Striking Philly Transit Union Meets With Governor

PATRICK WALTERS

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A packed commuter train struck and killed a rail worker during the morning rush Thursday, disrupting service for three hours and stranding hundreds of riders on a system already crippled by a transit strike.

The train was inbound from the city's northern suburbs when it hit the worker around 8:35 a.m., Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority spokesman Richard Maloney said. More than 625 people on the train were stranded at the Melrose Park station as three of 13 regional lines had to be shut down.

A 34-year-old rail inspector and a flagman were walking the northbound tracks when the inspector was hit from behind by a southbound train, Maloney said. The train was running on different tracks than normal because of equipment problems with another train.

Normally, when regional rail lines are shut down due to an accident, SEPTA buses arrive to take passengers to their destinations, officials said. But that wasn't possible because the more than 5,000 bus, subway and trolley drivers are in the third day of a strike. Regional rail operators are members of a different union and are not on strike.