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farecard What I see as the #1 question: If an axle set passes inspection, how long can it be safely run until the next inspection? Clearly 90 days is too long... There should be no change in the distance between the inside wheel faces over 90 days. I Saw the NTSB Media Briefing. This is sounding li...

Is 60Hz a good standard for the higher speed trains? I don't know much about trains in general. But if Septa is going to spend money on upgrading the power stations they should upgrade the catenary systems along with Amtrak for more reliable high speed trains. Amtrak uses 60 Hz, 25kV between New Ha...

Under-platform vents to suck the particles down and away from the passengers might work. Improved ventilation in general is probably the most economical fix. How much do MFL and BSL cars rely on friction brakes, vs dynamic brakes? Modern motor controls could essentially use the motors for propulsio...

But even with the massive cuts, the Wawa extension is on the new map, as "Middletown" station. Also, I'm calling out the claim that the Broad St. Subway in South Philly will be "special events only.". Running trains for eagles games still means the tracks and signals and infrastr...

Not sure why people are concerned with hydrogen manufacture. It's produced on industrial scales already, Wikipedia says 70 million tons/ year worldwide. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_production My concern is that septa doesn't have the money to be a risk taker with new technologies. Septa...

Has Septa shut off the power to the overhead line now that trollies are not running? Or do they keep it electrified to prevent vandalism and theft?

A few posts back someone asked if the CRRC are needed in light of a long term ridership drop. I would say yes for a few reasons. First, if you are going to have good social distancing on trains when things start coming back, you are going to need a lot more equipment even at reduced levels. Second,...

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Intuitively, the fewer layers of burocracy the better. I'm sure with funding and motivation, septa could handle a route to Harrisburg. But what was the eventual plan for the Harrisburg to Pittsburgh segment? Hire Virgin Trains? Maybe they'd be in a better position to handle...

Does this mean they'll take the bathrooms out of the keystone trains?

A whole back, a friend and I were talking about Fern Rock (Track 0) to Hoboken via West Trenton as a new home for the ACES equipment. The idea would be to plunk a bar car in the middle of the train and go after the "leasure" market. Service would run Friday, Saturday, Sunday, with trains i...

Anyone hear any updates on the overhead wire work? I haven't seen any PCC cars on the route 15 since June (3 weeks ago).

901 came into Lansdale around 10am on Saturday with 3 coaches. I was surprised at how quietly they operate (excluding the horns) compared to an AEM-7. You don’t hear the roar of cooling fans or the constant spitting from the air tanks like an AEM-7. They have about the same noise factor as a MU. Th...

Our two RL1000s aren't bad on the HP rating. I forget exact numbers, but aren't they rebuilt Geeps? New build from Republic Locomotive. 1,000 horsepower. GROSSLY underpowered. Think of them as switchers, because, that's really what they are. Septa never intended for the RL1000's to pull revenue tra...

Hello from SEPTA land. I only recently read about MARC's purchase of diesels to run on the electrified NEC, and I'm still trying to figure out what lead to this apparent non-sequiter. It sounds like MARC was tired of dealing with Amtrak for maintenance, and tired of unreliable catenary power. I'm cu...

Has anyone posted links to pics of the visiting eqipment? Sorry if I missed them, I checked through a few likely threads.

thanks