SEPTA gets $220M in state funds to help with capital issues and fixing trains

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SEPTA is getting a major influx of cash that will help the agency weather another fiscal crisis and fix its aging rail fleet.

Gov. Josh Shapiro says the $219.9 million in state discretionary funding will be used to help SEPTA deal with its rail system issues.

“SEPTA riders don’t have the kind of time to wait 10 years and I don’t have the patience to wait 10 years,” Shapiro said. “With this action today, with providing these $220 million, we can ensure that for as long as these railcars are used, they will be safe and they will be effective modes of transportation for riders in and around the Philadelphia area.”

Federal transportation authorities had ordered SEPTA to halt using the 50-year-old Silverliner IV cars and conduct immediate inspections and repairs after a series of fires on the trains earlier this year.

SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer says this money will help the system end the cycle of going from crisis to crisis.

“We can now see, with the return of express service later this afternoon, more and more cars coming back every day,” Sauer said. “Now we can do lots of other things that we we did not have funding to do, that will allow us to get in front of crises. We can now do some preventive work, look for the next problem that’s out on the horizon before it impacts customers.”

There still is no dedicated funding for mass transit in Pennsylvania. Shapiro said he’s urging the state Senate to approve a stream of money to prevent the current crisis from recurring.

Now that the federally mandated inspections are over, SEPTA has restored express service in the evenings. Express trains are still not yet running during the morning rush because of the shortened holiday week.

SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch says crews are doing what they can to return as many trains to service as possible.

“The kind of a first step is being able to bring back some of those express trips in the evening and then we’ll continue to go,” Busch said. “As we move along, we expect we’ll bring them back in the morning at some point as well. But, it’s a good sign moving forward, a good sign that we’re moving the right way in bringing more service back on Regional Rail.”

The return of morning express service is dependent on how many Silverliner cars will return to service. Crews are expected to work through the holiday to expedite the repairs.

“Currently, five cars a day are being fixed as the repair shops work around the clock, seven days a week,” Busch said. That 35 cars a week will return to service, giving operators more flexibility.

With the additional cars, operators won’t have to bypass as many stations because of overcrowded cars.

Busch says it will most likely be mid-December before all the trains are returned to service, which is better than original expectations for mid-January.