Report SEPTA Delays Here:

My NHSL train left 69th, then stopped, lost power, and then backed into 69th again. The conductor told me that the third rail shoe broke.

Are the N5s mechanically unreliable, or is this a freak occurrence?

MCG: Third rail shoes are designed to break clear in case of a contact problem between the third rail and the
truck assembly. A single car N5 has four third rail shoes - one on each side of the truck. Shoes are designed
to break protecting the shoe beam and power lead cables - and the rest of the truck itself.

This may have been a case of shoes on one side being broken off - for example as the result of an alignment
problem with a third rail approach section. Since third rail shoes make friction contact they wear out and do
need to be replaced on a term basis - worn shoes are more likely to break.

A single N5 car should be operable with one intact shoe on one side - the problem would be that all of the
car's power and amperage would be drawn over through that single shoe. If that intact single shoe breaks
off on a segment of third rail on that side the car will lose power instantly unless it can roll free to a third
rail segment on the other side of the track.

Replacing third rail shoes is an easy fix - during inspection shop work. Good thing the train operator caught
the problem at 69th Street...MACTRAXX

Seems like Amtrak’s summer/fall of work between Paoli and Thorndale hasn’t solved a host of issues with service being suspended a good portion of the day between Malvern and Thorndale due to damages wires and signals. This morning the switch just east of Paoli is being manually operated.

Service down on the Paoli Thorndale line. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for Amtrak to get out there.

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2020/ ... ill-river/

If you had "barge loose on Schuylkill RIVER leads to regional rail delays" on your board, you may call BINGO now.

Service delays on the Paoli/Throndale line and Wilmington Newark Line
https://www.septa.org/alert/pdf/6-7-21-pao-message.pdf

SEPTA is reporting trains will be boarding on outbound side between Highland Avenue and Darby on the Wilmington / Newark Line due to emergency bridge repairs. What is going on?

After a year of sensible Amtrak dispatching on the Paoli Thorndale Line, we had a pretty dumb one made this afternoon. With track three out of service at Overbrook to Bryn Mawr, Amtrak dispatched a SEPTA local train 3537 ahead of an express, 1593. This actually delayed both trains as a complicated passing had to occur at Bryn Mawr (never seen it done before over the last 14 years) with the local being held at Bryn Mawr and the express running around the local on track 3. Just didn’t make sense in light of the other combinations of these trains passing each other before.

Odd ball opeation might have caused dispatcher to get incorrect info until too late.

Any news on the power and communications issues causing up to half hour delays this evening?

I was impressed when I returned post COVID (June 2021) until Labor Day how much smoother the SEPTA service ran. The last few weeks have been a return to the SEPTA of old as a rider. Some of it has been related to the safety training, but most issues appear to be capacity, equipment and track issues.