SEPTA has made significant progress restoring services impacted by this morning’s storm, particularly along hard-hit Regional Rail lines. The ice and wintry mix brought numerous trees down and onto tracks and overhead power lines.
Thanks to the ongoing hard work by SEPTA crews dispatched to address problems throughout the rail network, service along the Warminster Line which had been suspended for much of the day, was back for rush-hour service.
West Trenton Line service has also been partially restored, with trains operating to-and-from Jenkintown. Problems on the West Trenton Line began late Tuesday night – before the storm – due to a derailment of a CSX freight train near Yardley. SEPTA operates on CSX tracks in this area, so Regional Rail service had to be suspended between Woodbourne and West Trenton. The line was further impacted a short time later by the storm, with the wintry mix creating significant signal power problems and numerous downed trees along the tracks. Efforts by both SEPTA and CSX are ongoing to clear these tracks and restore power, and CSX has reported progress on its work related to the derailment. Due to these efforts, SEPTA expects to be able to resume regular service on the West Trenton Line for the start of Thursday morning’s commute.
Efforts also continue to restore service to the Paoli/Thorndale and Cynwyd Lines. Amtrak, which owns these lines, is working aggressively to clear a large number of downed trees and correct power problems that have also forced it to suspend service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. SEPTA will stay in close communication with Amtrak overnight, and will announce the status of morning service as soon as possible. SEPTA customers using these lines are urged to check for updates online and by following traffic updates on local news.
All other services are expected to continue on normal weekday schedules for Thursday morning.
For more information, customers should go to www.septa.org or call SEPTA Customer Service at (215) 580-7800.