SEPTA’s Silverliner train troubles

Guests: Joe Martin and Matthew Mitchell

If you usually take a regional rail train to work in Philly, you’re likely already dealing with the headache of packed trains, confusion and delays. Earlier this month, SEPTA discovered troubling microscopic cracks had developed in its Silverliner V cars and the transit agency sidelined 120 vehicles. SEPTA is now leasing equipment from other transit agencies and urging Regional Rail riders to find other ways to travel, as repairs could take the rest of the summer. We’ll talk with SEPTA about the trains’ structural failures and how the agency is coping with the loss of one-third of coaches in its regional rail system. JOE MARTIN, a civil engineering professor at Drexel University, will help us understand the mechanics of the trains and why the discovery of so many cracks indicates a systemic. And MATTHEW MITCHELL, vice president of the Delaware Valley Association of Railroad Passengers, will give us the passenger’s perspective.