SEPTA Train Hits Teen Listening to Music

Boy listening to his headphones while walking along the tracks is hit in 1 of 2 incidents involving SEPTA Regional Rail Line trains hitting pedestrians Wednesday

A teenager listening to music on his headphones was struck Wednesday afternoon by a SEPTA regional rail train in what Abington Township Police call an accident.

The Warminster Line train hit the 16-year-old boy around 3:10 p.m. as he walked about 1,000 feet from near the Ardsley Station, according to release from Abington Police.

Police say that track work that has forced inbound and outbound trains onto the same track could be partially responsible for the teen being struck.

The youth was walking north or in the same direction as outbound trains on what he apparently thought were the inbound only tracks. ... The train that struck him was outbound and approached him from behind. The engineer saw the youth and began to blow the horn. The youth continued to walk along, either not hearing the horn because of the headphones or hearing it but expecting the train to pass him safely on the outbound track. The engineer threw the emergency stop brakes and continued to blow the horn but was unable to stop the train before it struck the youth.

The unidentified boy was rushed to Abington Memorial Hospital in serious condition.

More than 45 minutes later the Warminster Line train remained on the tracks as investigators examined the scene. SEPTA canceled the 3:39 p.m. departure from Warminster.

Then around 3:50 p.m., a Lansdale/Doylestown Line train hit a 29-year-old man as he tried to jump onto the Lansdale Station platform, according to a press release from Lansdale Police.

Witnesses at the scene reported that the male had scaled a fence separating the SEPTA property along Walnut Street and began walking in a perpendicular direction toward the tracks. Witnesses said that the conductor sounded the train’s horn however the male never stopped his forward progression. The conductor attempted an emergency stop and as the male crossed the tracks he threw a skateboard he was carrying up onto the train platform. He appeared to begin an attempt to hoist himself onto the platform when he was struck by the left front of the lead train car. He was then thrown to the ground and under the train which continued to come to an emergency stop.

Police said the unidentified man was conscious and alert when police arrived. They said he appeared to suffer injuries to his head and ankle that didn't appear life threatening. He was medivaced to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

All trains along the Lansdale/Doylestown Line were suspended until further notice as crews investigated that scene. the scene was cleared after about 45 minutes as train service was resumed. But SEPTA warned commuters could expect residual delays.

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