Monday morning mess on SEPTA
Wire problems crippled SEPTA's Regional Rail system early Monday, trapping some riders on a city-bound train for more than two hours during the morning rush.
Wire problems crippled SEPTA's Regional Rail system early Monday, trapping some riders on a city-bound train for more than two hours during the morning rush.
SEPTA said repairs on the power lines were completed by 1:15 p.m. and normal service resumed.
Still, the problem left a bevy of disgruntled riders who said they were not kept informed and found even SEPTA's app unreliable.
Riders faced long delays early Monday due to power problems at the Jenkintown station, which began after a wire fell on a train just south of the station.
The problems had a ripple effect, disrupting service on all lines. The worst-hit routes were Airport, Lansdale/Doylestown, Warminster, and West Trenton, which all saw two-hour delays.
Lisa Salazar, a lawyer from Glenside, said she planned to take a 10:40 a.m. train to get to her Center City office after a medical appointment in Jenkintown, but was left waiting on a platform for about an hour.
"It was very crowded," she said. "People were very restless because there was no information."
She watched two trains with open seats speed past before a train finally stopped. She got to work an hour and a half later than expected, she said.
After the wire fell on the train just south of Jenkintown, SEPTA spokeswoman Heather Redfern said, equipment problems were reported on that train around 7:20 a.m. The power issues, which remain under investigation, surfaced shortly after that.
Passengers on the train couldn't get off due to safety concerns caused by the downed wire, Redfern said. The train started moving again shortly before 10 a.m.
Riders reported commutes that stretched on for hours. A lack of information fueled the frustration.
SEPTA's app gave inaccurate information about arrival times, Salazar said, and the agency's Twitter account was vague about when a train would arrive.
"It's just a very old system," Salazar said. "It needs an upgrade. Things happen, but keep people informed."
Redfern said SEPTA's control center was tweeting delays and cancellations as fast as possible.
Jonathan Todd of Hatboro, who works in Temple University administration, boarded a Warminster Line train at Willow Grove close to its scheduled 7:20 a.m. arrival time. He then spent about 40 minutes sitting on a train stopped between stations. The delay turned his 40-minute commute into 90.
Being almost an hour late for work wasn't disastrous, he said, because the school is close to winter break. But students had exams Monday morning. "If there were any students on this train, they could have missed their final or been late for it," he said.
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