Early this morning, at about 4:40 AM, SEPTA “mini wire train”, Track Car 3161, rear-ended an Airport-bound R1 train 0199 just southwest of 10th and Wagnor Streets. There were 18 passengers aboard the commuter train, and 4 workers on the wire train. Nine people, 4 from the wire train and 5 from the commuter train, were taken to the nearby Albert Einstein Hospital for treatment.
At this time, SEPTA officials are looking into the cause of the accident, which caused delays of 20 minutes or more on the R1 Airport, R2 Warminster, R3 West Trenton, and R5 Landsdale/Doylestown lines. So far, it seems to be human error, either on the dispatcher’s or the wire train’s operator’s part.
For more details, see this news article: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20090127_18_injured_in_SEPTA_R1_crash.html
Discuss the accident in this thread: http://philadelphiatransitforums.cjb.net/topic/7070449/1/#new