(The following article by Jeff Shields appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer on February 12.) Inquirer Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA — A pair of aging and frail overhead wires that power SEPTA commuter trains snapped at “the most inopportune time” of yesterday morning’s rush hour, leaving passengers stuck in trains and stewing for up to two hours in a complete disruption of rail service in the Philadelphia region.
Crews fixed the wires by 3 p.m., allowing restoration of most train service – on an abbreviated schedule – to salvage the evening rush hour. SEPTA officials expected full service to resume this morning. Updates are available at the SEPTA Travel Information Center at 215-580-7800 or online at www.septa.org.
It was the second straight day of SEPTA rail delays. A suspicious briefcase left at Market East closed the station from 6:40 to 7:40 a.m. Monday, stalling Center City trains for the morning rush and leaving trains running behind schedule for most of the afternoon.
Yesterday’s failure of the 70-year-old catenary lines happened about 8:15 a.m., between the Suburban and 30th Street Stations, near the intersection of 13 train lines. It affected a power grid that caused delays on every SEPTA Regional Rail line and touched many of SEPTA’s 37,000 morning rush-hour commuters.
“Part of the web of electrical systems came down at the most inopportune time,” SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said.
He said SEPTA did not know exactly what caused the wires to break, “but doubtless, the age of the system contributed one way or another.”
Some trains were stopped inside the tunnel between the Temple and Market East Stations, their passengers unable to call out on cell phones.
“You wonder what’s going on,” said Bill Ewing, who watched a conductor ask to borrow cell phones while the R7 train stood idle underground. The power failure caused by the wires also affected train communications, a SEPTA spokesman said.
Ewing, a 63-year-old lawyer, boarded the R7 at Sedgwick at 7:57 a.m. and didn’t arrive at Market East until about 10:15 a.m. He said the conductor originally announced that the train was going to stop at the North Broad Street station so passengers could catch the subway, but instead forged on and lost power underground.
On the R6, stranded in the same tunnel, Zach Mader’s overcaffeinated seatmate was confronted with the reality that SEPTA trains have no bathrooms. The man said he wasn’t going to last much longer. Then, the train finally started moving, said Mader, 21, of Manayunk.
“Toward the end, everyone was really anxious,” said Mader, who said conductors discussed the prospect of coupling trains so that passengers could walk train to train to get to Market East.
SEPTA officials said power was finally restored long enough to get trains to a station, and then power was shut off again while crews repaired the wires. Passengers made do with the subway, buses and the El.
The area where the “old and cold” lines failed is the target of the $17 million “Rail Power Project” that began in November to replace just such aging power lines, Maloney said.
The copper wires in the old lines can contract in the winter, making them brittle. They also expand in the summer, when they can sag and be dragged down by trains.
The wires are to be replaced by June.
As of yesterday evening, shuttle buses continued to transport passengers on the R1 Airport Line, and passengers riding the R6 line to Cynwyd had to take the R5 to Overbrook, then take a shuttle bus from there. These are SEPTA’s least busy routes and were expected to be running normally today.
Yesterday, Jawara Robinson, 24, and Frederick Rochester, 34, wanted to catch the R5 at 30th Street Station to get to work in Paoli at an assisted-living facility.
They planned to catch the train about 9:20 a.m. with plenty of time to spare before starting work at 11 a.m.
But with no idea when service would resume, they coughed up $13 each to take Amtrak.
“We’re paying extra money to go to work,” said Rochester, of North Philadelphia.
At Suburban Station during the evening rush hour, loudspeakers apologized for delays, but crowds were generally thin. Charlie Latorr, munching unhappily on a bag of potato chips while he waited for the R3, found a sense of perspective.
“It’s a half-hour late – that’s not bad,” he said. “Yesterday [morning] it was two hours.”