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U.S. NEWSSaturday 8 April 2017
Penn Station train tracks fixed but not for morning commute
New Jersey Transit commuters wait for track numbers to be posted on departure screens at the NJ Transit tweeted that its the Northeast apparently
Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, N.J. trains were running on or were caused by a weaken-
close to schedule, though ing of the timber ties sitting
(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) some trains already en under a piece of track in
route were experiencing Penn Station. Amtrak offi-
NEW YORK (AP) — Rail com- wasn’t entirely accurate. and warned that delays residual delays. cials said Thursday that the
muters who endured days Amtrak, which owns and were possible. The LIRR unleashed its ire ties were inspected days
of aggravation after a train maintains tracks used by By that time, the Long Is- Friday, issuing a statement before the derailment and
derailment at Penn Station New Jersey Transit and the land Rail Road had already that said: “Because Am- deemed to be in need of
woke up Friday morning Long Island Rail Road, said canceled 10 rush-hour trak crews did not finish replacement eventually,
with assurances that track at 7:30 a.m. that testing trains into Manhattan and track repair work by 4 a.m. but didn’t appear to pose
repairs would be complet- and inspections were com- terminated four others at as promised and because an imminent threat.
ed and service restored, pleted. But NJ Transit said stations in Queens. they did not grant access It was the second derail-
but soon discovered that work was still being done By late Friday morning, to tracks overnight so that ment at Penn Station in less
Long Island Rail Road could than two weeks. On March
pre-position trains, LIRR is 24, an outbound Amtrak
forced to once again op- train derailed and scraped
erate a reduced morning against an inbound NJ
rush-hour schedule.” Transit train.
The derailment of an NJ The two derailments high-
Transit commuter train Mon- lighted the challenges
day as it approached the posed by Amtrak’s aging
station platform knocked infrastructure and the myr-
out eight of the station’s 21 iad ways in which the sys-
tracks maintained by Am- tem can go awry.
trak. It also ignited a spat On Friday, New Jersey U.S.
between Amtrak and New Sens.
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Bob Menendez and Cory
who angrily demanded a Booker sent a letter to their
refund of money already colleagues on the Sub-
paid by the state to Am- committee on Transporta-
trak for maintenance and tion, Housing and Urban
repairs. Development urging them
The disruptions and delays not to cut federal dollars
to rail service up and down for Amtrak.q
New York police set to deploy 1,200 bodycams around the city
COLLEEN LONG stop-and-frisk program. At The department sought policing,” said Barry Fried- said. The decision was
Associated Press the time, few police de- public comment through a man of NYU’s Policing Proj- heavily criticized by advo-
NEW YORK (AP) — The New partments used body cam- questionnaire and worked ect. cacy groups.
York Police Department is eras. with New York University’s One change based on the According to the proposal,
set to deploy the first body Their use has since explod- Policing Project to analyze results was to alert civilians submitted Friday to a feder-
cameras to officers after re- ed around the country fol- the results. Some 25,000 they are being recorded. al monitor for approval, of-
solving some of the thorni- lowing a string of killings of people, plus 5,000 police “New Yorkers ... really want ficers will turn on their cam-
est issues on when to switch unarmed blacks by police officers, responded anony- to be told they’re being re- eras for arrests, summonses,
on the camera, how long and the ambush killings of mously, and NYPD officials corded,” assistant deputy vehicle stops, interactions
to keep the tape and when officers in New York City, made changes based on commissioner Nancy Hop- with crime suspects, inter-
to tell the public they’re be- Dallas and Baton Rouge, the outcome. pock said. “And officers actions with a mentally un-
ing recorded. Louisiana. Both officers and Public response was dispro- really don’t want to tell stable person who is violent,
About 1,200 officers who citizens have said cameras portionately white relative them.” or when using force. They
work the evening shifts could help de-escalate to the city’s population, Police won’t record every record property searches.
around the city will get the situations that lead to vio- police officials acknowl- interaction — even though They won’t record dem-
cameras starting at the lence. edged. But the report the public would prefer onstrations unless there is
end of the month. The pilot The NYPD’s deployment found that on many key it — because there’s not a crime or other enforce-
program was ordered by was delayed by a lengthy questions, there was little enough storage capabil- ment.
a judge following a 2013 process to choose the difference in response by ity and it would bump up The tapes will be kept for a
ruling that officers were camera company and race. against privacy laws and year and the footage re-
wrongly targeting black questions on how they “I think this shows that the could stop witnesses from leased publicly only in cer-
and Hispanic men with its would work. public can have a voice in coming forward, officials tain cases.q
