Rendell tours ancient railroad substation to push for transit funding

Governor visits Philadelphia the day after offering his plan on transit

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell visited Philadelphia Wednesday to push his plan for transportation funding.

Governor Rendell and Mayor Michael Nutter traveled to the nearly 90 year old Wayne Junction railroad Substation. The Governor says just seeing the equipment in use that dates back to the 1920’s and 30’s worries him that a major failure is just around the corner.

“The people that ride our regional rail system never see this but it’s absolutely essential to keeping the system going. They don’t think about it but SEPTA’s manager’s do, they think about it and they worry about it because when the federal government turned down tolling Interstate 80 we lost over 500 million dollars a year in transportation funding.”

The governor says raising vehicle registration fees is just one way to supply reliable funding for transit. He says without stable finances, transit agencies can’t afford upgrades needed to prevent a catastrophe.