Amtrak Chaos in Pennsylvania July 13-14

SEPTA released a statement outlining some of the issues it faced yesterday and today related to Amtrak problems:

https://www.septa.org/events/recent-service-delays.html

1. It appears it took Amtrak from 1pm Wednesday to 5am Thursday to repair the downed wires blocking the southbound tracks south of 30th Street. This disrupted service on the Wilmington-Newark SEPTA line, which was partially running from the lower level but skipping all Pennsylvania stops except Marcus Hook.

2. Amtrak’s dispatching system crashed this morning. My morning train was not impacted on the Paoli Thorndale Line (actually early), but it appears Amtrak continues have trains severely delayed resulting in SEPTA trains getting delayed.

3. It appears Amtrak is having a separate problem between Lancaster and Harrisburg with trains running anywhere between a half hour and two hours late.

This all came about because we (SEPTA) turned our Lenni-Lamokin transmission line back on after it was taken offline for Elwyn to Wawa. Amtrak gave us the go ahead, and didn't prepare adequately (absolving us from any guilt in the process). When it was turned on, one of their transformers in the area exploded and the excess current running on Tracks 3 and 4 completely destroyed the wires.

That makes it even sound more like Amtrak's fault. This cannot be the first time a commuter transmission line has been turned on.

mcgrath618 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 14, 2022 8:37 pm This all came about because we (SEPTA) turned our Lenni-Lamokin transmission line back on after it was taken offline for Elwyn to Wawa. Amtrak gave us the go ahead, and didn't prepare adequately (absolving us from any guilt in the process). When it was turned on, one of their transformers in the area exploded and the excess current running on Tracks 3 and 4 completely destroyed the wires.

Come on. Whom ever is joining a grid has complete responsibility that there are no compatibility
problems. SEPTA had the line isolated from 'amtrak. They must have been doing some kind of power line work.
Can think of at least 4 reasns why transformer exploded. 2 phases swapped changing 3 phase rotation to backwards. all 3 phases 120 degrees out of sync with Amtrak. SEPTA voltage no longer same as Amtrak. 4th reason was SEPTA at 60 hZ instead of 25 hZ?. In any case it was SEPTA's responsibility to verify that the 2 power systems were completely compatible in all rspects.

Was there talk that Wawa extension was going to be 60 hZ?

What is puzzling is why the interconnect did not protection CBs? Or did they fail. Thought --- Why ever SEPTA did not verify compatibility it may be wondering if Amtrak will disconnect SEPTA from Amtrak's grid. That may be why SEPTA is trying to blame Amtrak?

west point wrote: ↑Sat Jul 16, 2022 3:54 pm Come on. Whom ever is joining a grid has complete responsibility that there are no compatibility
problems. SEPTA had the line isolated from 'amtrak. They must have been doing some kind of power line work.
Can think of at least 4 reasns why transformer exploded. 2 phases swapped changing 3 phase rotation to backwards. all 3 phases 120 degrees out of sync with Amtrak. SEPTA voltage no longer same as Amtrak. 4th reason was SEPTA at 60 hZ instead of 25 hZ?. In any case it was SEPTA's responsibility to verify that the 2 power systems were completely compatible in all rspects.

Was there talk that Wawa extension was going to be 60 hZ?

What is puzzling is why the interconnect did not protection CBs? Or did they fail. Thought --- Why ever SEPTA did not verify compatibility it may be wondering if Amtrak will disconnect SEPTA from Amtrak's grid. That may be why SEPTA is trying to blame Amtrak?

The bigger question is was SEPTA ever 60 Hz?

STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Sat Jul 16, 2022 6:02 pm The bigger question is was SEPTA ever 60 Hz?

The short answer is no. However there has been a lot of talk that SEPTA did not have capacity on its 25 hZ network for the Wawa extension. Speculation at one time was that it would be cheaper to install commerrcial 60Hz for the extension. Since the transmission line in question involved Wawa I ask the question as speculation of just one of the SEPTA screw up possibilities.

west point wrote: ↑Sat Jul 16, 2022 6:55 pm The short answer is no. However there has been a lot of talk that SEPTA did not have capacity on its 25 hZ network for the Wawa extension. Speculation at one time was that it would be cheaper to install commerrcial 60Hz for the extension. Since the transmission line in question involved Wawa I ask the question as speculation of just one of the SEPTA screw up possibilities.

My own speculation is that someone crossed out "25" and wrote in "60" thinking that the first was in error, and it wasn't caught until KABOOOOM!

So what you are saying is that the Wawa extension was not electrified until the 13th?

For some great, older, reference material, check out the original PRR electrification diagrams

http://prr.railfan.net/documents/pdf/dr ... n/ET-1.pdf
http://prr.railfan.net/documents/pdf/dr ... 159--4.pdf