No cause yet for SEPTA train crash that injured 33

Karl Baker
https://www.delawareonline.com/staff/38113/karl-baker/

Editors note: The NTSB in an evening press briefing said there were 33 injuries in the crash. Earlier versions of this story reported a different number, which had been provided by SEPTA.  

Federal crash investigators commenced an investigation Tuesday, collecting evidence and analyzing passengers' injuries, in an effort to determine the cause of an early-morning commuter train crash near Philadelphia.

Dozens were injured around 12:15 a.m. when the SEPTA commuter train crashed into an idle train parked on tracks at the 69th Street Station, in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania – the terminus of the Norristown High Speed Line.

By late-morning Tuesday, NTSB officials could be seen inspecting the perimeter of a two-car train at the closed platform where the collision had occurred. It had no obvious damage to its left-hand side.

Agency spokesman Eric Weiss said a team of about 10 investigators will collect evidence from the damaged trains and the surrounding tracks and switches. They also will analyze the nature of passenger injuries, he said. 

“But, we won’t come to any conclusions on scene," he said. 

Numerous transit employees standing on a still-operating train platform could be heard chatting about the collision at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

“A switch went over at the last second,” said one of the workers, donning a green SEPTA vest.

The train's operator was among 33 hurt in the crash. One passenger said the operator was “all banged up” and the scene was bloody.

The injured were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, said Heather Redfern, a spokeswoman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

“Some were considered walking wounded,” she said.

Local trains operated with delays Tuesday morning on the line, which runs between Upper Darby and suburban Norristown, Pennsylvania.

One of two available platforms at 69th Street Station was closed, and yellow caution tape was draped across its entrance.

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While the workers chatted, crowds of riders waited at the platform. Ward McCrea, an equipment operator from Philadelphia, was waiting for the next train to Norristown, where he would transfer to buses bound for Lansdale, Pennsylvania. 

"This is my first time riding this train," he said. "Hopefully, it doesn't crash."

Transit riders at the 69th Street Station in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania walk past a closed entrance near the site of a train collision that occurred earlier Tuesday morning.

Earlier in the morning, a passenger, Raymond Woodard, told WPVI-TV, that he was riding home from work when the train crashed.

“I heard the train going real fast … like, super fast,” Woodard said. “And I looked up, and I saw that we’re at 69th Street and said, ‘Why are we going so fast?’ And then we just hit the train. Boom! I fell out of my chair, glass from the window shattered, I hit my head. Everybody was on the floor.”

A separate crash near the 69th Street Terminal involving three out-of-service commuter trains injured four people in February, Redfern said.

At the time, SEPTA said one train rear-ended another on a loop where trains turn around to get back into service. Cars from that accident derailed and hit a third train on nearby tracks.

NTSB investigators have not yet determined an official cause for that collision, Redfern said.  

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.