Harrisburg, Pennsylvania– Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and leaders of the Philadelphia Mass Transit Agency said Monday that the system is in full compliance with federal orders to take action to help prevent fires on an older electric railcar model that is heavily used in the regional rail fleet.
The Federal Railroad Administration’s October order came after federal transportation authorities investigated Five fires This year includes the Silverliner IV passenger rail cars used by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA.
Shapiro, a Democrat, said he would send an additional $220 million in state aid to SEPTA to help it comply with the orders. Starting Monday, some of the 225 Silverliner IV cars will return to service for the first time since October, SEPTA said.
The five fires forced the evacuation of everyone on board – in one case, up to 350 passengers – with some minor injuries reported. One rail car was involved in two fires, and two other cars were destroyed National Transportation Safety Board He said.
SEPTA is one of the nation’s largest mass transit agencies, transporting 800,000 passengers daily on buses, trolleys and rail. It blames insufficient public funding for a modernization backlog of more than $10 billion.
The recommendation comes at a time SEPTA And major transportation agencies across the United States are fighting for it More public funding They suffer from high costs and delayed passengers.
In its report, the NTSB criticized SEPTA’s maintenance and operating practices.
That, combined with the outdated design of the Silverliner IV rail cars, “presents an immediate and unacceptable safety risk due to the incidence and severity of electrical fires that can spread to occupied compartments,” the NTSB said.
Silverliner IV railcars represent about two-thirds of SEPTA’s regional rail fleet and date back to the mid-1970s. The agency said it was SEPTA’s oldest rail car.
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