Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 11 July 2017
1st day of Penn Station repairs: crowds, delays, mostly OK

By DAVID PORTER some confusion, a bit of ferent than normal and the destination.” the end of the week.”
LARRY NEUMEISTER overcrowding and some transit agencies were ex- Jesse Krakow, of South Or- The work was initially sched-
Associated Press delays at the start of what haling. ange, New Jersey, who uled for nights and week-
NEW YORK (AP) — Com- figures to be an arduous “A lot of confusion and too transferred through Hobo- ends over a few years, but
muters in and out of New two-month period. many people gathered in ken, described being two recent derailments
York City handled Mon- While some seem bewil- one space,” Lex Marshall, packed “like sardines” on a and other problems that
day’s first day of extensive dered by a new routine 35, of Morristown, New Port Authority Trans-Hudson spotlighted the station’s
train that stopped several aging infrastructure con-
times between stations as vinced Amtrak to acceler-
it waited for other trains up ate the schedule.
ahead. He said his trip took For commuters on the Long
about 45 minutes longer Island Rail Road and NJ
than normal. Transit — as well as Amtrak
Elsewhere, some took ad- passengers who ride be-
vantage of alternative tween Boston and Wash-
modes of transportation ington, D.C. — the Penn
put in place by the Long Station work means fewer
Island Rail Road and NJ trains during peak periods.
Transit to accommodate The station handles about
overflow due to reduced 1,300 daily train move-
rush-hour train service. ments. Roughly 600,000
Vicki Kapotis, of West Or- people pass through each
ange, rode the ferry for day on the three railroads
the first time from Hoboken and on New York City sub-
in the morning and took ways.
a shuttle bus to her job at NJ Transit spokesman
a private equity firm. She Charles Ingoglia declared
planned on taking a PATH the morning commute a
train home from a station a success, but said there was
long block from Penn Sta- room for improvement, in-
tion. cluding directing people
MTA personnel direct Long Island Rail Road commuters to subway options at Atlantic Terminal in “The morning was good, it to a less crowded PATH
Brooklyn N.Y., as Amtrak begins emergency repair work at Penn Station, Monday July 10, 2017. has gone well so far,” she entrance. “We’re pleased
(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
said. “I am a little nervous with what we saw,” he
repair work to the nation’s devised to accommodate Jersey, said at New Jersey because NJ Transit was said. “Our customers seem
busiest train station without the major repairs to the Transit’s Hoboken Terminal. kind of empty this morn- to have done their home-
any major issues. tracks and signals at Penn “Everybody’s just bumping ing. I don’t know if a lot of work.” The work is sched-
Hundreds of thousands Station, others said the into each other, pushing people were staying home. uled to last through the end
of commuters dealt with commute wasn’t much dif- each other, to get to their We’ll see what happens by of August. q

Cooler temps and lower winds help California firefighters

By The Associated Press kilometer) blaze shut down northwestern Colorado, a
Firefighters on Monday State Route 154 and sent wildfire burning near Dino-
made progress against weekend campers scram- saur National Monument
wildfires burning across nu- bling for safety. It’s just 5 is 40 percent contained.
merous states in the hot, percent contained. Portions of the 20-square-
dry West. “The sky sure is brown,” said mile (52-square- kilometer)
That included California, Therese Vannier of Goleta, Peekaboo Fire has spread
where slightly cooler tem- California, in Santa Barbara into steep, rocky terrain
peratures and diminishing County, on Monday. She without a lot of fuel.
winds helped firefighters as said falling ash covered ve- ARIZONA: In Arizona, rain
they battled several wild- hicles with a white powder. has helped firefighters
fires that have forced thou- “The ash makes our eyes working a wildfire in moun-
sands to flee their homes in sting so bad,” Vannier said. tains overlooking Tucson
both ends of the state. “People are walking while also creating unsafe
Here’s a closer look at the around covering their fac- conditions for the crews.
fires burning in the western A wildfire burns on a mountain in the distance east of Cache es and wearing masks,” Fire management officials
United States and Canada. Creek behind a house in Boston Flats, British Columbia, early said Dana Ross of Goleta. say monsoon rains “hit the
CALIFORNIA Monday, July 10, 2017. COLORADO: Firefighters bullseye” Sunday, dropping
An estimated 4,000 peo- (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP) are making progress bat- more than 1 inch of rain
ple have evacuated their grass. It’s 35 percent con- than 45 square miles (116 tling wildfires burning in Col- in one area of the Santa
homes as flames raced tained. square kilometers) of dry orado. As of Monday, crews Catalina Mountains. How-
through foothills in the Sierra In Southern California, at brush and is threatening have been able to build ever, the rain also caused
Nevada, about 60 miles (97 least 3,500 people evacu- more than 130 rural homes. containment lines around flooding and washed out
kilometers) north of Sacra- ated as two fires raged at It’s 15 percent contained. 85 percent of the fire that roads and was accompa-
mento. The Oroville fire has separate ends of Santa About 50 miles (80 kilo- forced the evacuation of nied by lightning, forcing
blackened 9 square miles Barbara County. The larg- meters) to the south, a hundreds of people near firefighters to pause their
(23 square kilometers) of est fire has charred more 17-square-mile (44-square- Breckenridge last week. In work.q