Firehouse.com

Adding to the transportation chaos this morning, a fire broke out about 7 a.m. on a SEPTA R5 Paoli train with about 300 passengers aboard in West Philadelphia.

The fire was contained and the train evacuated with no reports of injuries, SEPTA officials said.

"I can tell you there is absolutely no indication it is strike related," said SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams. "Preliminary indications from the Fire Department are that it was a natural cause fire."

The train was just outside the Overbrook station when the fire broke out. It was declared under control about 40 minutes later and Fire Department officials reported from scene that 300 passengers had been on the train.

Service has been suspended west of Suburban Station for the R5 and the R6 Cynwyd lines. The blaze also disrupted Amtrak service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. Trains in both directions were being held in the two cities.

SEPTA Officials said the R5 and R6 suspensions would last until fire equipment and the train are cleared from the area. They had no time estimate, but said to expect major delays in that area.

Officials are not sure how many people were on the train.

The fire destroyed the train car, and it will be towed by diesel locomotive as soon as Amtrak gives approval.

The Philadelphia School District has made buses available to transport passengers who were stranded by the fire to Suburban Station.

But many of those passengers already have left on foot, officials said.

The R5 fire compounded strike problems for some commuters.

Maurice Cooke, 39, went to Suburban Station to catch an R% train to his job as a cook at Vanguard in Paoli.

Yesterday he used up a vacation day because he had to stay home in the Northeast and watch his baby son while his wife, a nurse, worked a double shift because a coworker had trouble traveling in.

He said he would wait until the R5 started running again.

"I'm a good guy. I'm trying to go to work," he said.

The fire deferreed Matthew Wright's plan for dealing with the strike.

The commercial real estate researcher, 34, came in this morning from Ardmore to pick up his laptop, so he could work out of his firm's King of Prussia office for the duration of the strike. But the fire sent him back to the Center City office.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service