A fire on an Amtrak maintenance train near New York’s Penn Station has injured five people and disrupted service for many commuters. The overnight fire caused train delays in New Jersey Transit and Amtrak rail service into New York and briefly suspended the Long Island Rail Road service on Friday. Amtrak said the fire happened around 1:25 a.m. just outside of the Hudson River tunnels that run from Penn Station to New Jersey. The agency said service to New Jersey and points south has resumed but service to points north and east of New York still has delays. Fire officials report 100 firefighters responded, and two of the injured were taken to a hospital.
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Trains are set to start rolling again on the Long Island Rail Road after a deal was reached to end a strike that had shut down the busiest commuter rail system in the country. Commuters in the New York City suburbs still had to muddle through another tough morning rush hour Tuesday. Trains weren't running in time for the commute into work, though service was set to resume later in the day. The strike that began Saturday was the first walkout for the LIRR since a two-day strike in 1994. Around 250,000 riders typically travel each weekday on the train system.
Negotiators have reached a deal to end a strike that has brought North America’s largest commuter rail system to a standstill. The deal between the Long Island Rail Road and union leaders was announced on Monday. The two sides had bargained for years before the strike began Saturday. The shutdown has forced roughly 250,000 commuters who ride the system each weekday to work from home or find alternate routes to and from the city. New York's governor says service will start back up beginning Tuesday at noon.
British authorities have sentenced a truck driver to prison for smuggling cocaine in a shipment of Skims clothing. The National Crime Agency says Jakub Jan Konkel was caught with 90 kilograms of cocaine in a truck carrying underwear and clothes from Kim Kardashian's shapewear brand from the Netherlands. Officials stopped him at a port in Essex in September. The shipment of clothing was legitimate, and neither the exporter nor the importer was involved in the smuggling. Konkel agreed to transport the drugs for a payment of 4,500 euros. He received a 13½-year sentence on Monday.
AP Wire
The strike shutting down North America’s largest commuter rail system will continue into a third day. Lengthy negotiations failed to reach a deal in time to save Monday morning's commute on the Long Island Rail Road in New York. The talks that began Sunday afternoon went past 1 a.m. Monday before negotiators called it a night, agreeing to resume discussions six hours later. The failure to reach a deal means the strike will mar the start of the work week for about a quarter million commuters. The talks involved five unions representing about half the railroad's workforce and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the railroad. The strike started Saturday. The two sides have negotiated for years over a new contract.
AP Wire
The shutdown of North America’s largest commuter rail system has continued into a second day with no end in sight after unionized workers went on strike. The Long Island Rail Road in New York was not operating Sunday, a day after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job early Saturday morning. The two sides have been negotiating for months on a new contract. The MTA has said it would provide limited shuttle buses to New York City subway stations in the event of a strike. Gov. Kathy Hochul planned a news conference for late Sunday morning.
A train has crashed into a public bus in Bangkok, killing at least eight people. The crash happened Saturday near an airport railway station in the central area. The city's emergency services reported more than 20 others are injured. Deputy Transport Minister Siripong Angkasakulkiat says all the bodies were found on the bus, but the number of passengers is unclear. Footage shows the train dragging an orange bus and several vehicles before it caught fire. Rescuers later entered the charred bus after the flames were brought under control.
Workers on New York’s Long Island Rail Road are on strike, paralyzing the busiest commuter rail system in North America. Labor unions representing about half the system’s workers announced the walkout early Saturday after negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority failed to produce a new contract. The five unions represent about half the system’s 7,000 workers, including locomotive engineers, machinists and signalmen. They are legally allowed to go on strike at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. The strike will force the roughly 250,000 people who ride the system each weekday to either work from home or find alternative routes into New York City from its Long Island suburbs. That means more cars on traffic-choked highways and longer work commutes.
Workers on New York’s Long Island Rail Road go on strike, shutting down North America's busiest commuter rail system.
Nations across Asia are pushing for the use of more biofuels in transportation in order to slash dependence on imported fossil fuels, which have been disrupted by the Iran war. Asia is hardest hit by the ongoing energy shock since most of the fossil fuel shipments through the now-closed Strait of Hormuz were Asia-bound. India is considering allowing vehicles to run on 85%, or even 100% ethanol. Meanwhile, Indonesia and Malaysia are both racing to increase fuel blending with similar ambitions of cutting back on imported fuels. Experts are split on the climate benefit of these fuels, with some stressing that other forms of renewable energy would likely be more efficient.