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Downed Electrical Pole Causes Commuter Nightmare On PATCO

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A downed pole is causing a commuter nightmare on the PATCO speedline.

Service between South Jersey and Philadelphia still remains impacted.

A PATCO train hit part of an electrical pole that fell onto the tracks near the Ferry Avenue Station, causing some electrical sparks. There is currently no service between Lindenwold and Ferry, though there is very limited service between Broadway and 16th.

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Officials say the train hit part of that electrical pole between 5:30 and 6 a.m. Twenty-four people were onboard at the time and four of them suffered very minor injuries, according to a PATCO spokesman.

Early reports of a fire onboard were inaccurate.

Officials are still investigating exactly what happened, but they believe a Conrail train that passes overhead at some point hit the electrical pole, causing an electrical conduit to fall onto the bottom tracks where the PATCO train runs.

Some commuters tell us they have no idea service had stopped until they got to the station.

"It's kind of unfortunate, especially for people who have work schedules that revolve around this sort of transportation," said Juliet Akumuo.

"He didn't give us a reason, just said the trains weren't running. They're gonna get us a shuttle bus and go to Walter Rand Station and then we can get on the train," said Sharon King.

PATCO officials say they still don't have a timeline on when full service is expected to resume.

PATCO has released an updated service schedule for Tuesday"

Early AM Service - Trains will operate every 10 to 15 minutes from 5:00 A.M. until 6:30 A.M.
AM Rush Hour - Trains will operate every 10 minutes out of Lindenwold from 6:30 A.M. until 8:50 A.M.
Trains will operate every 10 to 20 minutes out of 15/16th & Locust from 6:30 A.M. until 9:35 A.M.
6-car trains will be operated from 5:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M.

Following Rush Hour - Trains will operate every 15 minutes from 9:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M.

PM Service - PM service is TBA depending on the work completed

Meantime, NJ Transit is cross-honoring all PATCO tickets.

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