PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two dozen rail cars from Montreal are being prepared to join the SEPTA fleet early in 2027 as the transit agency seeks to improve Regional Rail service.
The 30-year-old cars came to Philadelphia from Montreal’s Exo transit system, which means they must be adapted to comply with Federal Railroad Administration rules.
“The FRA sets federal safety standards for things like emergency lighting, signage, brake system maintenance,” explained SEPTA chief of rail equipment, engineering and maintenance Greg Buzby. “So that’s the majority of the work we’re doing here.”
That includes details as small as changing signage from French to English and bigger things like retrofitting car doors to accommodate the taller SEPTA platforms. Biggest of all, mechanics at SEPTA’s Frazer train maintenance yard must equip each car with a federally-mandated Positive Train Control system.
That “is one of the longest lead time items we’ll have to do, and one of the most expensive ones,” said Buzby.
SEPTA said the new cars should help shore up Regional Rail trains, especially when cars have to be taken out of service for maintenance.
“We’ll be able to start adding these cars onto existing train sets,” said SEPTA general manager Scott Sauer, “so that where a train today might have four cars, we could add a fifth.”
Sauer said that difference has a meaningful impact for riders.
“One extra car means the difference between us having to bypass a station on the inner circle of the region versus being able to stop and accommodate more folks,” he said.
Along with the new Canadian rail cars, SEPTA is seeking to renew its lease of 10 cars from Maryland to keep the fleet rolling while the agency plans its next-generation Silverliner VI cars. Sauer said they plan to award a contract for those vehicles in the first quarter of 2027.
