Devices Were Working Before CSX-SEPTA Crash

Safety appliances that protect a crossing at grade of CSX and a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority line were working properly at the time of a December collision of a SEPTA trolley car and a CSX train, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report.

Six people aboard the trolley, including the operator, suffered non life-threatening injuries in the collision, which occurred Dec 9, 2021, in Darby, Pennsylvania.

The NTSB report said the trolley was traveling southeast en route to a station in center city Philadelphia at 13^th and Market streets.

The trolley stopped at Main Street and 6^th to board and discharge passengers and began to proceed toward the Darby Diamond crossing with CSX.

Although the trolley stopped for the crossing, the gates at the crossing came down on the trolley’s roof and the trolley was close enough to the CSX tracks to be pushed back by the freight train. The trolley did not derail in the process.

The NTSB report said investigators examined the grade crossing, conducted track and equipment inspections, reviewed signal and train control data logs, conducted interviews and obtained image and event recorder data from the lead locomotive of the CSX train and the SEPTA trolley.

NTSB officials said the investigation is continuing and will focus on grade-crossing design, operations and human performance.

Tags: CSX, National Transportation Safety Board, Philadelphia, Public transit, SEPTA trolleys, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority