Hundreds Of Passengers Evacuated After SEPTA Train Catches Fire In Pennsylvania

Hundreds of people safely evacuated a regional commuter train in Pennsylvania Thursday night after it burst into flames, officials said.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) train was traveling from Philadelphia to Wilmington, Del., when it caught fire near Crum Lynne Station in Ridley Park, Delaware County, Penn., at around 6 p.m. Thursday.

Videos shared on Facebook by Dominic Settembrino show one of the train’s six cars engulfed in flames as a huge plume of smoke rises from the site.

Passengers were initially relocated to rear cars after smoke was observed, but conductors soon fully evacuated around 350 people.

“We had to get up and relocate to another car and then we had to get up and relocate again and thats when I started to see smoke coming from the side of the train,” passenger Dnasia Buckner told Fox 29.

SEPTA Director of Media Relations Andrew Busch told the outlet that “it was discovered that the first car of the train was engulfed in flames, but by that time passengers fortunately had been evacuated.”

No injuries were reported. Shuttle buses were dispatched to pick up the stranded passengers.

“The pictures really tell the story of how serious this situation was, and fortunately we have an outcome where we dont have any serious injuries, which is pretty incredible, considering what weve seen,” Busch told CBS News. “Our crew acted quickly. Theyre well-trained, their training kicked in, they did exactly what they were supposed to in terms of getting people off of the train safely.”

The fire was extinguished and all services between Philadelphia and Wilmington resumed later Thursday night, though Amtrak, which owns the track used by SEPTA, said there could be residual delays.

The cause of the fire, and whether it originated on the track itself or the train’s engine, is under investigation.