Subway-Surface service disruption 9/23--what happened?

Anyone know what the heck happened with the subway-surface lines this afternoon/evening? I was waiting for a westbound Route 34 at 36th St. for 25 minutes, and from talking to other people, some had been waiting an hour (as of 6:40PM). In those 25 minutes, I only saw two trolleys go by, and naturally they both ran closed doors, bell dinging, packed to the gills with people right past the station.

When I finally did get a 34, I saw at 40th St. a line of trolleys coming off Woodland that was at least 6-deep (possibly longer; I could only see 6 trolleys back). There was also one laying over on the loop, and we were behind three others waiting to exit the tunnel and berth at the shelters.

So what the heck was going on? Accident? Medical emergency? Someone accidently remove a piece of bailing wire that was holding the track circuit together?

I got to the platform at 15th st. around 5:10, and the whole station was full wall to wall with people and I noticed that for 5 or 10 minutes I didn't see a single trolley (some of the lines should have been running 5 minute headways each, I think). Then after a few more minutes a trolley rolled by all dark and being pushed by another trolley with the "not in service" card up. Now that I think about it, actually, the front one could also have been pulling the back one, because there was a drawbar between them. After that a whole string started to come by, and I actually waited for the second one on my line (the 13) because the first one was so crowded. So I assumed that one broke down and that was the cause of the crowding--but that's considerably earlier than you were waiting so I wonder if something bigger happened. Or maybe they just got so bunched up around 5 that by the time you were waiting they were all coming back eastbound, so there weren't enough for the westbound runs. My girlfriend got on at 36th and said the same thing about them being overcrowded and some running by.

I got to the 22nd Street westbound station at about 4:45 p.m. on Friday, when I noticed a disabled Route 11 trolley on the eastbound track, which had stopped about 10-15 feet before reaching the station. Apparently, this was the cause of the delays, and it had been there for several minutes before I arrived, because there were no trolleys which had turned around in the meantime to head back in the opposite direction.

Eventually (after about 25 minutes), they were able to connect a drawbar between the Route 11 trolley, and a Route 10 trolley directly behind it. Both trolleys then let off their remaining passengers at 22nd Street, and continued nonstop eastbound, before turning around and heading westbound without stopping. The trolleys immediately following these two made all remaining eastbound stops, before turning around and making as many westbound stops as they could. Quite a few trolleys were only able to let off passengers at 22nd (as well as many other stops), without letting anyone on.

SEPTA Source reports that a Route 11 trolley had a mechanical problem in the tunnel....which took 24 minutes to repair. The other problems were just cascadind delays. The Route 11 trolley originally broke down at 4:45 pm...at the height of rush hour.