SEPTA: Wire problems that led to massive Regional Rail delays resolved

Wire problems that crippled SEPTA's Regional Rail system Monday, leading to delays of up to two hours on some lines, have been resolved, the transit agency said.

Some delays may continue, SEPTA said, as Regional Rail trains get back to full service.

Regional Rail riders faced lengthy delays earlier in the day due to power problems at Jenkintown Station, which first surfaced after a wire came down on a train near the station.

The power problems had a rippling effect across the Regional Rail system, disrupting service on all lines. The worst-hit routes were the Airport, Lansdale/Doylestown, Warminster and West Trenton lines, which all saw two-hour delays.

Lisa Salazar, a lawyer from Glenside, planned to take a 10:40 a.m. SEPTA to work at her Center City office after an eye doctor's appointment in Jenkintown, and was left waiting on a platform for about an hour, she said.

"It was very crowded," she said. "People were very restless because there was no information."

She watched two trains speed past her without stopping, trains that clearly had open seats on them, before a train finally stopped.

She got to work an hour and a half later than she expected, she said.

The power issues started when a wire came down on a train just south of Jenkintown, SEPTA spokeswoman Heather Redfern said.

Equipment problems were reported on that train around 7:20 a.m. and the power issues, which remain under investigation, surfaced shortly after that.

Passengers were on the train at the time, but couldn't get off due to safety concerns caused by the downed wire, Redfern said. The train was able to start moving again shortly before 10 a.m. and the riders were being taken to the Temple Station, where they would be transferred to another train.

SEPTA's app gave inaccurate information about arrival times and the agency's Twitter account was similarly vague about when a train would arrive.

Redfern said SEPTA's control center was Tweeting delays and cancellations as quickly as possible.

Jonathan Todd, of Hatboro, who works in Temple University's administration, got on a Warminster Line train at Willow Grove that pulled in close to its scheduled 7:20 a.m. arrival time. He then spent about 40 minutes sitting on a train stopped on the tracks between stations. The delay made his commute, normally about 40 minutes, last an hour and a half.

For him, being almost an hour late for work wasn't so disastrous since the school is close to its winter break. For students, though, the delay could have had serious consequences.

"They had exams this morning," he said. "If there were any students on this train they could have missed their final or been late for it."

Social media was flooded with complaints about the delays.