Agony, Ecstasy and Art on Display at New 7 Train Opening

As befits the opening of the first new subway station in over 25 years, there were political dignitaries, #7 baseball caps, and roped-off crowds. And subway musicians who usually play on platforms were serenading members of the public in the brand new park built around the station's entrance.

Members of the band Cover Story, playing at the opening of the #7 train station at 34th Street-Hudson Yards

(Kate Hinds )

It's taken years of work and $2.4 billion to extend the #7 train a mile and a half. The glass-canopied station is the centerpiece of the new Hudson Yards development, which Mayor Bill de Blasio called "a whole new city being created within our city." But while the station is new, the tension over how to fund the MTA's Capital Program, which is short a few billion dollars, is not. To help pay for its next five years of repairs and expansion, the MTA wants the city to contribute a little over $3 billion. De Blasio has resisted, and he reiterated why in his official remarks at the opening.

"We are doing our share," he said, pointing out that city residents contribute to much of the MTA's expenses via taxes and toll revenue. "We want to see the federal government step up, we want to see the state government step up, for the good of all."

Mayor Bill de Blasio speaking at the opening of the #7 station at 34th Street-Hudson Yards

(Kate Hinds )

Once the speeches were over, positivity returned in the form of the ceremonial ribbon cutting (complete with ridiculously oversized scissors), followed by the inaugural first ride to Times Square and back.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, flanked by state and local officials, following the first ride on the #7 train out of Hudson Yards

(Kate Hinds )

But after ascending from the subway, Tom Prendergast, the Cuomo-appointed MTA chief, didn't bother to sugar-coat his conviction that the city needs to contribute more.

"You can't run a system without money, you can't run a system without having a state of good repair program, you can't run a system if you want to maintain your status in the global economy as one of the number one cities in the world without expanding the system," he told reporters. "So that's my level of frustration."

But for hundreds of members of the public, who had been waiting outside police barricades for the 1 p.m. opening, the mood was much lighter. You'd be hard pressed to find a group of people more excited about riding the subway.

Crowds lining up for the opening of the new #7 train station

(Kate Hinds )

There won't be much more cheering, though, if the bruising battle over funding the MTA continues much longer.

(Scroll down for more photos from Sunday's opening.)

The interior of the 34th Street-Hudson Yards #7 train on opening day

(Kate Hinds )

The #7 station at 34th Street-Hudson Yards has the highest and longest escalators of any subway station

(Kate Hinds )

The signs on the #7 train have been updated to reflect the new station

(Kate Hinds )

The interior of the 34th Street-Hudson Yards #7 train on opening day

(Kate Hinds )

MTA chair Tom Prendergast, Sen. Charles Schumer, and Mayor Bill de Blasio

(Kate Hinds )

Funktional Vibrations, artwork designed by Xenobia Bailey and installed in the #7 34th Street-Hudson Yards subway station

(Image courtesy of NY MTA)

Funktional Vibrations, artwork designed by Xenobia Bailey and installed in the #7 34th Street-Hudson Yards subway station

(Kate Hinds )

Artist Xenobia Bailey, who created Funktional Vibrations, and MTA chair Tom Prendergast

(Kate Hinds )