Wires down on Reading Main 3/26/06

It was reported this afternoon that there were wire problems near North Broad this afternoon. Around 2:30 this afternoon, all Reading outbound (SPAX Northern Division) trains were coming in to Market East with 30-60 minute delays.

I rode the scheduled 2:15p CHW which departed Market East at 2:43p and all was fine on the PRR side of the system (Southern Division for you SEPTA-ites).

Later in the evening, I heard at Norristown TC that service was suspended due to "Amtrak Wire Problems".

What exactly was the problem, and why was SEPTA blaming Amtrak? No one seemed to know what was going on (I quizzed a Frontier Supervisor at NTC who had no idea the trains weren't running, she of course told me to take the 100 instead, there was no shuttle bus service, only the \ voice of SEPTA being piped into NTC saying "R6 service has been suspended due to Amtrak wire problems......Passengers should seek alternate means of transportation".

Funny how the Reading and PRR got 40+ years out of catenary while SEPTA is lucky to get 40 weeks. SEPTA is like a brittle piece of wood, look at it the wrong way and it turns to dust.

An inbound Marcus Hook train coming from Norristown brought down some wires in 16th Jct. on 4 track today. Trains were still able to operate on the mainline, but the SEPTA wire train was working to repair the steady span on 3 track until they shifted over to 4 to couple up to the disabled equipment and commense work on the damage on that track. AFAIK, they are still working as of the time I'm typing this.

I figured something like that happened. I'm just ticked that they're blaming Amtrak for it. The announcement I heard at Norristown clearly said Amtrak Wire problems.

Of course nothing on the website, Customer Service closed, Supervisors knows nothing. Im half tempted to look up some phone numbers for Control and post them on the internet somewhere......

So what did SEPTA know, and when did they know it??? Its always business as ususal, keep the riders and employees in the dark.

I was on train 2535 which was apparently the first one behind the mishap. I have to say, the crew was pretty informative about what was going on. Once they announced the problem I called KYW to report it to the traffic & transit people. We had to back from 16th St Jct to Wayne Junction to clear the site, and then we were held at North Broad to pick up passengers off the disabled R6. Unfortunately the conductor was not so eager to tell the couple across the aisle to either 1) stop playing all their cellphones' ringtones at full volume and/or 2) stop shamelessly - and I mean shamelessly - making out on the seat. Fortunately, they got off at North Broad.

I was going to 30th St with my wife to see her off on a business trip. It wasn't a good day on the rails - she missed her original Amtrak train b/c of the wire problems and caught another one 20 minutes later. That one was held in Wilmington for almost an hour account the train she was supposed to be on having struck and killed a trespasser.

On the way back home at 3:15 I got a better look at the site of the disabled R6, and it was a mess - the ET crew was working on the de-energized catenary. The pan on the disabled unit had taken the wire down right under a bridge and was jammed up against the underside of the bridge - maybe Allegheny Ave, but definitely not Corridor related. So SEPTA's announcement policy may just be to reflexively blame Amtrak for wire trouble.

SEPTA's electrification has brought them easy operations and a subborn disposisiton on expansion.

third rail is not as brittle as wires, but thats a different story. that is however why you don't have major third rail troubles on metro-north or LIRR etc. even with old systems

referring to trespassers, i saw two teenagers cross so soon after my amtrak train in connecticut i saw them walk on the rail from the side window!


on topic... its wire trouble... gonna happen with OLD catenary.
did i mention its OLD!!!

its wire trouble... gonna happen with OLD catenary.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't even think the overhead is all that old now - wasn't the RDG-side catenary all renewed as part of the Railworks project? Granted, that was 12 years ago now, but I think it's unfair to blame SEPTA for a decision on traction modes made by the Reading in the '20s. NJT runs a lot of inherited catenary also. I think this is more a case of $*!# happens. If anything, maybe the old GE pantographs are the problem? (see related thread elsewhere in this forum)

There's nothing wrong with easy operation, because theoretically that means lower fixed costs and greater reliability and efficiency, but I doubt having third rail would change SEPTA's stance on expansion one bit. That's a cultural issue that comes from the seeming indifference to serving existing customers well, let alone new ones.

A damage/defective pantograph will just as easily rip new wire down as it does old wire.