Port Authority Police officers, NYPD, and other emergency responders will be swarming around the World Trade Center campus and the Oculus transit hub on Wednesday and this weekend for a training drill.
BY COLIN MIXSON
Trigger warning!
Don’t worry if you see lots of emergency vehicles and armed police officers running around the World Trade Center are in the next few days. It’s only a drill.
The Port Authority Police will be conducting emergency training exercises around the World Trade Center on Wednesday and over the weekend, resulting in an increased police presence and slight commute changes for straphangers.
The first emergency exercise will be on Wednesday from 8 a.m. until noon. There will be an increased presence of emergency personnel around the WTC campus before and during the exercise.
The weekend training maneuvers conducted by the enforcement-arm of the Port Authority will begin at 11 p.m. Saturday and continue through 7 a.m. Sunday.
The WTC PATH Station will remain open throughout the exercise, although passengers will be shuffled from underground to the street via the West Concourse and One World Trade Center.
The Oculus building will be closed to civilians for the duration the weekend maneuvers, and straphangers will be unable to access subway lines at the Fulton Transit Center through the Dey Street Concourse.
The training maneuvers are necessary for Port Authority Police Department, the NYPD, FDNY, and other emergency agencies to develop and study practices for responding to potential threats, according to PAPD Superintendent Michael Fedorko.
“These exercises are critical to allow us to prepare in advance for any emergency that may arise, and to interact with emergency responders from other agencies in advance of any incident that may occur,” Fedorko said.
