Top Stories
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Amtrak NY-Boston service shut for the weekend after commuter rail crash
TransportA commuter train traveling eastbound from New York City derailed near the Connecticut suburb of Fairfield during the evening rush hour on Friday and collided with a westbound commuter train, injuring up to 60 people, three critically, officials said. The collision of the two Metro North trains forced Amtrak to shut down service indefinitely between [...]
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New York’s Penn Station is still a mess, and it will likely stay that way
TransportThe busiest passenger train station in the United States is a 1960s-era, utilitarian labyrinth in the basement of a basketball arena. Pennsylvania Station, a gateway to the nation’s biggest city, was designed to accommodate about 200,000 riders a day. Now, it is packed with more than 600,000. At rush hours, it resembles a human demolition [...]
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New Jersey transit execs cite “security” to avoid explaining Hurricane Sandy failure
TransportAs superstorm Sandy barreled toward the tri-state area, two of the nation’s largest transportation agencies worked to safeguard their systems, moving buses and rail cars to areas they thought would be protected. But NJ Transit and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority had vastly different rates of success. Eleven MTA rail cars were damaged, compared with [...]
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Road travel: How fast is fast enough on U.S. highways
TransportIf you take a look at a map of the continental United States that shows the rural interstate speed limits, one thing immediately draws your attention: Illinois and Wisconsin are a collective island representing the only states in the Midwest with a posted interstate speed limit as low as 65 mph. Normally, we in Illinois [...]
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Bus service with Wi-Fi takes hold as alternative transportation for many
DigitalIt’s almost noon on a spring Friday, and the oldish fellow on the bus seat next to me is furiously working on a math problem the old school way — on paper. He’s oblivious to the activity around him: across the aisle, a young woman not always using her headphones is watching a movie on [...]
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Wi-Fi on New York commuter trains coming
DigitalFour years after pitching the idea of installing Wi-Fi on trains used by commuters in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Cablevision says MSO is closer to making it a reality. Tad Smith, Cablevision’s president of local media is helping Cablevision reach agreements with New Jersey Transit and MTA, which runs the Long Island Railroad [...]
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The new World Trade Center transit hub is finally taking shape
DestinationsWith the blast of an airhorn, ironworkers on Monday began bolting into place the first of 610 steel pieces of the soaring wing-like arches of the World Trade Center’s new transportation hub. Not due to open until 2015, the 800,000-square-foot (74,322-square-meter) transit hub will eventually link numerous New York City subway lines with commuter trains [...]
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The nation’s largest bike share is finally starting in New York City
DestinationsNew York City, with its constant hum of subways, buses, cabs and ferries, has long had one glaring exception to its many transportation options: bicycles for the masses. But bike sharing is finally coming to the Big Apple, which could help the city overcome its reputation as a commuter obstacle course of speeding cabbies, horn-honking [...]
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New York City’s bike share program weight limits cause some residents concern
DestinationsNew York City’s upcoming public bike share program, Citibike, has already irked parking space seekers, food cart vendors and locals who resent seeing a Citibank sponsor logo on nearly every block. Now, heavier New Yorkers can be added to the list. According to the program’s user contract, riders “must not exceed the maximum weight limit” [...]
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Taxi-hailing apps are illegal again in NYC, day after launch
TransportNew York livery car groups won a bid to block a pilot program that would enable people to hail and pay for rides in one of the city’s 13,000 yellow taxis using location-based smartphone applications. The measure adopted by the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission in December would run for 12 months and [...]
