By: Karen Matthews
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - The last New Jersey commuter train
to leave the World Trade Center before the twin towers
collapsed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack was the
first one to return, rolling into a temporary station Sunday
with dignitaries and victims' family members on board.
"It's a resumption of normalcy," said New Jersey Gov.
James McGreevey. He was joined on the short trip under
the Hudson River from Jersey City, N.J. to the temporary
PATH station by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey
Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg.
Thelma Stuart, whose husband, Port Authority police officer
Walwyn Stuart Jr., was instrumental in safely evacuating that
train - and who then returned to the trade center, where he
died - rode in the first car with her 3-year-old daughter, Amanda.
"It's a great honor," she said.
The station, in the northeast corner of ground zero, was restored
over 16 months for about $253 million, after crews gutted two train
tunnels down to their steel frames and installed nearly 7,000 feet
of new track.
A permanent, $2 billion transit hub will take its place in 2006.
The station is expected to accommodate up to 50,000 passengers
a day. Before the attacks, the station handled about 67,000 daily
passengers; they had to switch to ferries, cars and buses after the
station was destroyed.
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