SEPTA Regional Rail delays this morning are due to a train pulling down overhead wires
Crews are working to repair the overhead wires, but delays continue.
SEPTA Regional Rail riders experienced significant delays — at times, 30 minutes to an hour — at the peak of morning rush hour on Tuesday morning, after a train pulled electrical wires down.
A West Trenton Line train struck overhead electrical wires near Wayne Junction train station in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia at 7:45 a.m., said SEPTA officials.
The train lost power and was tangled in the wires it had pulled down.
Marie Pollock, 24, who was on board, felt the train start to gradually slow down before quickly and forcefully coming to a stop. Pollock could see wires hitting the train windows and noted that other passengers were startled during the collision.
“We were keeping the doors closed because it was so cold,” Pollock said. “We were on kind of a hill, so there wasn’t any room for SEPTA to get a shuttle, and the power was out on both tracks, so we couldn’t get a typical rescue train to us.”
Pollock, who had already been waiting a half-hour in 20-degree chill for her 6:17 a.m. West Trenton Line train before the ordeal, said passengers waited inside the stuck train for an hour and a half.
SEPTA crews had to cut through the downed wires to free the train and then used a diesel-powered train to tow the disabled one to Wayne Junction, where passengers took other trains into Center City.
Pollock’s four-hour journey didn’t end until 10 a.m. when she finally arrived at Jefferson Station.
Since then, service interruptions have been occurring primarily on the Warminster, Lansdale/Doylestown, and West Trenton lines. However, delays cascade throughout the rail system, leading to 15 to 45-minute delays on other lines, said SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch.
“SEPTA crews are working to repair the overhead wires that caused this morning’s service delays. We regret the disruption this has caused for our customers, and we will restore regular service as soon as possible,” Busch said. There is currently no timeline for completed repairs.
SEPTA urges riders to use the SEPTA mobile app and septa.org for the latest updates.
Today’s service interruptions follow a streak of solid performance by SEPTA after months of disruptions while SEPTA rushed to inspect and repair a fleet of 223 trains after five caught fire last year.