Twenty-five years ago, on a cloudless September morning, nearly 3,000 lives were lost in the deadliest attack on American soil in our history when two planes commandeered by terrorists crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.
On that tragic day, many everyday heroes rose to meet the call of service and ensure the safety of their fellow Americans. That includes the brave train crew members who were among the first to respond. BLET members at agencies such as Amtrak, NJ Transit, Long Island Rail Road, and Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) worked tirelessly and professionally to run the trains that safely evacuated thousands of citizens away from what became known as “Ground Zero.”
“This will always resonate with us,” said BLET General Chairman Art Blakey, who represents PATH locomotive engineers and the members of Division 497. “One of our stations was destroyed. Cars that we operated were crushed and entombed in the rubble. Our service was disrupted for years. The offices where we took our medical and promotional examinations, utterly erased.”
Brother Alan Zelazo, a now-retired member of Division 497, was on duty as a PATH locomotive engineer on that fateful day. “I was working the Newark to WTC [World Trade Center] route on the afternoon of 9/11,” Brother Zelazo said. “My conductor Rob Henry and I made the third trip to operate that day at 5:40 p.m. from Newark to 33rd Street. As far as I know, PATH was the first rail operation to run after the attack. It would be two years until we got back to the WTC.”
Brother Zelazo also helped restore PATH car 745, which miraculously survived the World Trade Center collapse. With Zelazo’s help, it is now on static display at the Shore Line Trolley Museum, located in East Haven, Conn.
BLET members across the nation answered the call in the days and weeks after the attack. When air travel in the country was halted, BLET members ran the passenger trains that became the country’s only available mass transit option.
“On September 11, 2001, as our nation endured one of the darkest days in its history and much of America’s transportation system came to a halt, Amtrak passenger engineers continued to answer the call,” said Amtrak General Chairman Pat Darcy. “With uncertainty gripping the country and a nation in mourning, they climbed into the cab, moved the trains, and helped keep America connected. Their service, along with the Brothers and Sisters of SEPTA, PATH, NJT, MARC, Metra and LIRR, was more than simply doing their job; it was a quiet demonstration of duty, professionalism, and resolve when our country needed it most.”
In 2015, PATH car 745 was moved from storage at JFK Airport to a static display at the Shore Line Trolley Museum.