CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Four SEPTA stations along the Manayunk/Norristown Line reopened on Monday. They were closed for nearly two weeks because of flood damage.
The four stations — Conshohocken, Norristown Transportation Center, Main Street and Elm Street — opened in both directions in time for the Monday morning commute.
Omar Martinez says he doesn’t have to scramble anymore to get to the city, and can get back to his normal routine. "It’s easy for me to get to the city. I don’t have to go to the other station, because they had another station open, but it’s far away from me," he said.
Laura Pizzuto said her work commute will be easy again. "I live in Conshy and could walk to the train before, but it was really inconvenient when it was out, so I’m really happy that it’s back and running," she said.
SEPTA said the remnants of Ida left behind damage to the Norristown/Manayunk Line costing millions of dollars to repair. Pizzuto said it is hard to believe Conshohocken Station is open again, because of how serious the situation was not even two weeks ago.
"Oh my God. This was underwater. This whole station, you could barely tell it was a train station," she said.
Rider Will Ryales was also surprised, but he said he saw workers at the station all weekend.
"You know, when you saw what all this looked like, you’re like, 'Man, they’re gonna run a train right back through here very quickly?' So, I was thinking it was kind of soon. But I appreciate all they were doing to get it back up and running as quickly as possible and to make sure, obviously, that it’s safe to ride."
Related
The most significant damage was to railroad crossing signals, according to the transit agency. The repair work was expected to last for six to eight weeks leading to four road closures. However, there was significant progress over the weekend.
An update was posted on the Conshohocken borough website on Sunday that stated, "Due to the extraordinary efforts made by SEPTA to repair train crossings, there will be no road closures at Conshohocken railroad crossings."
Related
It was some positive news after a trying few weeks. Conshohocken and Norristown are situated along the Schuylkill River, and many residents are still trying to recover from flood damage.
Montgomery County officials are urging residents who were affected by Ida to go to FEMA’s website, disasterassistance.gov, to try to get direct help from the federal government.