Chiropractor in Old Bridge, NJ

Laila Diaz, of Woodbridge, and Hassan Ibrahim, of Old Bridge, were selected out of more than 250 applicants.

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — Two young people from Woodbridge and Old Bridge were chosen for a fellowship from the state of New Jersey to study AI.

They are Laila Diaz and Hassan Ibrahim, both students at Middlesex County community college. Diaz lives in the Sewaren section of Wodbridge, and Ibrahim lives in Old Bridge.

They were selected for the AI for Impact New Jersey Community College Fellowship, a semester-long learning program provided by the New Jersey State Office of Innovation.

They were chosen out of more than 250 applications. Both are studying computer science.

They will be tasked with exploring how to use artificial intelligence (AI) in the public sector/government. The fellowship pairs community college students with professional advisors at the New Jersey State Office of Innovation, providing hands-on experience in applying AI to address government challenges and drive innovation in the public sector.

The students will receive stipends from the state.

Ibrahim, of Old Bridge, said he applied for the fellowship because of his interest in using artificial intelligence in an ethical way. His current project is working with a machine-learning model to streamline IT ticketing.

“I was interested in seeing how AI systems work in a regulated, government setting,” said Ibrahim. “There are negative effects to AI with image generation usage, and that lack of consent. I wanted to be able to work with the technology respectfully to see how it can make a positive impact.”

Diaz's current project is creating an AI Slack bot for engineers to search through data easily and find source citations.

“I would love to specialize in cybersecurity working for the government,” said Diaz. “I feel like working in government is like working for my community.”

Middlesex College is a public, two-year institution of higher education located in the heart of New Jersey. With a main campus in Edison and centers in New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, Middlesex College offers over 90 degree and certificate programs for its more than 10,000 students.

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NJ Transit commuter rails are back on their regular weekday schedules after a month of disruptions tied to opening the new Portal North Bridge, a critical piece of infrastructure for trains crossing the Hackensack River.

The new bridge is a yearslong project to replace the old Portal Bridge, built in 1910 by the Pennsylvania Railroad company. The crossing is shared by NJ Transit and Amtrak trains, and in 2020, the Gateway Development Commission approved a $2.3 billion project to replace the old bridge.

Monday is the first official weekday of regular service on the new bridge, but the Garden State transit agency scrambled to use it during last Friday’s morning rush hour after overhead wire issues on Amtrak jammed up service on the old bridge. Crews were able to get limited service running on the new bridge, partially alleviating the commute meltdown.

Unlike the old bridge, which frequently gets stuck when swinging open to let river traffic through, the new Portal North Bridge is tall enough to allow boats and barges to pass without having to open. Trains will also be able to travel up to 90 mph on the new bridge, compared to 60 mph on the old one, according to NJ Transit.

The Portal North Bridge is one of the first steps in the multiphased Gateway megaproject to improve service to Manhattan Penn Station. The megaproject includes building new Hudson River tunnels along the Northeast Corridor.

Still, the completion of the first phase of the Portal Bridge “cutover” project, as transit officials call it, hasn’t solved all of NJ Transit’s service issues. Early Monday, the agency reported up to 20-minute delays into and out of New York Penn Station due to a disabled train near Newark.

And commuters said they suffered for a month with limited train schedules and constant delays while officials finetuned the final work on the new bridge.

“There was extensive delays,” Adelso Callado, 44, said at Penn Station last week, waiting for his train back to New Jersey during the afternoon rush hour. “I have friends that take the New Jersey Transit daily, and it was chaotic.”

A second phase of the cutover project is planned for the fall, when the old bridge will be fully phased out, according to transit officials. The old bridge carried 450 daily Amtrak and NJ Transit trains and 200,000 daily riders, the two railroads said. Officials said the new bridge, alongside the eventual new Hudson River tunnels, will double rail capacity between Newark and New York City.

New Jersey commuters got to ride the newly constructed Portal North Bridge days ahead of schedule on Friday — after damaged power lines unexpectedly shut down the track that NJ Transit and Amtrak trains have been using all month.

Several of the poles that hold overhead power lines above the tracks of the century-old Portal Bridge — which carries the Northeast Corridor line of Amtrak and NJ Transit over the Hackensack River in the Meadowlands — were found to be bent early Friday morning, an Amtrak spokesman told the Daily News.

The bent poles kept trains from making consistent contact with the power lines. As a result, around 5:45 a.m., service was moved over to the bridge’s newly built replacement, the Portal North Bridge.

Service between Newark and New York City typically operates on two tracks — one eastbound and one westbound — running through the Meadowlands. For the past four weeks, as crews have worked to connect the new Portal North Bridge to the rail line, service has been traveling along just one track of the old bridge in both directions.

Full service is still set to be restored on Sunday — when the new Portal North Bridge had originally been scheduled to open — with westbound trains using the new bridge and eastbound trains continuing to use the old bridge.

