Transit in 2025: A year of turmoil

Electric multiple-unit railcars in shop building — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority conducts inspections of Silverliner IV railcars to address an October federal emergency order5. , just one of the issues faced by SEPTA in 2025. SEPTA

Rail transit had quite a year in the U.S. … and not in a particularly good way. Financial, equipment, and labor issues all played a part in making at a stressful year for transit operators. The combination of reduced ridership with the post-pandemic shift to more work-at-home opportunities, along with political divisions over funding, make it likely the financial strains won’t ease for most systems anytime soon.

Here’s a review of some of the year’s top stories.

The SEPTA saga

Hands down, the toughest year belonged to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. It spent the year warning of service cuts for Philadelphia-area riders without additional funding from the state, and began enacting those cuts in August — only to have a judge order the reinstatement of all service. Gov. Josh Shapiro ultimately approved use of money from a capital-projects fund to pay for those operations.

Shortly after that, a series of fires involving half-century-old Silverliner IV electric multiple-unit equipment led the Federal Railroad Administration to issue a series of orders requiring inspections, repairs, and upgrades to the cars built by the Budd Co. That, in turn, led to significant disruption of Regional Rail service, as trains were shortened or cancelled to address the shortage of equipment during the inspection and repair process. SEPTA missed the initial deadline to complete inspections, met a FRA extension by hours, then found it was unable to complete the addition of heat sensors by another deadline because it was unable to obtain a sufficient amount of thermal wire for the work. Shapiro stepped in again by redirecting almost $220 million to help pay for that work, a lease of cars from Maryland to address the equipment shortage, and other projects — including addressing another emergency order, this one from the Federal Transit Administration, regarding problems with the catenary system for the SEPTA trolley network.

The agency did, at the last minute, avert a strike by the Transport Workers Union — thanks in part to Shapiro, who intervened to get the two sides back to the bargaining table to reach an agreement.

Chicago drama

Strained bedfellows: A Metra train and a Union Pacific executive-train media special share space at the Oglivie Transportation Center in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2025. UP and Metra remain at odds, and in court, over Metra service on three UP lines. David Lassen

In the Chicago area, Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority, and bus operator Pace dodged service cuts projected for 2026 when the Illinois legislature, in the final hours of its end-of-year veto session, approved a package to provide $1.5 billion in funding through measures including increases to local sales taxes, a bump in fees on the Illinois Tollway, and redirecting money from tax on fuel and a roadway fund. The funding accompanied a restructuring of the Regional Transportation Authority, which will be renamed the Northern Illinois Transit Authority and gain more power over fares and scheduling.

Metra, meanwhile, remained in a long-running legal battle with Union Pacific over service on three routes. Operation of those lines was transferred from UP to Metra in May, but the sides were unable to agree on financial terms. Metra went to the Surface Transportation Board and gained trackage rights over the three UP lines to ensure service could continue, and later asked the STB to set the financial terms since the two sides were deadlocked. UP sued Metra over funds it said it was owed in the period before the trackage rights decision, and also went to court seeking to overturn that decision. Separately, Metra won $19 million from UP in a case over fares not collected during the pandemic, a decision UP was likely to appeal.

New and expanded

Despite the transit industry’s issues, some systems continue to grow.

In commuter rail, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority opened its South Coast Rail extension to Fall River and New Bedford, Mass., on March 24. Those communities and Taunton, also on the extension, had been the three largest communities within 50 miles of Boston without commuter rail service. Initial operations were plagued by cancellations because of a shortage of qualified crews; that was gradually addressed.

Also new is Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s Silver Line, a 26-mile, 10-station line linking DFW Airport and Plano, Tex., mostly built on a former Cotton Belt branch line. The line using Stadler diesel multiple-unit trainsets opened Oct. 24.

A number of light rail lines also opened. The Seattle-area Sound Transit Link light-rail system launched a 3.4-mile, two-station addition to its east-west Line 2, reaching downtown Redmond, Wash., on May 10; added the 8.5-mile, four-station Lynnwood extension to its north-south Line 1 on Aug. 30, and opened the 7.8-mile, three-station Federal Way extension on Line 1 on Dec. 6. Line 1 is now the second-longest light rail line in the U.S. at 41 miles, with 26 stations.

In Canada, Montreal’s Réseau express métropolitain light rail opened its 33-kilometer (20.5-mile), 14-station Deux-Montagnes line on Nov. 17, roughly tripling the size of the REM network. Also, Toronto opened its 10.3-kilometer (6.4-mile), 18-station Finch West line in the northwest part of the city on Dec. 7.

Also notable

While there were more major stories than we can hit in a single article, here are a few other notable developments:

— NJ Transit commuter trains were shut down by a two-day strike in May before engineers agreed to a new contract. A longer strike halted the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, serving the San Jose, Calif., area, in March; that one ended when a judge ordered the strikers back to work. Still looming: a potential strike by Long Island Rail Road unions.

— The Twin Cities’ Metropolitan Council announced plans to shut down the Northstar commuter line between Minneapolis and Big Lake, Minn., in early January. Usage nosedived during the COVID pandemic and never recovered; with little fare recovery, the subsidy for the service had reached more than $230 per rider.

— Voters in the Charlotte, N.C., area approved a ballot initiative that will provide funding for a new commuter rail line to the Lake Norman area. Charlotte’s city council had previously approved purchase of Norfolk Southern’s O-Line for that project.

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