PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — More of SEPTA’s Regional Rail trains have been packed full lately, which the transit agency mostly attributes to rainy weather taking a toll on older cars.
In recent days, SEPTA has been running more two and three-car Regional Rail trains, rather than the usual four to six cars. That means trains are more crowded. Spokesman Andrew Busch said it was because the traction motors on the 50-year-old Silverliner IV cars are more likely to be affected by wet weather.
“Unfortunately, when things like this come up, we will have to take a few more of these Silverliner IVs out of service than normal to address it,” said Busch.
SIlverliner IV cars make up two-thirds of the fleet. SEPTA usually runs a handful of two-car trains per day but Busch said Wednesday there were 13 two-car trains, leading to overcrowding.
“It has varied from day to day, but we have seen a bit more shortage than usual over these last few weeks as we've been dealing with this weather."
He said the transit agency is issuing alerts not only for cancelled trains, but also for trains with only two or three cars.
The transit agency doesn’t expect the issue to linger as spring approaches, according to Busch, but it does highlight the need for new, more reliable regional rail cars. He added that SEPTA is still looking into leasing rail cars from Montreal’s transit system in order to beef up its fleet.