NJ Transit and Amtrak both confirmed that service Friday was now operating on one track in both directions on the new bridge, while repairs are made on the old one.

“We are currently working with our partners at NJ TRANSIT to make the necessary catenary pole repairs on the old Portal Bridge,” read a statement shared by Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams. “We apologize to both (groups) of our customers for the inconvenience, which just goes to show the importance of the new bridge and not having to rely on 116-year-old infrastructure.”

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- Amtrak and NJ Transit trains are operating on or close to schedule into and out of Penn Station New York on Saturday.

Due to damaged Amtrak overhead wire issues at the old Portal Bridge, Amtrak and NJ Transit riders experienced delays and cancellations almost the entire day on Friday.

NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri spoke with Eyewitness News about the optics of officials celebrating the completion of work on the new Portal Bridge on Thursday, only to face delays and cancellations the next morning.

"No one was spiking the football yesterday because the bridge is not supposed to open until Monday morning, let's be crystal clear about that," he said. "The fact that the bridge was open ahead of schedule was a special moment."

He said it was important to note that, "Amtrak discovered delays not on the new bridge, but on the old bridge, there was a bent catenary pole that Amtrak is repairing right now."

Kolluri said the first passenger train ran over the new bridge just before 6 a.m. Friday morning. He said Friday morning's problems were not NJ Transit's fault.

"First of all, it's an Amtrak problem. I appreciate what you are saying. No one is making excuses. Amtrak is fixing the problem because it's their corridor, and NJ Transit happens to run their trains on it," he said.

As for what he had to say to customers dealing with another nightmare commute, he said: "Nothing is more important to me than that they have a safe and efficient ride."

The new portal bridge officially opens for service on Monday, but it was being used on Friday to help get the commute back on track.

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The project in 2024. Photo courtesy of Amtrak

Some good news for New Jersey Transit riders: Full service to and from New York City will resume Sunday as the agency finishes replacing the century-old Portal Bridge. Service has been cut by 50 percent since February 15, while rail operations switched from the old bridge to the new $1.5 billion Portal North Bridge over the Hackensack River. A key part of the Gateway Project, the bridge will improve service by allowing trains to travel up to 90 mph, up from the previous 60 mph limit, according to Gothamist.

The new bridge is taller, so it won’t need to open for river traffic. The old bridge had to open and close dozens of times a year and would often get stuck, requiring workers to hammer the pieces back into place.

Regular weekday and weekend rail schedules will resume Sunday, March 15. Friday, March 13, will be the last day cross-honored tickets will be accepted on PATH and the NY Waterway Ferry. Starting Saturday, customers on the Morris & Essex and Montclair-Boonton lines with monthly passes to Hoboken will have their passes honored for travel to New York’s Penn Station.

“Today marks a historic step forward for New Jersey’s transportation future. For decades, the old Portal Bridge has been a source of delays and frustration for the hundreds of thousands of commuters and travelers who rely on the Northeast Corridor every day,” New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said.

“With the first train now crossing the new Portal North Bridge, we are delivering a modern, reliable piece of infrastructure that will strengthen our economy, improve the daily commute and support the entire Northeast Corridor.”

While normal service will resume, only eastbound trains will use the new bridge. Westbound trains will continue to use the old bridge until fall. Officials said leaving the old tracks in place will prevent delays during the expected transit ridership surge for the World Cup this summer.

On Friday, NJ Transit experienced significant service delays during the morning rush as a faulty overhead wire near the Portal Bridge forced trains to stop between Newark and Manhattan, according to CBS News. To bypass the problem, some trains were diverted onto the new Portal Bridge two days ahead of schedule.

Kris Kolluri, president and CEO of NJ Transit, told CBS News New York that he “thanked god” the new bridge was ready following the disruption.

“Thank god we had the bridge ready to go this morning because Amtrak called us at 4 o’clock this morning saying there was a catenary pole near the old portal bridge that had to be repaired,” Kolluri said. “So we were able to get service, limited service, up and running on the brand new bridge two days ahead of schedule. So thank god for that, even though it’s Friday the 13th.”

Kolluri attributed the problem to Amtrak, whose tracks NJ Transit uses along the Northeast Corridor, noting the railroad’s “100-year-old infrastructure” and emphasizing the importance of the new Portal Bridge in preventing future disruptions.

The new bridge was approved by the Gateway Development Commission in 2020, which is also leading the Hudson River tunnel project. President Donald Trump signed off on federal funding for the bridge during his first term, though since returning to the White House, he has sought to block funding for the tunnel project.

Crews had been preparing for the project for months. The work required 40,000 man-hours and involved lifting pre-constructed track panels into place to connect with existing tracks. Teams worked in two shifts, seven days a week, with 70 to 90 workers on each shift.

During the service reduction, NJ Transit riders had to rely on a mix of supplementary routes and cross-honored services, including shuttles to Hoboken and the NYC Ferry.

Find out more about regular NJ Transit service schedules here.

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