PHILADELPHIA — The city's largest transit union on Friday was reviewing a new contract proposal that Gov. Ed Rendell hoped could end a four-day-old strike that has idled subways, trolleys and buses and snarled the commutes for thousands of people.
The union is reviewing the proposal sent to them overnight by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Rendell told reporters. The governor has been brokering negotiations between the agency and the Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents about 5,000 bus drivers, subway and trolley operators and mechanics.
Rendell said he was hoping for an agreement that would have trains and buses running by Friday night.
SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney confirmed that the union was examining a proposed agreement Friday morning, but declined to discuss specifics. Rendell met alone with the union Thursday night and SEPTA officials kept in touch with him by telephone, Maloney said.
Messages left with the union were not immediately returned Friday morning.
Union members walked off the job early Tuesday following a dispute over pension benefits.
On Thursday, a packed commuter train struck and killed a rail worker during the morning rush hour, stranding hundreds of riders on a system already crippled by a transit strike.
The 34-year-old rail inspector and a flagman were walking the northbound tracks when the inspector was hit from behind by a southbound train. SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said the train was running on different tracks than usual due to equipment problems with another train.
The train was coming in from the city's northern suburbs carrying more than 625 people who were stranded as three of 13 regional lines had to be shut down. The walkout has not affected regional rail lines because their workers are represented by a different union.
The accident was the second in two days on the regional lines packed due to the walkout. On Wednesday, a regional rail car caught fire, causing delays and confusion but no serious injuries. The agency has said neither accident is believed to be related to the walkout.
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