Street. The R train, once connected by a warren of underground pathways to a giant building complex, now stops simply, at... Cortlandt Street.

Announcer: Cortlandt street next.

And then, two years passed. Some of the grief faded. Construction began. And those very words -- World Trade Center -- slipped unannounced, back into currency.

Computer Voice: Thank you for covering I Love New York. If you are calling about World Trade Center programs and services press one.

And there - in a speech last month by Governor Pataki, who had always before studiously said World Trade Center SITE. Or Ground Zero.

Pataki: That will only happen when we rebuild the world trade center and we are going to do it (applause).

Later that day Pataki , with developer Larry Silverstein and architect Daniel Libeskind, descended the Path train steps, the same ones that were there - before. And on the platform behind them, hung a huge blue sign. World Trade Center Station.

Silverstein: Its going to be an incredibly emotional day, when that train comes in - ooh.

Libeskind: And the feeling of being back in the living city

Pataki: You have both, you have the sense of the tragedy that happened here and then you have the World Trade Center sign and you say we haven't forgotten and we're back and that's what we have to do.

Libeskind: Not easy

Silverstein: We'll get there

Libeskind It will happen that's what it's about.

Alighting from the train, the passengers will see the slurry wall. Clearly visible, very close, is the footprint of the North Tower. Coming out, there is no building. There is open air. Why, we asked Port Authority Chief Joseph Seymour, name it THIS?

Seymour: You know what else would you call it? The tracks are at the same place they were before you get off at the same place you were before, we've rehabbed what was there before which was the World Trade Center station, there was never any debate people's emotions just came in and said this is the World Trade Center station.

But emotions vary. Some family members say they approached the port authority, asking them for a different name. Patricia Reilly lost her sister

Reilly: Call that the World Trade Center memorial station. They wouldn't even give us that they named it the World Trade Center station. The World Trade Center is gone.

This week, workers were putting the finishing touches on the temporary station. Huge silver letters were visible above the construction fencing. Valerie Maiville Le Cour, from Paris, peeked through a hole in the green plastic sheeting.

Le Cour: c'est uhh le fait que ca reste ce nom la, je pense que c'est un memoire. Je pense que c'est typiquement, typiquement, typiquement americain aussi. Je pense que les francias n'aura pa fait ca, je pense ce non etait gardez pour le memoire, mais ca nura pas gardez pour signifier le site. Je ne pense pas.

It's a memorial she says of the sign - but the word, memoire - in French also means memory. It is very American she says - in France we might keep the word for the memorial, but we wouldn't use it to signify the site. I don't think.

Cooms: I think its great. I'm glad they're calling it the WTC

As Manhattan's Tom Cooms rushed to a business meeting, a smile spread over his face.

Cooms: Its just remembering what was here or what will be here in the future. Even if they put up new buildings and call it something else people are always going to refer to it as the world trade center.

And beginning today, many times a day, they will. For WNYC, I'm Andrea Bernstein.

Announcer: Next stop: World Trade Center.

Click here and scroll down to hear Andrea Bernsteins story about the re-opening of the PATH station on NPR.