SEPTA boss Knueppel expects gradual readjustment after summer train delays

SEPTA’s commuter rail service resumed its normal schedule on Monday after three months of delays due to safety issues with 120 of the unit’s Silverliner V cars. The cars were sidelined after a SEPTA inspector noticed cracks in the equalizer beams, a part that stabilizes the axles of the rail cars.

At least 50 of the cars are back on the tracks this week, and commuters have returned to their regularly scheduled trains.

SEPTA executive director Jeff Knueppel said that he was able to make it to work on time Monday, but he acknowledged that there will be time needed to readjust.

“It’s going to be a little bit of a rough start because people are adjusting their routines,” Knueppel said on Monday’s Morning Edition . “It’s just a little bit of a settling in period. It’s going to take us time to figure out how customers have changed their routines.”

Interrupted train schedules forced commuters to find alternate travel options; some took buses, others began biking to work. Because of that drop in customers, SEPTA sustained a financial hit while the repairs continued.

“Through July and August, the numbers were about $7.5 million,” he said. “We have pretty good contracts that will allow us to recover an awful lot of it, and we’re continuing to work and look to see  what all of our legal options are to get back as much of it as we can.”