PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is making progress in federally mandated repairs to its Silverliner IV fleet, meaning Regional Rail passengers could soon see an end to the overcrowded conditions that resulted from that equipment being sidelined.
The news site Billy Penn reports that SEPTA has now received the thermal wire it needs to add heat detectors to the cars, a fire-prevention measure ordered by the Federal Railroad Administration. A shortage of that wire kept the agency from meeting the Dec. 5 deadline for adding the thermal detectors [see “SEPTA to miss latest FRA repair deadline …,” Trains.com, Dec. 5, 2025].
SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch told Billy Penn that the thermal detectors have been added to 203 of the 223 Silverliner IVs. Completing the work takes about four hours per car, he said. The agency has also completed other repair work, found during FRA-mandated inspections, on about 180 cars.
The FRA ordered the inspections in October after a series of fires involving the Budd-built Silverliner IV equipment, which dates to the 1970s. [See “FRA issues an emergency order …,” Oct. 2.] The inspections and repairs have limited many Regional Rail trains to two cars instead of the usual three or four cars, leading to months of overcrowding and skipped stops by full trains.
“It’s been an extraordinarily difficult three months now for our riders,” Busch told the news site. “We really can’t thank them enough for their patience. We know it’s impacted them and their lives and their families and their ability to get to work.”
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what is not clear is whether any of the repaired cars are back in service or each repaired car going to need another FRA inspection.