Subway

CAMBRIDGE - The federal government is planning to release small amounts of dead bacteria in subway stations here and in Somerville beginning this summer to test sensors designed to detect biological agents unleashed in terrorist attacks. But some people voiced skepticism over the initiative during a public meeting Wednesday about the program. The US Department of Homeland Security will release a type of bacteria that, when alive, is commonly found in soil and food and cleaning products, inside the Davis, Harvard Square, and Porter Square stations, DHS...

All underground portions of the MBTA subway system should be fully wired for cellphone reception by the end of the year, the company designing and installing the network predicted. But many T riders may have to wait longer before they can talk, text, and check e-mail throughout the system's 19 miles of tunnels: Only two major mobile carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile, have immediate plans to introduce or expand their subterranean coverage. Verizon offers service at four downtown stations and the tunnels between them but has not announced plans to expand its coverage.

CHICAGO — Subway is joining the increasingly crowded breakfast scramble in a move the sandwich chain hopes will help add customers and sales. Almost all of Subway’s 23,000 US restaurants will begin selling the meal April 5. When they do, the largest US restaurant chain by number of outlets will be a big player in the breakfast game. “There are a number of other competitors of ours that are trying to suss out the breakfast opportunity, and I’d rather be in the market before they get there,’’ said Tony Pace, chief marketing officer at the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust.

CAMBRIDGE - The federal government is planning to release small amounts of dead bacteria in subway stations here and in Somerville beginning this summer to test sensors designed to detect biological agents unleashed in terrorist attacks. But some people voiced skepticism over the initiative during a public meeting Wednesday about the program. The US Department of Homeland Security will release a type of bacteria that, when alive, is commonly found in soil and food and cleaning products, inside the Davis, Harvard Square, and Porter Square stations, DHS...

AMSTERDAM -- Seventeenth-century masons built Amsterdam on a foundation of wooden poles planted in soggy, sandy ground, leaving behind a beautiful architectural museum -- but one with walls prone to sinking or crumbling without warning. So how do you dig a subway under it? Very carefully. Construction of a new "North-South" line for this city of canals and rivers began in 2003, and is presenting Dutch engineers, famed for their ingenuity in keeping this waterlogged nation dry, with devilish challenges.

Good morning, everyone! Public rudeness is the topic today, of the transportational variety:   More and more I see teenagers sitting in the "priority" seats at the front of the bus or right inside the doors on trains who seem totally oblivious to the fact that they should be prepared to give up their seat instantly if someone who needs it gets on. One young, healthy girl blurted out loudly "Why should I?" when someone behind her gently nudged her to give up her seat to a frail elderly man with a cane.

After nearly a quarter-century of waiting, residents of Kazakhstan's largest city are able to ride the subway. Work on the 8.5-kilometer (5.2-mile) line in Almaty began in 1988, when Kazkhstan was part of the Soviet Union. The USSR's collapse three years later severely delayed the project. Need for the transit system has risen sharply amid the city's growth. It now has about 1.5 million people. Thousands of residents flocked to the system on Friday, the day after it was officially opened by President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

NEW YORK - The mother of a 13-year-old boy with Asperger’s syndrome who was missing in New York City for 11 days says her son spent the entire time in the subway system. The boy’s mother, Marisela Garcia, feels police were slow to make the case a priority because she’s a Mexican immigrant. But police say they contacted the school immediately and leafleted most of the city. Garcia wants to know how her son went unnoticed for so long despite surveillance cameras and a police search.

Beginning Tuesday, T-Mobile users can stay in touch while riding on most of the MBTA's downtown tunnel systems. Left uncovered are the Prudential and Symphony Green Line stops. The MBTA, which has almost 20 miles of tunnels and carries more than 795,000 riders each weekday, has a long-term contract with InSite Wireless to distribute service in subways. The signal is available to all carriers and is converted to light and transmitted on a fiber optic cable.

