ANOTHER RAIL FIASCO For the second time in as many days, SEPTA Regional Rail service was severely impacted due to downed wires between 30 St and Suburban stations. The incident occured at 8:15am, right when the bulk of commuters are arriving on the Regional Rail system into Center City. Most passengers were forced to use other modes, including the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines. Repairs were completed by 3:00pm, however, the R1 Airport and R6 Cynwyd lines were not running trains. Shuttle buses were in place for the R1 Airport line, while R6 Cynwyd passengers were diverted to Overbrook (R5 Paoli-Thorndale) to transfer to shuttle buses. There's no word as to whether or not these problems were related to the Rail Power Project or not. All other lines were operating on "special" schedules, which of course are not posted on the SEPTA web site. On the R5, most - if not all - express trains to Thorndale during the PM peak were operating as locals. I would expect a lot of angry phone calls from the Main Line tomorrow morning.

BUS SHORTAGES ... AGAIN It's usually not a good omen when 3421 - normally a Callowhill bus - starts appearing on routes in the suburbs. Such was the case today as 3421 appeared on the 4:30pm 111 to Chadds Ford. To make things worse, the 4:35pm 104 West Chester Express was delayed nearly 15 minutes because of bus problems. For starters, 3381 arrived at 69 Street Terminal 5 minutes late. Instead of going into service on the 4:35pm to West Chester, 3381 went back to the yard due to mechanical problems. Apparently, there were no other buses available, since 3381 ended up covering the 4:35pm 104 trip, leaving at 4:48pm, just a minute or two before the 4:50pm 104 Newtown Square Corporate Campus departure. Never mind that at least two more buses went back to the yard before 3381 returned, so either of those buses probably could've been put out there instead of 3381.