ACCIDENT AT 30 ST

What a wonderful way to start the holiday weekend...

Two R5 trains were involved in an accident at 30 St Station during the height of the evening rush. The #567 (5:48pm Malvern Express) had pulled out of the station, however, according to WPVI-TV, stopped suddenly. The #4569 (5:54pm Bryn Mawr Local) was unable to brake in time, rear-ending the #567. Five people were reportedly injured, with 2 taken to Hahnemann Hosptial.

With all the problems on the Regional Rail system in recent months (on-time performance, wire problems along the Reading trunk, etc), this is the latest headache that SEPTA can do without.

Based upon the report, it appears that there's some problems with dispatching heading into 30 St. It wouldn't be that shocking, however. A few Sundays ago, I was on an R2 Marcus Hook train (the #4219; 2:38pm from 30 St to Marcus Hook), which departed a couple of minutes early. The #2139 (R1 Airport) scheduled to depart 30 St at 2:34pm, had pulled up right behind it. The #2139 was literally a few feet behind the the #4219. To make things worse, the #4219, for whatever reason, started to inch its way up the R1 Airport line instead of staying on the NEC. Someone at SEPTA apparently forgot to tell Amtrak that the #4219 had actually pulled ahead of the #2139.

I wonder if someone's going to end up doing an in-depth story on it...