Transit workers sue over 9-11

NEWARK, N.J. -- Six PATH workers who claim that their trains were not diverted from the World Trade Center station quickly enough on Sept. 11, 2001, have sued the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

"All these people have suffered emotional, post-traumatic stress and tremendous guilt, as some of the disembarked passengers perished," their lawyer, Samuel J. Rosenthal, said Thursday.

The lawsuits, which seek unspecified compensation, also claim the workers were physically injured because the transit agency failed to protect them from conditions including fire, smoke and fumes.

The Port Authority, which operates the light rail service between New Jersey and Manhattan, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Rosenthal said he could not immediately provide the times that the plaintiffs' trains arrived at the trade center station on Sept. 11.

A week after the attacks, Port Authority officials said service was stopped at 8:52 a.m., less than 10 minutes after the first plane struck.

They added that several trains arrived afterward, but left without discharging passengers, including a "rescue train" carrying only an engineer and conductor that arrived at 9:10 a.m. and transported a dozen PATH employees and a homeless person to Newark.

One of the plaintiffs, Ray E. Arenas, 39, said trains including his 8:48 a.m. from Hoboken should have been halted sooner.

"They had ample time not to even let these trains go to the trade center," said Arenas, a conductor and 11-year PATH employee.

He said his train arrived at the smoky Manhattan platform at 8:58 -- 12 minutes after the first plane struck -- but kept passengers aboard and was cleared to return to New Jersey at 9:20 a.m.