After fires, SEPTA to keep Silverliner IV fleet, despite warning from national safety board

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is recommending that SEPTA suspend and replace its Silverliner IV fleet, which comprises more than half of its Regional Rail train cars, following five train fires across Pennsylvania this year.

SEPTA responded on Wednesday, expressing confidence in its ability to continue service with the Silverliner IV fleet despite the NTSB’s call for their removal. The safety board released a report Tuesday urging SEPTA to retire the cars that have been involved in fire incidents. Since February, five such fires have occurred on Regional Rail line vehicles. The most recent fire took place last Thursday at Gravers Station on the Chestnut Hill East line, forcing the evacuation of 25 passengers and four crew members. The previous four incidents happened outside Philadelphia.

The Silverliner IV cars have been in use since the mid-1970s and were originally acquired by the Reading Company for its passenger train service. Today, they account for over 57% of SEPTA’s current Regional Rail fleet.

SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer addressed the issue Wednesday at SEPTA’s headquarters in Center City, stating that the transit authority has implemented new “mitigation measures” to manage the fleet. “Due to these efforts, we are confident that we can safely continue service with the Silverliner IV fleet,” Sauer said.

He also highlighted ongoing funding challenges as a barrier to retiring the aging railcars. The current budget impasse in Harrisburg has forced SEPTA to use capital funds to cover a $213 million operational deficit for this fiscal year. “However, we are confident that these trains are safe,” Sauer emphasized. “We are also confident that our mitigation efforts will allow us to maintain safe service for our customers moving forward.”

The NTSB report noted that the Silverliner IV cars are too old to meet existing safety protocols, which were established decades after their introduction. The findings pointed to the “outdated design of Silverliner IV railcars,” describing it as an “immediate and unacceptable safety risk.” The report recommended removing the cars from service and securing funding to either replace or retrofit them.

“The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s current operating practices for the Silverliner IV fleet are insufficient to protect passengers and crews because railcars with electrical faults are not being identified and promptly removed from service,” the NTSB report stated.

Additionally, the report cited organizational factors behind the recurring fires: “The recurrence of fires despite the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s attempted operational, maintenance, and engineering changes is consistent with organizational factors preventing proposed risk mitigations from being effectively deployed.”

It concluded that “the risks posed by the Silverliner IV’s outdated design cannot be fully addressed without an extensive fleet retrofit or replacement.”

In response, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker shared a statement on social media expressing that the findings were “very disturbing to me — and all too predictable.” While she expressed confidence in Sauer and SEPTA leadership, the mayor urged the Pennsylvania General Assembly to reach an agreement on a “sustainable, recurrent funding source for SEPTA’s operations.”

Mayor Parker criticized the current use of capital funds, which would otherwise aid in replacing the aging Silverliner IV cars. “We anxiously are waiting for the Pennsylvania General Assembly to deliver and approve that sustainable, recurring source to fund operating and capital needs for public transit,” her statement read. “Meanwhile, you can literally see the result: an aging rail car fleet, plagued by unresolved train car fires, and today, the urgent recommendation from the NTSB that 225 SEPTA rail cars be removed from service immediately.”

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