No Injuries as Septa Train Catches Fire Near Overbrook Station

by KYW's Al Novack, Paul Kurtz, and Steve Tawa

A Septa Regional Rail car -- packed with about 500 commuters on the second morning of the bus and subway strike -- caught fire Wednesday morning, sending some riders in adjacent train cars scurrying out emergency window exits to escape the growing flames.

The fire broke out about 7am Wednesday morning in the first car of an inbound Paoli R5 Regional Rail train, not far from the Overbrook station in West Philadelphia.
 
All passengers escaped unharmed, due in large part to the work of some cautious conductors who had evacuated the front car at the first faint whiff of smoke.

The fire broke out on the front car of the four-car train shortly after the R5 pulled out of Overbrook station. This passenger says he was on that front car:

"You could smell smoke in the air. (There was) no smoke, but you could tell that there was some kind of burning going on. Not severe. And as you got on board, a couple of people said, 'You smell smoke in here?' And the conductors said, 'Everybody get off of this car, go to the other cars.' "

The conductors cut electrical power to the first car and then allowed the train to proceed. But once the fire was pinpointed, the entire train was evacuated. The entire front end of the first car was eventually engulfed in flames. The blaze was placed under control within 35 minutes.     

Later Wednesday afternoon, Septa officials said the fire had originated in the heating or electrical system of the first train car, and was not suspicious.  One official said that because of the train crew's good work in following standard operating procedures, this event was a "catastrophe that wasn't."

Service on the R5 Paoli-Thorndale, the R6 Cynwyd, and the Amtrak Harrisburg line all were temporarily suspended for a time on Wednesday.

By 9am, R5 service was resuming slowly.

The Regional Rails were not subject to the strike against Septa by unionized workers in the city (see related stories), which caused the trains to be carrying more than their normal passenger load on Wednesday.  Some bus and subway riders tried the Regional Rails as an alternative into the city.

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