'There Might Be Some Hiccups': SEPTA, PATCO Brace For Winter Storm
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- SEPTA and PATCO are preparing their systems to handle the first major snowstorm of the season.
SEPTA's Carla Showell-Lee says the transit agency has equipment to plow the snow off the regional rails and equipment to remove snow from the overhead wires for the trolley system.
But, the snow may get ahead of the crews.
"There might be some hiccups, some delays," she said, "but we anticipate we'll still be keeping the trains moving as best we can."
READ: Northeast Braces For Heavy Snow As Temps Plunge Overnight
Showell-Lee says crews will also work to keep the platforms and steps at the regional rail stations cleared.
And, for the first time, she says crews will be monitoring conditions on the Norristown High Speed Line.
"Depending on how much it snows, we don't want that snow to hit that cover rail of the third rail so we want to make sure that no passengers get stuck on that line," she said. "So that's the one we're going to be monitoring."
PATCO's general manager John Rink says the South Jersey rail operator will operate on a snow schedule Thursday morning. That means trains running every 15 minutes starting at 5 a.m. until 7 a.m. and between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. service will be every 10 minutes.
READ: Counties Declare Code Blue Weather Emergencies Ahead Of Snow
Rink also says PATCO crews have equipment to clear the tracks and aren't anticipating equipment problems like the ones suffered in the last snowstorm.
"We believe this will be less likely that we'll have impacts to our equipment," he said. "We can't guarantee we that we won't have problems with our equipment, but this type of heavy wet snow it's less likely to affect."
He says the white, fluffy snow of the last storm, a month ago, got sucked into the traction motors of the trains causing operational issues.
