(Philadelphia television station WCAU posted the following article on its website on April 23.)
PHILADELPHIA — It hasn’t been a good day for SEPTA and commuters: Two separate incidents closed down three SEPTA railway lines into Philadelphia Wednesday morning.
A derailed freight train took down 1 mile of SEPTA power lines north of Philadelphia, closing down the R3 West Trenton line indefinitely.
At 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, 14 cars on a 78-car freight train derailed near Neshaminy Falls. One car reportedly fell across SEPTA railway tracks. SEPTA officials believe the accident was caused by vandals who left car tires on the railway tracks.
Currently, SEPTA will not be providing shuttle buses in place of the R3 West Trenton line, which was affected by the train derailment. It is asking that all passengers seek alternative transportation for Wednesday morning.
Also, downed wires at Fern Rock are forcing SEPTA to use shuttle buses on the R2 Warminster line and R5 Lansdale-Doylestown line between Jenkintown and Fern Rock. From there, riders need to transfer to the Broad Street subway to get into the city.
There was no word from SEPTA about the cause of the Fern Rock power outage.