Riders Stranded After Train Hits, Kills Man

Dozens of Amtrak commuters were left stranded and waiting in the scorching heat with next to no information Friday, after an Amtrak train struck and killed a pedestrian on the tracks about 30 minutes west of the Paoli station.

There were no announcements, just updates on line for those riders who could check with Amtrak via their smart phones or attempt to connect with the railroad via Amtrak's toll free number. Long after it was due, a few riders discovered that the 4:30 p.m. train to Philadelphia and New York was cancelled. The 5:50 p.m. train finally arrived one hour late, after the Amtrak website pushed the arrival time back several times. 

Zach Blumenthal was among those left stranded on the platform. He works at Vanguard in Paoli and was heading to New York to meet a relative who was flying back home from London. He says he was left waiting two weeks ago for weather-related delays on a Friday. But unlike that weather delay when Amtrak made station public addresss announcement, riders were given no information about the reason for the delays this time. "This doesn't seem very (normal) for Amtrak," Blumenthal told Patch about the Friday afternoon disruptions, "but now it's twice in two weeks."

Many of the riders who were sweltering in near 100 degree heat on the platform Friday learned of the fatal pedestrian accident from Patch when we started asking about what Amtrak had announced about the cause of the delays.

Amtrak and local police in the Coatesville area stopped trains after the pedestrian was hit west of the end of SEPTA's Paoli-Thorndale line where only two tracks serve Amtrak trains travelling between Thorndale and Harrisburg.

Details about the accident were posted Friday evening on the Chester County Daily Local's website.