9 Taken to Hospital After Train Collision

A SEPTA work train ran into a commuter train in North Philadelphia early Tuesday morning, resulting in nine people being transported to Albert Einstein Memorial Hospital.

The R1 commuter train had just departed from Fern Rock station and was en route to Center City and Philadelphia International Airport. Eighteen passengers were aboard the commuter train when it was hit from behind around 4:40 a.m. just southwest of 10th and Wagner Streets.

All nine of the passengers that were transported to hospital were released within hours. Four of the victims were SEPTA workers and five were on the passenger train, according to Felipe Suarez, a spokesman for SEPTA.
“We’ll know more once we’ve had a chance to conduct interviews. But right now we don’t have a cause for the accident,” said Suarez

Eight others reported only minor injuries and were not hospitalized.

In consequence of the accident, the R1, R2, R3 and R5 trains ran up to 25 minutes late Tuesday morning as crews investigated the crash site and trains had to take turns passing on one set of tracks. By 7:35 a.m. it was reported that SEPTA trains were able to run in both directions through the crash site.