Septa

ON MAY 1, hundreds of SEPTA staffers will conduct a systemwide "safety blitz" at stations where people are known to trespass on the rails. Here's what SEPTA wants people to know: *  All train tracks are private property. Never walk on the tracks - doing so is illegal and dangerous. * Always expect a train at any time, on any track and in any direction. * Remember to cross train tracks only at designated pedestrian or highway grade crossings. * Stay alert around railroad tracks.

BURNETT "Bernie" Jones, a first responder to dozens of rail deaths since he became SEPTA's chief accident investigator in 2004, has learned to deal with the blood splatter and the body parts. "The deaths that are the most heartbreaking to me are the ones where a person intentionally beheaded themselves, where a person was so distraught that they actually put their head on the rail and waited for the train," Jones said. "The body is more intact in those cases, but just knowing that in their mind they had to do that . . . " Of the accidental deaths, Jones said, "What's heavy on my heart is when they're a child in their teenage years and they make a mistake that costs their lives.

Full service on SEPTA's Manayunk-Norristown regional rail line was restored at about 2:30 p.m. after telephone lines fell and damaged the rods on top of a train in Norristown that help power the train earlier. Thirty SEPTA passengers were stuck on that disabled train for about 45 minutes, said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch. No one was hurt, but authorities kept passengers on the train as a precaution until all power was turned off and the riders could safely be let off the train and taken to shuttle buses.

ONE MIGHT think Joseph C. Byrd would be flying high right about now, given that he was one of 48 SEPTA employees who won a $172.7 million Powerball jackpot last April. Think again. Byrd, 44, of West Philadelphia, allegedly ran amok at SEPTA's Market Street headquarters Feb. 18, shouting obscenities, leading cops on a foot chase into Market Street traffic and telling SEPTA Police Chief Thomas Nestel III, "I'm going to f------ shoot you in the face," according to an arrest affidavit obtained Monday by the Daily News . The bizarre episode concluded with four or five SEPTA cops taking Byrd into custody and involuntarily committing him to a mental-health facility, the affidavit said.

WE WISH to thank Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell for her unwavering support of Philadelphia's labor unions. We believe the Nutter administration's unwillingness to host AVI community meetings in Councilwoman Blackwell's district has nothing to do with angry residents - they can be found in every district - and everything to do with Nutter's vindictiveness over the councilwoman's pointed criticisms of his insulting handling of labor negotiations with our...

One in a continuing series spotlighting the real estate market in this region's communities. Wayne Junction is not a neighborhood - it's a busy transportation hub that straddles the borders of Nicetown and Germantown. "The Junction," as it is known, handles five Regional Rail lines, one trackless trolley, and two bus routes, all serving 190,500 passengers a year. But what's happening there could have an enduring and positive impact on the two neighborhoods, and the rest of North and Northwest Philadelphia.

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CHRISTOPHER Knaflec wasn't even sure if he was a good person until a reporter asked him what it felt like to be a hero after he'd risked his life to pull a stranger off the SEPTA subway tracks Thursday. Security footage at the Cecil B. Moore station on the Broad Street Line shows a man walk straight off the platform and onto the tracks about 12:40 p.m. Knaflec, 32, seated on a bench about 20 feet away, sprang up, ran past stunned bystanders and jumped down to check on the man before yelling to the cashier on the platform to stop the southbound train.

A MOTHER and daughter who tried to game the system on the Market-Frankford El Monday morning ended up leaving behind their most prized possession - a baby. The matriarch and her adult daughter, whose names were withheld by SEPTA, were traveling with the younger woman's baby girl in a stroller, spokeswoman Heather Redfern said. The two adults had a single one-day convenience pass, Redfern said. The pass allows one person to take eight rides on SEPTA on a given day, but the women thought they'd found a way to avoid paying full fare.