Northeast Regional 188 - Accident In Philadelphia

[Zeke]

The motor is sitting in the Frankfort junction yard and tore out the yard tracks before coming to rest. Thank god the yard was mostly empty. It appears the twisted up Amfleet car tangled with a cat pole. The Police and Fire/Rescue did a heck of a job in a very short time frame which I am sure saved lives.

[jslader]

There wouldn't be a locomotive on the other side; this was a Regional service, and the engine is at the head. The Keystone trains have cab cars for reverse running, not another loco.

[khecht]

With the location being in the area of Frankford Junction I think the railroad should be OK to 30th Street Station where he might have two choices:
1. The Market - Frankford Subway to a point where he can transfer to the PATCO Line for Camden then light rail it to Trenton where NJT should be running more or less normal service to New York.
2. Go to the upper level (SEPTA) at 30th Street and take a local to West Trenton where he can probably get to the Penn Station at Amtrak by taxicab.
Of the two alternatives I would probably use no. 1 because I don't like taxis no how. In any event he will have a long ride back to Connecticut and I can't reach his cell phone to appraise him of the situation ahead.

Though they're likely to do tremendous business at least Wednesday, another option if he gets to 30th Street would likely be to take buses out of the bus terminal that is just north of the SEPTA Market East (now "Jefferson") station; numerous Chinatown buses also depart from Chinatown within blocks of there. The area is safe on foot, and you can take any eastbound SEPTA train, except Cynwyd line trains signed only to Suburban Station, to get there. As I don't personally have experience with these services, though, some research is likely worthwhile.

So far I salute all previous entries on here for not commenting on the possible cause, we simply don't know as yet but in any event it is not going to be good.
Please continue to pray for all involved and thank god that it wasn't worse, it could have been.
Noel Weaver

As bad is it is, it could have also been far worse. I passed by SHORE on my way southbound on Keystone train 655 about 90 minutes before the incident, and it's possible I walked right past some folks on this train as I exited through the main hall at 30th Street, which is disconcerting. Best wishes to everyone affected.

[airlinephl]

More photos from the scene. Looks to be a lot of energy in this crash.








What a fine job the local agencies did getting passengers off, especially the Philadelphia Fire and Police department.

[NH2060]

I hope not to lessen the gravity of the crash by mentioning this, but for the time being the arguably busiest segment of the NEC outside of the Hudson River tunnels has been severely disrupted and during the middle of the work week. All Amtrak service between Philly and NYC is suspended for the time being. A lot of people are going to get a good enough idea of what happens when access from one city to another on the NEC is cut off. PHL-NYC is more or less it's own corridor within a corridor with Acela Express, Regional, and SEPTA/NJT serving that particular market. Not to mention it was home to the late "Clocker"/planned Acela Commuter service(s).

[litz]

News choppers on the live feed just did a 360-degree pan around the Sprinter and shone a light on it. It looks, amazingly, relatively unscathed. Doesn't appear that it struck anything. But...wow...the ties nearby have been completely stripped of rail. Staggering amount of lateral displacement.

I would put even money that the tracks it plowed through (and it looks like it plowed clear through a double track) caught it and stopped it, akin to a guardrail on a highway.

Imagine if it had kept going into the parked freight cars ... esp. if any of those contained hazmat.

As for condition - yeah, it seems in rather good shape; although the inside of the cab looks a complete mess, as is not surprising considering it had a considerable off-road excursion. Pantographs are even lowered and stowed.

Presumably, these Sprinters have event recorders ... do they have witness cameras too?

I saw one note the conductor might be missing, but I've seen nothing on condition of any of the rest of the crew (including the engineer).

[jslader]

I've noticed they have painted red numbers on some of the cars. Would these perhaps indicate the location of the fatalities?

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

News choppers on the live feed just did a 360-degree pan around the Sprinter and shone a light on it. It looks, amazingly, relatively unscathed. Doesn't appear that it struck anything. But...wow...the ties nearby have been completely stripped of rail. Staggering amount of lateral displacement.

I would put even money that the tracks it plowed through (and it looks like it plowed clear through a double track) caught it and stopped it, akin to a guardrail on a highway.

Imagine if it had kept going into the parked freight cars ... esp. if any of those contained hazmat.

As for condition - yeah, it seems in rather good shape; although the inside of the cab looks a complete mess, as is not surprising considering it had a considerable off-road excursion. Pantographs are even lowered and stowed.

Presumably, these Sprinters have event recorders ... do they have witness cameras too?

I saw one note the conductor might be missing, but I've seen nothing on condition of any of the rest of the crew (including the engineer).

I'm listening to the live feed. One conductor taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries, per a passenger just released from the hospital who rode along with the staffer to the hospital.

[jackintosh11]

I've noticed they have painted red numbers on some of the cars. Would these perhaps indicate the location of the fatalities?

They might also be the position in the consist.

[ekt8750]

I've noticed they have painted red numbers on some of the cars. Would these perhaps indicate the location of the fatalities?

looks like it's the position in the consist of each car. The really wrecked car is #1 and the other cars are sequentially numbered after that.

[khecht]

From NJ.com a pretty extensive close up photo gallery of the wreck:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/0 ... lment.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Way more detailed imagery than broadcast media had on earlier, thanks. It's striking how much damage the cat poles did to the Amfleets. I guess that's why some of them are still in service even 85 or so years after the PRR installed them, but I wish the cars had taken the poles out with less damage.

[runningwithscalpels]

I was just informed that the conductor is missing.

Now THIS sucks.

[litz]

sigh ... gotta love the news anchors ...

"It appears we are looking at the first car of the train, it has those scenic windows ..."

(this is as the aforementioned helicopter shots of the Sprinter are being shown)

[CentralValleyRail]

Unless Patrick Murphy had access to the speedometer on the train, I take his speed estimates with a grain of salt.

Whenever I ride the Acela I always have my speedometer app on for **** and giggles. So that's not impossible. Is it dead on? No probably a few MPH off but you get the point. Although I doubt he had that app open.

Well wishes to all involved.

[jslader]

I've noticed they have painted red numbers on some of the cars. Would these perhaps indicate the location of the fatalities?

They might also be the position in the consist.

I thought so too, at first, but one of the car has three numbers painted on it in separate locations, a "1" next to a"2", with a "3" painted at the very end.