In addition, a labor dispute began within the SEPTA organization when the transit operator inherited 1,700 displaced employees from Conrail. SEPTA insisted on uing transit operators from the Broad Street Subway to operate Fox Chase-Newtown diesel trains, while Conrail requested that railroad engineers
run the service. When a federal court ruled that SEPTA had to use Conrail employees to offer job assurance, SEPTA cancelled Fox Chase-Newtown trains.[2] Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was cancelled at that time, and Southampton station still appears in publicly posted tariffs.[3]
Although rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999.
As of 2023, surviving tracks have been removed and replaced with a rail-trail.
Fire
Three months after SEPTA assumed operations, on January 2, 1982, the crossing at Second Street Pike south of Southampton station was the site of a fiery crash between a train (Rail Diesel Car #9164, a self-propelled passenger car), an ARCO gasoline truck, and a car. Engineer Donald Williams died from multiple burns. Five people were also injured; the accident caused flames to rise 50 feet in the air and created a plume of black smoke visible for miles.[4] Photographs appear to indicate the crossing signal equipment was working properly, with warning lights continuing to warn motorists after the collision occurred,[5] but a report by the National Transportation Safety Board suggested the lights were intermittently working as the tank truck approached the crossing, as mentioned by eyewitnesses.[6] SEPTA was using a single rail diesel car (RDC #9164), which was not equipped with signal excitation equipment required for single-car operation. The Reading Railroad had two RDCs equipped for single-car operation (nos. 9151 and 9152), which were transferred to SEPTA, neither of which was in use on this holiday weekend when rail traffic was especially light. Also, due to the acute angle of the railroad crossing and the buildings nearby, the truck driver could not see the RDC approaching from his right until stopping short of a collision was no longer possible. SEPTA general manager David L. Gunn ordered additional safety precautions, but service ceased just over a year after the accident.[7]
References
^ abKennedy, Sara (October 21, 1983). "SEPTA to Boost Rail Service 13%". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 1–2. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved July 14, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^Tulsky, Fredric N. (January 29, 1982). "Conrail Staff Must Run Trains: court ruling bars SEPTA takeover". The Philadelphia Inquirer.SEPTA must use Conrail workers rather than its own personnel to run trains over the region's 13 commuter lines, a special federal court has ruled in a decision that offers some job assurance for 1,700 Conrail employees next year. The special court, in an opinion issued Wednesday, ruled that SEPTA had acted legally in October when it replaced Conrail workers with its former subway operators on the line.
