Monday had Roselle Park commuters return to a close-to-regular train schedule after a derailment on Friday only to reach New York City and face the after effects of a pipe bomb.
On Friday afternoon, multiple cars of a freight train headed for upstate New York derailed right past the Union train station (by Kean University) between Union Township and Roselle Park. This caused delays for commuters coming home.
Yesterday morning, borough commuters started their day with a 15-minute delay and were met with a noticeable police presence at New York Penn Station due to a terror suspect who detonated a pipe bomb at the Port Authority Terminal on 42nd Street.
Resident Matthew Leingang, who passes through Port Authority every day on his commute, encountered ‘tense, encoded announcements’ on the overhead system. He recalled, “The stores were all closed and the subway entrance was blocked off. Cops redirected us to Penn Station for the subway. All the way walking down 8th Avenue, emergency vehicles were flying the the other direction.”
On the way to work, Jeof Vita – who also commutes to Manhattan – was prepared for the 15-minute delay due to the derailment cleanup. He ended his morning ride at New York Penn Station with a pipe bomb attack adding another 15-minute delay to the start of his workweek. On his commute home, he recounted, “By then the news had already covered the relatively “botched” attempt so it was very business as usual. I was plugged into the story most of the morning and it was made to seem pretty well in hand early.”
In the span of four days, commuters from 07204 were faced with two extremes of modern life. But – from altering their route to get into work to taking the train home and passing by derailed cars on the side of tracks that were put back together – residents from the one-square mile town in Union County went about doing what had to be done in order to get home.
Photographs and video courtesy and property of Manuel Jimenez. Click each photograph to enlarge image.
