PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA said installation crews are not going to make Friday's deadline to put thermal detection units on all of its Silverliner IV rail cars.
After completing fire inspections last month, SEPTA said it expected to meet the Federal Railroad Administration's December 5 deadline to install the thermal detection wires in its Silverliner IV rail cars.
But spokesman Andrew Busch said the agency has struggled to source the wire used for the sensor.
“We've exhausted the suppliers who have that available because we needed so much in a very short amount of time,” Busch said. “So we're probably going to need another week or two to get more of the wire in stock.”
Of the 223 Silverliner IV cars removed from service in October, 160 have returned to service. Some of those are still awaiting their thermal detection units, while others need repairs found during the inspection process.
Busch said the FRA is not bothered by the delay and that they will not issue a new deadline, but they will not greenlight cars without the sensor.
“They understand that this is a supply issue, so there wasn't anything we could do to prevent this,” he said. “What their requirement is going to be is that those cars can't be in service until they have the repair.”
Busch said the extended timeline is not expected to delay SEPTA’s return to normal service later this month, partly because 10 railcars from Maryland are expected to arrive Friday.
That will finally bring an end to the months of delays Regional Rail riders have experienced since the NTSB initially ordered the Silverliner IVs taken out of service after five fires on the 50-year-old railcars this year.