Boy, 11, electrocuted at SEPTA rail yard

An 11-year-old boy who was electrocuted Saturday while climbing on a SEPTA commuter train had apparently walked into a North Philadelphia rail yard after leaving a neighborhood block party.

Jewel Angelo, of the 300 block of West Albanus Street, was found dead on the ground near two trains at the Wayne Electric facility Sunday morning. He was apparently killed Saturday evening around 7 p.m. after he climbed atop a train car and touched a rooftop pantograph, which carries 11,000 volts of electricity from overhead lines to power the train, SEPTA assistant general manager James B. Jordan said Monday.

Jordan said the boy and several other youths had been seen along tracks leading into the Wayne yard after leaving a block party on Elwood Street.

Although the rail yard, where trains are stored and repaired, is gated and locked, it is accessible on foot along the many tracks that converge on the yard.

Jordan said SEPTA officials will meet with area school officials to stress to students what dangerous places railroads can be. Every year, several people are killed by SEPTA trains, either by being struck or by being electrocuted.