SEPTA is getting a $13.3 million boost from federal coffers to help retire what the agency calls the oldest passenger rail fleet in the nation, writes Dan Snyder for CBS News Philadelphia.
The money, awarded through the Federal Transit Administration’s Rail Vehicle Replacement Program, will fund planning and design work for the next generation of Regional Rail cars, a first step toward replacing SEPTA’s roughly 50-year-old Silverliner IVs.
Those cars have been running well past their intended lifespan, and 2025 brought a string of Silverliner IV fires and other incidents that forced federally mandated inspections, repairs, and service disruptions across the Regional Rail network…