Roughly 350 passengers had to be evacuated from the train after it caught fire
The passengers evacuated the train safely after it caught fire in Pennsylvania.
PENNSYLVANIA (WABC) -- Amtrak service along the Northeast Corridor was impacted after a SEPTA train traveling from Philadelphia to Wilmington went up in flames Thursday night.
It happened around 6 p.m. near the Crum Lynne Station in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania.
The six-car train was carrying roughly 350 people when it caught fire. An image shared with our sister station, Action News in Philadelphia, showed smoke billowing out of the windows.
According to SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch, as the train was being evacuated it was learned the first car was catching fire.
"Very quick action by our crews that that helped allow this to be a safe outcome," Busch said. "We don't know where this started, just that it was in the area underneath the train and then obviously engulfed the train in flames."
Passengers said smoke was reported several minutes after leaving Philadelphia.
"I could smell a weird smokey, sulfury smell," recalled Cynthia Kayati, of Smyrna, Delaware. "I thought it was the train, normal stuff, but it was getting really strong especially as we got to Crum Lynne."
"I started to smell it too after a little while. I think we got two stations down from here and then people were really starting to notice it, starting to panic a little bit," added Alvan Hurley, of Newark.
Travel Resumption: The Fire Dept has released the hold on the tracks. All services operating between Philadelphia (PHL) and Wilmington (WIL) have resumed travel. Residual delays may occur due to rail congestion.
— Amtrak Northeast (@AmtrakNECAlerts) February 7, 2025
Passengers are grateful workers acted quickly to get everyone out of harm's way.
"I think they do an amazing job of making sure we're good," said Kayati.
Service was halted for several hours before it resumed just after 11 p.m.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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