January 13, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
A fatal accident on the Market-Frankford Line is the second time in two weeks in which a person was struck and killed by a SEPTA train in University City.
At approximately 8 p.m. on Friday, a SEPTA train on the Market-Frankford Line struck and killed a person on the tracks. The accident occurred in the tunnel between the 30th and 34th Street stations.
The SEPTA train was traveling westbound when it struck the victim, who authorities have not yet publicly identified. It is also not known why the person was on the train tracks. SEPTA says that the operator and 86 passengers on board the train were safely evacuated.
As a result of the accident and the resulting police activity, SEPTA deployed shuttle buses to carry passengers between the stations at 15th Street and 40th Street in both directions. Normal operations at the Market-Frankford Line resumed at around 10 p.m.
This is the third fatal or violent incident to occur on the Market-Frankford Line in the past two weeks. Last Thursday, a man fell on a track during a scuffle with another man at the 34th Street station; a SEPTA train then struck and killed him as it arrived at the station, and the other man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Just this past Thursday, a 17-year-old boy opened fire at the westbound MFL platform of the 15th Street station; a 16-year-old boy was shot in the head as a result and hospitalized, while police arrested the shooter and another suspect; charges are expected for both teenagers.
