Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and leaders of Philadelphia’s mass transit agency said Monday that the system is fully complying with federal orders to take measures to help prevent fires in an aging electric railcar model that is heavily used in its regional rail fleet.
The October order from the Federal Railroad administration came after federal transportation authorities investigated five fires this year involving the Silverliner IV passenger railcars used by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA.
shapiro, a Democrat, said he is sending an extra $220 million in state aid to SEPTA to help it comply with the orders. SEPTA said that, starting Monday, some of the roughly 225 Silverliner IV cars will return to service for the first time since October.
“We cannot let SEPTA fail,” Shapiro said in a news conference at SEPTA’s Frazer maintenance plant in Malvern. “We have to continue to be there for SEPTA and for all mass transit agencies. It’s too significant for our economy, it’s too important for communities, it’s too important for our entire commonwealth.”
SEPTA is one of the nation’s largest mass transit agencies, carrying 800,000 daily riders on buses, trolleys and rail. It blames inadequate public funding for a backlog of upgrades of more than $10 billion.
The Silverliner IV rail cars represent about two-thirds of SEPTA’s regional rail fleet and date back to the mid-1970s. They are SEPTA’s oldest rail cars in the nation’s oldest rail fleet, the agency said.
SEPTA has completed the federally ordered inspections and begun equipment upgrades on the Silverliner IV.
Related reading