Suspicious Package Prompts Evacuation At WTC PATH Station

On Sunday afternoon in New York, the World Trade Center PATH station was evacuated after K-9 officers found a suspicious package in a rail car. PATH service in and out of the World Trade Center has been suspended, the Port Authority announced in a tweet. Authorities did not order the evacuation of the 9/11 museum and memorial site. It was ultimately reopened after around an hour and a half, according to the New York Post.

According to PIX 11, officers started investigating the package shortly after 3:00 p.m. ET, and the city's bomb squad determined that it was safe around an hour and a half later, at which point employees were reportedly told that they could return to the station. Sources told NBC New York that K-9 dogs had received a "positive hit" inside a car that had arrived at the PATH station from Newark; according to ABC 7, it was an unattended briefcase on Track 2. Law enforcement officers told the Post that the dogs reacted in a way that could have indicated explosive content in the package.

The PATH train is operated by the Port Authority and connects New Jersey to several cities in New York. Due to the package discovered Sunday, the Newark to WTC line was suspended, and ended at Exchange Place in Jersey City until the normal schedule resumed. New York commuters seeking to go to New Jersey were advised to use MTA service instead, according to ABC 7.

This is the second time in several months that service has been suspended at the WTC PATH station: In April, the station was completely shut down for about 15 minutes due to unspecified police activity. That same day, two men were injured when an escalator in the station buckled.

The WTC train station was reconstructed after the attacks of September 11th at the cost of roughly $4 billion, according to the Verge. It opened to the public in March 2016 and normally runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's the third-biggest transit center in New York City, according to the Port Authority, serving over 250,000 commuters every day. One of its flagship features is the Oculus shopping mall, which was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and was also evacuated on Sunday. The Port Authority says that once the WTC station is completed, it will feature access to 11 different subway lines in the area.