(The following report by Walt Hunter appeared at CBS3.com on September 11.)
LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP, Pa. — SEPTA is taking action following an incident that could have potentially put hundreds of riders at risk.
As an R-5 train, loaded with morning time commuters, approached Merion station, something went dangerously wrong.
A piece of equipment dropped from the bottom of a train car on August 29 and it ripped huge chunks from railroad ties and dragged along the rails.
“It’s the worst you can get, it’s a catastrophic failure,” Charles Little said.
Little heads the union of 200 SEPTA car inspectors and he suspects bolts holding the piece of equipment, called a traction-motor, failed.
“It could have been a very serious derailment,” Little added.
Records obtained by CBS 3 indicate an engineer had complained about the same car, number 165, not working properly the night before. Sources said after an inspection, SEPTA put the same car back into service.
“If that car had that kind of problem, that car should have been taken out for a test run,” Little said.
SEPTA officials, following the incident, immediately re-inspected all 300 regional rail cars and found no similar problems.
“Obviously this was a very serious incident that we are taking very seriously, no one was hurt thank God and we now want to get to the bottom of the engineering problem,” SEPTA spokesperson Richard Maloney said.
Officials said fortunately the train was only going about 25 mph.