PATCO working out some bugs before unveiling first of ‘new’ traincars

It’s a few months behind schedule, but PATCO is close to rolling out refurbished cars on the high-speed train line between South Jersey and Philadelphia.

The transit corporation is just ironing out some technical bugs in the first refurbished cars that fulfill part of a $194 million contract, said Michael Venuto, PATCO chief engineer.

“We have eight prototype cars that are in the Lindenwold shop and are being tested right now,” he said. “They are running up and down the tracks, going through their normal testing process, before we have car acceptance. We are working right now on some software and communications issues with the cars as they test along our tracks.”

Venuto says the only thing that hasn’t changed in the cars is the shell.

“It was stripped down — everything was removed from the car, from the HVAC to the seats to the flooring,” he said. “So they will see new HVAC systems, new seats, new flooring, new lighting, LED indicators of what stations they will be coming up, to video monitors with advertising, new windows — an entirely new car.”

If all the bugs are worked out, the first of the 120 cars is expected to debut next month.