Power Problems Strand Hundreds of Frustrated SEPTA Commuters

Hundreds of commuters were stranded Thursday evening after power problems shut down the Paoli-Thorndale line in the middle of the evening rush.

"I can't believe how incompetent they handled this, they should have a plan in place," stranded passenger Robert Zirkel told NBC10's Drew Smith, "Whoever is in charge of the customer service whould really be fired for tonight's events."

It all started around 5 p.m. near the Ardmore train station. Officials said the stoppage was due to an Amtrak power issue. Septa officials said 6 trains with an estimated 500 passengers were stranded along the line when the problems began. This estimate did not include passengers who had not boarded trains yet.

SEPTA advised commuters traveling from Philadelphia to Villanova, Bryn Mawr and Radnor to take the Market-Frankford Line to 69th Street then transfer to the Norristown High Speed Line. Commuters looking to travel further out would need taxis or private vehicles to return to their parked vehicles.[[371749941, C]]

"Right now, we're monitoring the situation and we'll get notice out to the public if service will be impacted tomorrow," a SEPTA spokesperson told NBC10's Drew Smith.

Commuters lined up at 30th Street Station awaiting buses to transit locations along the route. Buses finally arrived around 8:30 p.m., more than 3 hours after the problem began.

Chris McConathy told NBC10 he opted to call an Uber from the Radnor train station to take him home after he was delayed for hours. "SEPTA made no efforts to even refund people for the trip or anything," McConathy said he finally arrived home about 3 hours after his train should have arrived.[[371750101, C]]