PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority may not meet an Oct. 31 federal deadline to complete inspections of its fleet of Silverliner IV railcars, despite around-the-clock efforts, the agency’s general manager said last week.
General Manager Scott Sauer, in a Sept. 16 city council hearing, said the agency may ask for an extension, KYW-TV reports. He said inspections had been completed for 52 of the 225 cars, and that efforts were being increased to complete the work by the end of the month. But he also said it could be the end of the year before service returns to normal, according to KYW Radio.
The Federal Railroad Administration issued an emergency order earlier this month requiring the inspections, as well as a number of other actions to address the risk of fires on the cars built by GE between 1974 and 1976 [see “FRA issues an emergency order …,” Trains.com, Oct. 2, 2025]. That followed a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board that SEPTA remove the cars from service until it could mitigate the problems that had led to five fires involving the Silverliners earlier this year [see “NTSB urges SEPTA to pull Silverline IV cars …,” Trains.com, Oct. 1, 2025].
The inspection process has led to major disruptions to SEPTA Regional Rail Service, leaving only about 140 railcars in service instead of the usual 300, Sauer told the hearing.
Earlier in the week, Sauer said in a statement to passengers that “we recognize that our customers and employees are both feeling the strain” caused by service disruptions, and that as a user of Regional Rail, he has “seen the frustration” caused by cancellations, delays, skipped stops, and overcrowding. “But nothing is more important to us than safety,” he wrote, “and we are working 24/7 to address federally mandated safety requirements.”
SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said earlier this mont that the work includes addition of new thermal monitors to warn of potential fire risks. “We already have a lot of indicator lights that will go on if there’s a problem,” Busch told WHYY Radio, “but this is going to be an added safety feature that we’re putting in. … With the age of these cars, it requires a retrofit.”
