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Friday Morning Hell: When WTC PATH Escalators Don't Work
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 20, 2012
Modified Jan 20, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 20, 2012
Modified Jan 20, 2012
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[Update Below]
You know what was probably missing from your Friday morning commute? Getting close with some strangers and trying to hike up the escalators at the World Trade Center PATH station. Our Dan Dickinson Tweeted, "Complete clusterfuck at the WTC PATH station this morning. Amazed no one got hurt (yet)" with the above photograph.
Others Tweeted:
- @LaSpiaggia: "Stuck in WTC PATH station with no way out. Escalators turned off. Cop saying "overcrowding.""
- @knorelli: "What a way to start this Friday 1000's of ppl stranded in the wtc path station"
- @stevenshie: "Escalators are down in #WTC #path station. Literally thousands of ppl waiting to climb the tiny staircase. Gonna be a long wait."
- @ploytang: "The hilarious moment when the escalator at WTC path station stops working during morning rush hour"
Things were not any better at the top of the escalators—the area by Hudson News was full, making it difficult for people to continue walking (and prevent pileups). Another recommended, "Escalators are down at the WTC Path. Take the ferry into the city if coming from Hoboken." This has happened before.
Update: The Port Authority explains to us that the escalators were not broken, but actually turned off for safety reasons. "There was a trespasser in a tunnel over at 9th Street," a rep explains, "so they closed the tunnel the 33rd to Journal Square line. Therefore everybody from New Jersey trying to get into New York on PATH went to the World Trade Center line and everybody in downtown New York wanting to get to New Jersey went on the World Trade Center line. Therefore there was massive crowding in the station and for safety reasons they shut down the escalators. In a post-9/11 world you don't want to take any chances." And yes, they caught the guy in the tunnel.
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escalators
path
world trade center path
wtc path station
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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