Negotiators for SEPTA and Transport Workers Union Local 234 may resume talks today.

Last night, at Rendell's request, SEPTA officials were crafting new financial and personnel proposals.

Rendell met with Willie Brown, president of Local 234, last evening to try to break an impasse that prompted the 5,100 SEPTA workers to strike at 3 a.m. Tuesday. And Brady (D., Pa.) returned from Washington for a fourth day of talks with union leaders.

Yesterday, the strike continued to play havoc with the lives of hundreds of thousands of commuters and students. And some commuter trains, already delayed by an influx of additional riders, were halted for hours yesterday morning after an R3 West Trenton train struck and killed a SEPTA track inspector in East Oak Lane.

The accident was the second in two days to affect Regional Rail service while commuter trains struggle with extra passengers because of the strike. On Wednesday, an R5 Paoli train caught fire in West Philadelphia, forcing passengers to evacuate through windows.

After three days without direct talks between SEPTA and the TWU, yesterday's intervention by Rendell and Brady sparked hopes for a settlement.

The union had scheduled a news conference for last night, but canceled it as Rendell and Brown continued to talk.

After about an hour of discussions with Brown, Rendell asked SEPTA officials to make new calculations on economic and noneconomic issues and send him the new figures by 10 p.m. He was then going to TWU headquarters to meet again with union leaders.

"We are crunching numbers and dollars," said SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney, who declined to be specific about the issues involved.

On Tuesday, union leaders rejected a contract offer that Rendell and Mayor Nutter characterized as generous. That five-year proposal included a $1,250 bonus upon ratification, a 2.5 percent raise the second year, and a 3 percent raise in each of the final three years.

It also called for no increase in the workers' health-insurance contributions, which are 1 percent of base pay. It called for an increase in workers' contributions to their pensions and an increase in the maximum pension payment to retirees.

In addition to increased pension contributions from SEPTA, the union was seeking a 3 percent raise for each year of a four-year contract.

Pensions have emerged as a key sticking point. Brown said Wednesday that the strikers would "stay out as long as it takes to secure our pension."

He met with eight City Council members in City Hall yesterday afternoon and continued to voice frustration with the mayor, referring to the walkout as "Nutter's strike," according to Councilman Frank Rizzo.

A day earlier, Brown called Nutter a "little Caesar" and said the mayor would not be welcome at the bargaining table.

At yesterday's meeting with Council members, Brown depicted Nutter as the deal-breaker who ended talks Monday night and who led Brown, in anger, to call for the 3 a.m. strike. "Apparently the mayor did something that he [Brown] didn't elaborate on," Rizzo said.

In an interview after the meeting, Nutter said he was perplexed by Brown's comments.

"I have no idea what the gentleman is talking about," he said.

Nutter recounted the final moments of Monday night's negotiations.