RailNews

SEPTA Norristown Line Collision Injures 33

A train on SEPTA’s Norristown High Speed Line struck a standing train at the 69th Street Terminal in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby, Pa., on August 22. The train’s operator and 32 passengers were injured. The train reportedly entered the terminal at a high rate of speed just after midnight. The National Transportation Safety Board had an investigative team on site by the following day. NTSB investigator Ruben Payan said, “Onboard video recorders from the two rail cars involved have been downloaded and they will be sent to our vehicle recorder lab in D.C. for further analysis.” He continued, “We will not be determining the cause of this accident while we are here on the scene. We are going to be here on scene for four or five days collecting evidence. Once we finish here we will continue the investigation back at our home headquarters.” Passengers reported the train overshot at least two stations on the way to Upper Darby, including Gulph Mills and Bryn Mawr; in both instances, the one-car train backed up to the platform to load and unload passengers before continuing.

—Passenger Train Journal

This article was posted on: August 23, 2017