All week long, commuters who rely on SEPTA’s Regional Rail system have been facing ongoing delays and cancellations as the mass transit provider works to address issues with its Silverliner IV train fleet.
On Thursday morning, these issues were exacerbated after signal issues caused delays and cancellations all along SEPTA’s Regional Rail system ahead of the morning rush hour.
Also on Thursday, SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch told NBC10 that SEPTA is leasing 10 train cars from Maryland, at a cost of about $2.6 million, to help ease some of these ongoing issues.
He said the money would come from capitol funds that are part of next year’s budget and the lease has been approved by PennDOT.
Also, Busch said, SEPTA is working to overhaul its fleet of 223 Silverliner IV trains in order to ensure the trains can run for another six to 10 years.
As to the ongoing inspections of the Silverline IV trains, as of Thursday, he said, inspections were complete on about 220 trains complete and 78 have been returned to service.
Looking ahead, Busch said that, although SEPTA has no funds budgeted for it at the moment, the mass transit provider is seeking bids from companies to design and build Silverliner VI trains, a new fleet of rail cars.
“We are looking at federal loan options that we believe SEPTA will qualify for to cover some of the costs. We typically do not fund major projects with loans due to the added costs, but in this case we have to advance the procurement as soon as possible so we can’t wait for a funding solution,” Busch told NBC10.
He said SEPTA is still working to meet the Dec. 5 inspection deadline and is installing heat sensors on trains.
Most newer model trains already have them, according to SEPTA, but its older fleet is not equipped with this safety measure.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
