Last week the transportation authority found cracks in a key support beam on 120 train cars, roughly a third of the regional rail fleet.
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The first delay reported on SEPTA’s Twitter feed early Friday was on the Paoli-Thorndale Line, where Train #516 was operating more than 10 minutes late, according to SEPTA.
Paoli-Thorndale trains seemed to experience the bulk of the problems, with delays also plaguing the Lansdale-Doylestown Line, the Airport Line, the Media-Elwyn Line, the Fox Chase Line, the West Trenton Line and the Cynwyd Line, among others.
While Uber was not technically allowed to operate within city limits – and the Philadelphia Parking Authority even has a hotline number for residents to report sightings of Uber and Lyft – it continued to do so, anyway.
The agency’s legal team is reviewing its contract and warranty agreements with South Korean manufacturer Hyundai-Rotem, which produces the Silverline V rail cars.
Knueppel said officials have not pinpointed the root cause of the structural issue.
SEPTA gave an update to their ongoing issues with rail service on Friday afternoon, and while service issues will continue through at least the end of August, some help is on the way.
It is not known when SEPTA will be able to get its defective rail coaches repaired and back in service.
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Philadelphia’s regional rail system typically transports about 65,000 riders each way per day. He said the defect is costing SEPTA “millions of dollars” in leasing and employee overtime costs, as well as for weekly travel credits and refunds to monthly regional rail pass customers because of the problem. Trains were put on a modified Saturday schedule until further notice with additional rush-hour service.
