Second Avenue subway first look: A peek into the 96th Street station

• The governor, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast and Rep. Carolyn Maloney crossed through the turnstile gates (sans actual turnstiles) as Taylor Swift’s “Welcome to New York” pumped through the public address system to kick off the open house.

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• The $4.5 billion subway project — which has been estimated to be one of the most expensive in the world — has brought stations housed under high, arched ceilings, without columns. Guests enjoyed the openness and light at 96th Street; it bore little resemblance to the dank, dark system they are used to, they said. When the line does open, the MTA expects it to serve some 200,000 commuters each day.

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• “I like all the really pretty equipment everywhere,” said Emma Anderson, 7, who described the rest of the MTA’s stations succinctly: “Dirty!”

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• Jennifer Dore, from the Bronx, was another worker nearby who stopped in. She left the station on Thursday afternoon with her friend, shouting to a relatively empty Second Avenue: “This is the best thing to happen to New York!”

  “It’s great. The light!” Dore exclaimed. She tilted her head back and brought her pointer finger and thumb together to her lips in a gesture of approval.

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The day is almost here.

The Second Avenue subway will officially open to the public on New Year’s Day, with new stations at 96th, 86th and 72nd streets, as well as the expanded station at 63rd Street. They will open at 11:45 a.m., the MTA said.

Here’s a sneak peek at the 96th Street station, which was open to city politicians and others a week early.