SEPTA train crash leaves 8 injured in Norristown. One victim was airlifted to a hospital.
One passenger was airlifted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with a head injury and was in critical condition Sunday afternoon. The cause of the crash was unknown.
A SEPTA train struck an end-of-the-line barrier at the Norristown Transportation Center on Sunday morning, leaving at least eight people injured, including one that was critically hurt.
The Norristown High Speed Line train was pulling into the station at Lafayette and Swede Streets at around 9:45 a.m. when it “made contact with the bumper at the end of the track,” said SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch.
Eight people were injured, and five of those, including the train operator, were transported to area hospitals for treatment. One passenger was airlifted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with a head injury and was in critical condition Sunday afternoon.
Busch said he did not know how fast the train was traveling, but that it would have been a “relatively low rate of speed because it was coming in to the end of the line.”
It remained unclear Sunday whether the crash was caused by a malfunction, operator error, or some other reason.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, and SEPTA has pulled surveillance footage and operator communications to assist in the investigation.