Preparation and Response to Hurricane Irene

Presentation to:UASI Conference

May 24, 2012

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• 6th Largest U.S. Transit Agency

• Population: 4 Million Residents (Philadelphia, Five-County Region)

• Coverage Area: 2,200 Miles• Track Miles: 486.6

Commuter, Heavy and Light Rail (Includes Elevated and Underground)

• Ridership: 334 Million Annually

SEPTA Service Profile

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Market-Frankford Sub/El: 218

NHSL: 26

Electric Locomotive: 8 + 53 Coaches Commuter Rail: 351

Historic Streetcar: 18Broad Street Subway: 125

Buses: 1355 Trackless Trolleys: 38

Fleet of 954 Commuter and Passenger Rail Vehicles and 1,393 Bus and Trackless Trolley

Trolley/Light Rail: 141

738 Weekday Trips 380 Weekday Trips

246 Weekday Trips 598 Weekday Trips 193 Weekday Trips

14,037 Weekday Trips 1936 Weekday Trips 4

SEPTA Service Profile

• Conference calls with City of Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

• Frequent updates by National Weather Service (NWS).

• All City departments and external stakeholders participate.

• Continued inter-agency conference calls as storm approached.

• Internal senior staff meetings.• Constant review of NOAA/NWS data.

Hurricane Irene - Preparation

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• Critical subway vents were covered and pump rooms were prepared.

• Busses in flood-prone areas were relocated to higher ground.

• Significant portion of the Market-Frankford Line fleet was moved to the Bridge Street Yard due to flooding concerns at 69th Street.

• Third-party tree trimming contractors were scheduled to support SEPTA forces.

Hurricane Irene - Preparation

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• SEPTA Flood Warning Procedures in Affect• Appoint field Storm Event Coordinator.• Operate restricted speed for rail services at

specific locations.• Positioned Structural Inspectors at specific

locations.• Track Inspectors mobilized.

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Public Information

• Final plan to stop all service around midnight on August 27..

• Amtrak and other regional transit agencies also announced service suspensions effective at 5:00 p.m. on August 27.

• Advertise suspension of service until 12:00 p.m. August 28.

• Identify parking lots prone to flooding.• Identify rail lines prone to service

suspension due to flooding.• SEPTA advertised to the public to

monitor service suspensions and alterations via the website and other social media tools.

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• Philadelphia Emergency Operations Center opened.• SEPTA Command Center opened.• Constant review of NWS data.• Review of hydrographs and water gauge data.• Gathered reports from field.• Prioritized incident response.• Assisted in evacuation of several apartment complexes in

coordination with City OEM.

Hurricane Irene – During the Storm

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Flood StageCrest

USGS Hydrograph of Area River

• Service status updates provided on website and social media.

• 10:50 p.m. reports of tree down on one rail line, water over the rail head on another rail line, and reports of tornado warnings issued across the five county area.

• Decision to suspend service effective immediately.• All vehicles returned to districts by midnight.• Only two rail vehicles affected on entire system due to

storm.• Total of 8 passengers from each vehicle were transported to

destination via Supervision.

Hurricane Irene – During the Storm

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Hurricane Irene - Immediate Aftermath

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Sunday, August 28 • Early morning reports of flooding and washouts.• City of Philadelphia still under declared State of

Emergency. • Subway lines inspected and available for service by 8:00 a.m.• Bus routes traveled and inspected and available for service

with detours by 8:00 a.m.• Regional Rail service remained suspended.

• City requested not to resume service until 10:00 a.m.• Initiate field response to all problem areas.

Hurricane Irene - Immediate Aftermath

Fallen Tree near County Line Stationon the Route 100

Fallen Tree on Route 101 Overhead

Manayunk/Norristown Line FloodingConshohocken Station on the Manayunk/Norristown Line

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Track Washout

Assunpink Creek

Hurricane Irene - Immediate AftermathTrenton Transit Center Flooding

• Amtrak suspended service on the Northeast Corridor at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 27, 2011.

• Also affected SEPTA and New Jersey Transit.13

USGS Water Gauge Readings for Assunpink Creek for Past 30 Days

Flood Elevation

Creek crested at 15 feet.

Hydrograph of Assunpink Creek

Hurricane Irene - Immediate Aftermath

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Trenton Transit Center Flooding

Hurricane Irene - Immediate Aftermath

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Trenton Transit Center Flooding

• 5 cars, 7 coaches and 1 locomotive suffered significant water damage.• 5 of the cars were scheduled for revenue service at 5:00 p.m. and 6:00

p.m. but did not operate.

Hurricane Irene - Immediate Aftermath

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CSX Signal House Fire Damage - SEPTA West Trenton Line

SEPTA Transmission Line PECO Pole

Hurricane Irene - Immediate Aftermath

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Line Taken out of Service Full Service Resumed

Regional Rail August 27 @ 11:00 p.m. August 29*

Subways August 27 @ 11:00 p.m. August 28 @ 10:00 a.m.

Light Rail August 27 @ 11:00 p.m. August 28 @ 10:00 a.m.

Media Sharon Hill Line August 27 @ 11:00 p.m. August 28 @ 4:00 p.m.

Norristown High Speed Line August 27 @ 11:00 p.m. August 29

Bus August 27 @ 11:00 p.m. August 28 @ 10:00 a.m.

CCT August 27 @ 11:00 p.m. August 28 @ 10:00 a.m.

* Partial service restored to Levittown 8/30. Bus bridge between Levittown and Trenton started 9/1.

Service before and after Hurricane Irene

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Ongoing Customer Communication

• SEPTA’s web page was used to provide service announcements as well as photos and updates on the repairs that were being performed on damaged infrastructure.

• Over 20,000 followers on SEPTA’s Twitter Service Alerts.19

• Experienced gusts of up to 26 mph.• Up to 4 inches of rain fell.• Impacts included flooding, track bed washouts, fallen trees,

and an embankment failure on the NHSL.

National Weather Service Recorded Rainfall

USGS Hydrograph of Area Creek

Tropical Storm Lee – September 8, 2011

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Track Washout South of Jenkintown

Track Area21

• Effective use of weather data allowed service to remain operational as long as practical.

• Include evaluation of Assunpink Creek hydrograph to determine if vehicles need to be moved at Trenton.

• Improve inter-agency coordination with Amtrak Operations.• Sandbags on vent wells worked well. • SEPTA’s tree trimming program is very beneficial. • Off property issues (trees, run-off, poorly maintained

structures) are becoming a major issue. • Positive feedback about public outreach, especially photos.

Lessons Learned

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