After 9/11, planes were grounded for a couple days. Was train traffic (freight and passenger) stopped as well?

That I don’t remember but I do remember people were staying put.

No. No one was going to hi-jack a passenger train and crash it into something. It doesn’t have the same political impact as a plane crash, and a plane crash kills everyone aboard, whereas a train crash doesn’t.

Sept 11, 2001

9:17 a.m
Amtrak suspends all nationwide train service; Greyhound cancels Northeast US
operations.

12:45 p.m
Union Station / Amtrak reports partial service restoration to Union Station – one route will open at 1:00 p.m. from Washington to Baltimore only.

6:00 p.m
Amtrak resumes passenger rail service.

National Transportation Library – Effects of catastrophic events on transportation system management and operations : New York City—September 11, 2001

In NYC subways were halted for sure in the southern part of the city at first the way I remember it. After the first plane hit the conductors were telling people to clear the platforms and trains were carrying people out of the area. I think the entire system went down for several hours? There were electrical problems on some lines and the trains had to work under emergency conditions.

For several days or weeks some of the stations in lower Manhattan were out of service even if they were still in good condition. People could not even walk in lower Manhattan without ID.

The PATH train that runs directly under the Trade Center buildings immediately cleared the station when the first plane hit. Trains with people coming into the station, passengers were told to stay on the train and all people on the platform to get onto the train, and the trains moved out of the area. Path sent in an empty train also if I remember correctly to clear people out. Most likely hundreds of people were saved because decision makers for PATH made excellent decisions. Remember, after the first plane hit, people in the second tower were told to stay put, but the people in charge of PATH took action like more disaster was still possible. The PATH story deserves more recognition.

Ferries also had some changes, but I think they kept running.

Edit: here’s a story about PATH trains. https://www.nj.com/news/2011/08/decisive_action_by_path_employ.html

Auto rental agencies “on lot inventory” went to Zero at first, stranded people were renting cars in California to get back to New York and the East coast. Also from Canada back into the US. I worked part-time for a car rental company, September and October we had vehicles with Canadian plates also luxury vehicles from California and Washington state in New England. We made three trips with cars (six to ten cars each time) to the Canadian border from Connecticut (eight hour day round trip). We left the cars on the US side of border and Canadian drivers walked across border then drove them back into Canada.

^^A friend of mine was at Boston Logan airport when it happened with work colleagues. They rented a car and drove together back to DC.

Auto rental agencies “on lot inventory” went to Zero at first, stranded people were renting cars in California to get back to New York

I was working in Southern California, and our CEO and President were in NYC. They drove back. You make me wish I had asked how they managed to find a car. It may have been a good story.

Broadly speaking, I don’t recall train traffic being halted (with a few exceptions). Of course a train can only go where the track carries it, so it’s kinda hard to crash a train into a building.

A colleague was planning to leave on Sept 12 on the California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco. His trip was delayed until September 17 because all Amtrak trains were delayed for five days.

He was on the first train to leave Chicago after 9/11. It derailed in the Nevada desert.

We had people staying at the Millennium Hilton across the street from WTC. They escaped lower Manhattan by running across the Brooklyn Bridge. On Sept 12 they took a cab to La Guardia where they rented a car and drove back to San Francisco.

@zenvelo I stayed at the Millennium about a year before 9/11. Wonderful hotel.

The ferries were picking up people in lower Manhattan and taking them across to New Jersey. A colleague of mine was meeting the ferries and driving people home.