PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA's refurbished vintage Route 15 trolleys won't be hitting the streets next week as planned. The transit agency says their return will be delayed until later this fall so operators can get more training.
SEPTA's 18 1940s-era cream-and-green trolleys have been off the tracks for three years, getting a top-to-bottom rebuild. Six of the newly refurbished PCC trolleys were expected to get back on track starting Sunday, Sept. 10. However, amid ongoing safety training for employees, that return is on hold.
"We do expect that they are coming this fall, and we will hopefully have a specific date very soon — but it won't be next week,” said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch.
It won’t even be September, he said.
“We've looked at that, and what we want to get completed, we don't think there's enough time between now and the end of September."
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With systemwide mandatory safety training still going on, following a string of recent crashes, Busch says SEPTA took a hard look at safety education for newly hired operators as well as those familiar with the 1940s-era PCCs.
"Through that, we've seen some areas that we could use some additional training. And we thought it was the prudent decision to pull back on this a little bit so that we could have some additional time for instruction."
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Busch says with an understaffed workforce, SEPTA also wants to widen the pool of PCC operators before the trolleys return to passenger service.
Busch says people may see some of the Route 15 trolleys running on the tracks along Girard Avenue, as part of the training. He says it's possible they may return to carrying passengers in October, but no firm date has been set.