Belarus' president has denied clemency to two men sentenced to death for last year's bombing in the capital's subway that killed 15 people. Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalyov, both 25, were convicted in November in a trial that defense lawyers said produced only inconclusive and trivial evidence. State television reported Wednesday that President Alexander Lukashenko rejected the clemency appeal. The men could be executed anytime. Belarus, the last European country to carry out executions, kills the condemned with a bullet to the back of the head.

Police say smoke bombs were set off at multiple points in Montreal's subway system, briefly cutting off service and creating a nightmarish morning commute. Quebec Premier Jean Charest condemned the attack, saying he hopes the guilty parties are found. The incident occurred near the peak of Thursday morning rush hour. Most service was restored just after 10 a.m. (1500 GMT). Subway service has been interrupted in recent weeks as the city deals with student protests over tuition increases.

NEW YORK - A Queens man was convicted of a host of terrorism charges Tuesday for participating in a plot led by Al Qaeda to stage suicide attacks in the New York subways, an effort that prosecutors said was stopped just days before three former high school classmates planned to set off homemade bombs during rush hour. The two-week trial offered a rare look at the evolution of a terrorist plot and the workings of Al Qaeda training camps where the former classmates received their orders.

For the cheaters on LA's subway, it may be time to pay. After more than 20 years of using what amounted to an honor system on the region's light rail system, the board of Los Angeles County's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to vote Thursday to begin locking the gates at its stations. The gate-locking would begin at select stations in July, where passengers will need to "tap" a pass or ticket with a microchip in it to get inside. Officials estimate the current system has cost them $7 million a year despite monitors writing citations at...

NEW YORK - A man accused of becoming an Al Qaeda operative discussed bombing New York City movie theaters, Grand Central Terminal, Times Square, and the New York Stock Exchange before settling on the city's subways, a federal prosecutor said Monday. Adis Medunjanin considered the high-profile targets with two of his former high school classmates from Queens, Assistant US Attorney James Looman said in opening statements. The men "were prepared to kill themselves and everyone else around them - men, women and children," Looman said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he hopes his city's subway system will be extended to New Jersey "in somebody's lifetime. " Bloomberg was responding Tuesday to comments by the chief of the nation's largest subway system, who said it would cost too much. Bloomberg's administration pitched the concept of extending the No. 7 train to the Garden State in 2010. Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota told business leaders he can't see extending the system underneath the Hudson River "in our lifetime" or "anybody's lifetime.

Beginning Tuesday, T-Mobile users can stay in touch while riding on most of the MBTA's downtown tunnel systems. Left uncovered are the Prudential and Symphony Green Line stops. The MBTA, which has almost 20 miles of tunnels and carries more than 795,000 riders each weekday, has a long-term contract with InSite Wireless to distribute service in subways. The signal is available to all carriers and is converted to light and transmitted on a fiber optic cable.

WASHINGTON — A fourth suspect in a plot to bomb New York City subways has been arrested in Pakistan, law enforcement officials said yesterday. The principal suspect in the case, Najibullah Zazi, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with investigators, key developments that prosecutors hope will help them trace the plot back to its roots in Pakistan, where Zazi and former friends from high school allegedly traveled in 2008 to seek terrorism training. After returning to the United States, the plotters hoped to detonate bombs on trains at two of the city’s biggest subway stations: Times...

Facing a $161 million deficit for the coming year, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority unveiled a pair of proposals this week to cut costs and raise money by hiking fares and eliminating some service. While saying they were reluctant to do either, T officials also pointed out that they had not raised fares since Jan. 1, 2007, a five-year gap in which many other transit systems raised fares and reduced service. Here's how the T's existing and proposed subway and bus fares compare with those of other urban systems.

Belarus' president has denied clemency to two men sentenced to death for last year's bombing in the capital's subway that killed 15 people. Dmitry Konovalov and Vladislav Kovalyov, both 25, were convicted in November in a trial that defense lawyers said produced only inconclusive and trivial evidence. State television reported Wednesday that President Alexander Lukashenko rejected the clemency appeal. The men could be executed anytime. Belarus, the last European country to carry out executions, kills the condemned with a bullet to the back of the head.