Philadelphia’s new train cars arrive

SEPTA put the first of its new railcars into service today. They were unveiled at Philadelphia’s Suburban Station

SEPTA put the first of its new railcars into service today.  They were unveiled at Philadelphia’s Suburban Station.

The Silverliner Five car broke through a banner as it arrived.  The race to finish the first three cars is about nine months behind schedule, but SEPTA General Manager Joe Casey says they are happy with the finished product.

“It’s good for our passengers you have to realize these cars will be replacing 47 year old cars on our system.  Frequently when we have service interruptions and the car breaks down it’s the older cars that malfunction, so we are really excited about this.  More importantly it provides additional capacity on our system.”

The full compliment of 120 cars is expected to be delivered next year.  They replace 70 older cars that are in such bad condition that Casey says they will probably be sold for scrap despite efforts to auction them.