Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990 TAG: 9003082043
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: associated press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Medium
News reports citing unidentified sources said the dragging electric motor may have hit a switch and caused the train to jump the tracks Wednesday, and passengers reported bumping and a "bam, bam, bam" before the accident.
The train smashed into three support beams during the morning rush hour, trapping victims for up to five hours. A surgeon who took part in the rescue, Dr. Jina Joder, said she used a paramedic's knife to cut the leg off a dead man to free a victim beneath him.
Officials said it was the worst accident in the 21 years the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has operated the regional commuter system, whose trains run underground downtown and above ground in outlying areas.
National Transportation Safety Board member John Lauber said late Wednesday that one end of the motor had separated from the train and that railroad ties leading up to the accident scene were chipped.
Lauber said his agency is investigating whether the broken motor was a cause or effect of the accident. Russell Gober, NTSB investigator in charge, said he had not yet checked the maintenance and inspection records of the car.
"I was in the first car and as we went through the station, you could hear the train hit something, like something was dragging. It went bam, bam, bam," said Mark Robinson, who was en route home from an overnight cashier's job.
"The second and third cars were bent and the whole side of the second car was torn off," Robinson said. "It was peeled like a sardine can."
Doctors amputated the right leg of one woman to free her from the wreckage, but she died four hours later of complications from a second broken leg and severe chest injuries, said Linday Clossey, a spokeswoman for Hahnemann University Hospital.
All three of the dead were among seven passengers trapped in the wreckage, authorities said. Of the 162 people treated at 10 hospitals, three remained in critical condition Wednesday night. More than 100 were treated and released.
"People were screaming," passenger Robert Rogers said. "It was dark and people were going left and right and were falling off the tracks and stuff."
Lauber said the NTSB hadn't seen any reason to order other cars pulled off the subway line, which serves about 100,000 riders a day.
"If in the course of the investigation, we run into anything that demands immediate attention, we would issue an emergency recommendation," he said.
Louis Gambaccini, the transit authority's general manager, said the cars on the line are about 30 years old and there had been no indication of problems. He said the cars have been well maintained but that the entire fleet will be inspected.
However, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today that bolts holding the motors in place have broken before and that the transit agency tried to solve the problem by bracing the motors with a bar under them.
A preliminary inspection indicated there was no danger of a cave-in of the subway tunnel, transit inspector James Sweeney said.
The city medical examiner's office identified one of the dead as Denise Devlin, 34, of Philadelphia. The name of a 52-year-old Philadelphia man was withheld until his family could be notified, and a third victim, a 60-year-old woman, could not immediately be identified.
by CNB