(The following story by Nick Pipitone appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on July 11.)
PHILADELPHIA — More than two years after one of its trains hit another head-on in Abington, SEPTA says it still has not remedied all the causes of the crash, which injured 38 passengers and all six crew members.
In a report yesterday, the National Transportation Safety Board formally affixed blame for the July 1, 2006, accident on SEPTA and a rookie engineer who failed to comply with stop signals on the R2 Warminster line. That conclusion came as no surprise, echoing records made public by the NTSB in August.
In its official finding, the board also noted contributing factors that included the lack of an emergency brake system and a computer system that did not adequately alert a train dispatcher.
While acknowledging fault, SEPTA officials yesterday pointed to a safety-improvement project totaling $80 million to $100 million that began in 2000 but, for the most part, has yet to be completed.
“We agree with the findings of the report,” SEPTA spokesman Felipe Suarez said. “Prior to the [report’s] release, we had been actively involved in an ongoing capital-investment project to upgrade signals in the entire SEPTA rail system.”
The agency, he said, modified the computer system in October and fired the engineer, Silvino Alexander, who is appealing the loss of his job and engineer’s license.
Installation of the emergency brake system, however, is not expected to be finished until the end of 2009 on the R2 Warminster line or until 2013 on all rails. Currently, 80 percent of the system is in place, Suarez said.
Frank Kelly, also a SEPTA spokesman, said the installation was a “very involved process” because the system had to be built and transported, and worked on in sections. “It’s a shame we didn’t have it on that line that day,” he said.
The accident occurred around 3 p.m. when a southbound train engineered by Alexander ran at least one stop signal, broke a rail switch, and continued down the track. Alexander hit the emergency brake, but not in time to avoid hitting a stopped northbound train. Four cars derailed.
All six crew members sued SEPTA and have yet to return to work; two of them settled for undisclosed sums. Passengers filed five lawsuits and 39 claims, of which 30 have been settled.