SEPTA Restores Service on Paoli/Thorndale Line After Outage, Delays Remain

Update, 7:40 a.m.:

SEPTA restored service between its Thorndale and Malvern stations about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday after damaged power lines and an outage stranded trains Tuesday night and caused delays and cancellations early Wednesday.

SEPTA officials said passengers on the Paoli/Thorndale Line should expect delays up to 30 minutes, but that trains would be back to normal.

The first train was set to depart at 7:36 a.m. from Thorndale.

Service between Malvern and Thorndale was suspended after power line damage caused an outage Tuesday night, stranding two trains filled with passengers. The suspension continued into Wednesday morning.

Update, 6:40 a.m.:

Major delays and suspensions continued to affect SEPTA Regional Rail's Paoli/Thorndale Line Wednesday morning, after two trains filled with evening commuters became stuck on the tracks during a power outage.

Service remained suspended along the Paoli/Thorndale Line between Thorndale and Malvern Wednesday morning, and SEPTA officials said trains would pass once every 40 minutes to make normal stops, but passengers should expect delays as crews continue to repair damaged overhead wires that caused the problem.

But as NBC10's Pamela Osborne waited early Wednesday with passengers at Malvern -- where normal service was supposed to resume to Center City -- trains weren't showing up as scheduled. Osborne reported that the 5:30 a.m. train did not show up as promised, and that a passing train did not stop to pick up passengers at the station just before 6:30 a.m.

SETPA tweeted that Paoli/Thorndale Train #526 was canceled about the same time. It's unclear if that was one of the trains that was supposed to move through every 40 minutes.

Amtrak trains in the area are also suspended.

It's unclear when the lines will be repaired and normal service will resume, but SEPTA officials estimated the problem should be resolved after 7 a.m.

The outage that began Tuesday evening left dozens of passengers stuck on stopped trains.

Tuesday night update:

It was not known exactly how many passengers were aboard at the time, but SEPTA Media Relations spokesperson Carla Showell-Lee said the sudden halt affected two trains, each consisting of six cars.

All the passengers were eventually taken off the stranded trains, but Lee said the Paoli/Thorndale line remained suspended. She said SEPTA anticipates working through the night in hopes of restoring service by the morning rush hour.

One of those unlucky passengers stranded was Mary Beth Shuts, who takes the train daily for her commute from Downingtown into Center City.

“I went on at 5 p.m. and got off a little after 8. That commute normally takes about an hour and 15 minutes, but it was 3 hours tonight,” Shuts told NBC10.

She said it got so desperate that some riders thought about calling 9-1-1, adding that when the electricity went out, the trains’ air conditioning stopped. The lights were also out. Eventually, riders on the two stranded trains were evacuated to shuttle buses at Malvern station.

“Some people had tried to jump off the train before they put us on ‘lock down.’ We were sitting in grilling heat,” Shuts said.  “One woman wanted to call the cops. By around 7:30 p.m., there seemed to be no light. Two SEPTA officials came with flashlights to help us cross the tracks. We had to cross over two tracks to meet up with our families.”

Passengers took to Twitter expressing discomfort while waiting hours on the suspended trains:

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