Equipment Problems at City Avenue SEPTA Station Delay Some Trains, Cancel Others

Suburbs-bound trains on SEPTA's Paoli-Thorndale Line are running 30 to 40 minutes behind Monday evening after one train was evacuated at a City Avenue station for an electrical fire, an agency official said.

Train 575, scheduled to leave 30th Street Station at 6:49 p.m., stopped just before the Overbrook station, near 63rd Street and City Avenue, with trains 577 (leaving 30th at 7:19) and 579 (7:49) backed up behind it, according to SEPTA.

The fire in the undercarriage of 575's last car was "no flames, just smoke," said Jerri Williams, SEPTA's chief press officer. Passengers were evacuated from the entire train while agency inspectors and fire authorities worked on the problem for about an hour.

Electrical power was shut down while crews worked, requiring the two trailing trains and service on the Cynwyd Line to be suspended, Williams said. It was not immediately clear what caused the electrical fire, but an investigation is under way.

SEPTA announced about 8:30 p.m. that Paoli-Thorndale service had been restored, with "residual delays" up to an hour. There was no follow-up announcement about Cynwyd service, which ends at 8:19 p.m. weeknights anyway.

All of train 575, not just the damaged car, was removed from the tracks at Overbrook, and the two following trains from 30th Street Station picked up the evacuated passengers to take them westward, Williams said.

The final westbound Paoli-Thorndale train on a weeknight is normally scheduled to leave Temple University at 12:04 a.m. and arrive in Paoli at 1:03 a.m.