Capital Area Transit assisted Steelton and Amtrak officials on Saturday, July 29, by transportaing more than 300 Amtrak riders stranded at the Middletown station to the Harrisburg Transportation Center.
A propane leak occurred Friday afternoon, July 28, while workers were unloading a propane tank from a rail car to a storage tank. By Saturday morning all roads in the vicinity were closed and transit services, both rail and bus, was suspended. About 100 residents were evacuated from the area.
CAT operates bus routes along Front Street connecting Steelton and Middletown train station and Harrisburg International Airport to the Harrisburg Transportation Center. Normal service was suspended during the event.
After coordination with Steelton and Amtrak officials, CAT deployed two buses, using alternate highway routes, to pick-up stranded Amtrak passengers at the Middletown station and transported them to the Harrisburg Amtrak facility.
CAT bus operations, Edwina Washington and Dan Moppin, rose to the occasion and transported more than 300 passengers in two buses making 4 trips from 7:00 am to 11:00 am Saturday.
“Kudos to the CAT operations and dispatch team for an outstanding performance in responding to this community emergency situation,” Tom Reynolds, CAT general manager, said.
“We were able to efficiently assist the local community and Amtrak officials with prompt, safe, and expeditious service.” He added. CAT returned to normal scheduled service by 8:30 pm Saturday and no injuries were reported.
