Passengers boarding a SEPTA train in Bucks County last year.
Credit: Erich Martin/NewtownPANow.com
SEPTA has leased an additional five passenger cars from the Maryland Area Regional Commuter (MARC) to help ease the load after taking nearly a third of a its fleet out of service.
The transit system said SEPTA’s Regional Rail system will run 28 leased passengers cars by late week. SEPTA had to lease cars after 120 Silverliner V cars were yanked from duty after the discovery of a structural defect. The roughly 2,000 leased seats come from Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and MARC.
“This is an evolving process, and we will continue to make changes to optimize service for our customers,” said SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel. “We are extremely grateful for the use of this additional rail equipment. MARC, Amtrak and NJ Transit have been great partners in what is a very challenging time for our customers.”
Along with the leased cars, SEPTA has been using a modified scheduled on Regional Rail service to help continue to operate service. The leased cars are expected to help address crowding on the train lines.
In addition to the leased trains, the transit system is using 231 Silverliner IV cars (the older ones) and 26 spare cars, officials said.
PhillyVoice.com reported last week that just under 20 leased cars would cost SEPTA $51,000 per week. They money is set to come from the operating budget.
SEPTA officials have said they are continuing to work to repair the cracked equalizer beams that has caused the Silverliner V cars to be sidelined.
The Silverliner V cars were manufactured by Hyundai-Rotem.
Knueppel said recently that SEPTA will bring in a Montgomery County firm to inspect the Silverliner V cars once they return to service. He said the inspection will involve the whole car and not just the suspension issues.
SEPTA is directing commuters to http://www.septa.org/service/contingency.html for updates.
