(10_31_25 A Temple Update Update: SEPTA has received an extension of the inspection deadline. The new inspection deadline is November 14.)
The Federal Railroad Administration gave SEPTA thirty days to inspect all two hundred twenty-three Silverliner IV railcars. SEPTA has not finished all of the rail cars. As the deadline approaches, commuters are worried they might have to wait longer.
Temple Update spoke with SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch, and he has confirmed that one hundred eight out of two hundred twenty-three rail cars have been inspected. There are still 115 cars left to inspect, as the deadline comes to an end today. Septa is hoping to get an extension. Temple Update met with them to find out what their plan is moving forward.
With a looming Halloween deadline, SEPTA only had until October 31 to finish inspecting the rest of the railcars. As of Wednesday afternoon, out of the one hundred and eight inspected cars, only thirty-five have returned to service.
“But we’re looking through everything on these rail vehicles, looking for any kind of component that we find that needs to be replaced. Not that it presents a safety hazard, but we’re replacing that before it goes back into service,” said Andrew Busch.
Busch says a longer extension won’t hurt commuters and continues on saying, “Regardless of what the situation was, because we are returning more cars to service as we go along here. We wouldn’t expect to go backwards from where we’ve been.”
When SEPTA also confirmed they will be exploring options for leasing or buying rail cars from other agencies.
“We’ve talked to officials with MARC in Maryland, NJ Transit, and some others because some of them are procuring new rail cars and, therefore, will be cycling out some other ones,” said Busch.
As repairs are happening, SEPTA riders like Temple students are being impacted every day, and they continue to face cancellations and delays.
Temple Update Spoke with freshman Joy Kanwal, who takes SEPTA every day to get to campus and back home and told us traveling has been challenging for weeks.
“It’s been really difficult because of the delays, and usually, it’s very crowded, and most of the time, you have to stand if you don’t find a seat, because the trains get really crowded,” said Kanwal.
Kanwal has been late to classes because of the delays and believes attendance is important for her. “Yes. One morning I was going to take the 7:53 train, but unfortunately it got delayed, so it was up to like 30, 40 minutes… I got late to my class, and attendance is very important, so I was definitely conscious about getting an absence in my class,” she said.
SEPTA has asked the Federal Rail Administration for an extension, but SEPTA will not have an answer until Friday.
Be the first to comment