Railroad Forums 

  • Future of Septa Regional Rail Fleet

  • Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.
Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.

Moderator: AlexC

 #1568254  by PHLSpecial
 
What will the future of the regional rail fleet look like?

Silverliner VI
Bombardier I believe sold their rail division? Anyways wouldn't count on them making the Silverliner VI

Off the shelve
Can Septa buy off the shelve and add modifications? Who can Septa buy from?

Personally I think the Silverliner days are over, no train company is willing to build a line just for silverliners. What does Septa do buy new or extend the life of the Silverliner IV?
 #1568314  by njtmnrrbuff
 
The Septa Silverliner IVs are over 40 years old, just like NJT's Arrow IIIs, and Septa wants to get rid of those MUs sooner rather than later. I believe that they have been maintained better than the Arrow IIIs but 40 plus years of service for an MU is a very long life span. Yes, Septa is indeed going to piggyback off of NJT's order of Multilevel MUs. It will be interesting to see how long the dwell times are at the stations when Septa phases in their Multilevel MUs.
 #1568319  by PHLSpecial
 
njtmnrrbuff wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:37 am The Septa Silverliner IVs are over 40 years old, just like NJT's Arrow IIIs, and Septa wants to get rid of those MUs sooner rather than later. I believe that they have been maintained better than the Arrow IIIs but 40 plus years of service for an MU is a very long life span. Yes, Septa is indeed going to piggyback off of NJT's order of Multilevel MUs. It will be interesting to see how long the dwell times are at the stations when Septa phases in their Multilevel MUs.
I didn't realize SEPTA placed options for the Multilevel MUs. Hopefully it would have bike racks and luggage.
With the CRRC order would that replace the comets or would that add capacity?
 #1568335  by Pensyfan19
 
PHLSpecial wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 8:50 am
njtmnrrbuff wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 7:37 am The Septa Silverliner IVs are over 40 years old, just like NJT's Arrow IIIs, and Septa wants to get rid of those MUs sooner rather than later. I believe that they have been maintained better than the Arrow IIIs but 40 plus years of service for an MU is a very long life span. Yes, Septa is indeed going to piggyback off of NJT's order of Multilevel MUs. It will be interesting to see how long the dwell times are at the stations when Septa phases in their Multilevel MUs.
I didn't realize SEPTA placed options for the Multilevel MUs. Hopefully it would have bike racks and luggage.
With the CRRC order would that replace the comets or would that add capacity?
I think it would only add capacity. I remember reading somewhere that the Bilevels would not be replacing the comets.
 #1568365  by zebrasepta
 
Pensyfan19 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 10:21 am I think it would only add capacity. I remember reading somewhere that the Bilevels would not be replacing the comets.
Well adding capacity or even reaching the ridership levels post-covid seems like a moot point now and who knows how long it'll take SEPTA to regain all the riders after all of the covid problems are over.
 #1568418  by CNJGeep
 
Reminder: SEPTA has agreed in principle to purchase an option of the NJT Multilevel MUs, but it is not set in stone and the funding has yet to be identified. It might come to fruition, it might not.
 #1568421  by njtmnrrbuff
 
I think we will see the Silverliner IVs with us for a good 4 years at the minimum. Yes, the Septa Comets aren't going anywhere super soon either, as of right now. If Septa wanted to retire them in the next few years, then that's fine as they have been with us for a very long time.
 #1568567  by PHLSpecial
 
njtmnrrbuff wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 1:58 pm I think we will see the Silverliner IVs with us for a good 4 years at the minimum. Yes, the Septa Comets aren't going anywhere super soon either, as of right now. If Septa wanted to retire them in the next few years, then that's fine as they have been with us for a very long time.
Probably won't see the Silverliners IV leave until 2030 or 2040? Was that the original timeline?
 #1568587  by JeffK
 
PHLSpecial wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:03 pm Probably won't see the Silverliners IV leave until 2030 or 2040? Was that the original timeline?
My understanding is that they’re already at or near the end of their service life. The IVs were delivered from 1973 to 1976 which puts them at the half-century mark by the middle of this decade.

You never know with SEPTA and this state’s Scroogery towards transit funding, but trying to keep the IVs going for 60-65 years would seem to be very unlikely. .
 #1568812  by rcthompson04
 
I suspect if ridership doesn’t return quickly and Silverliner IVs start needing to be retired that some push pull equipment starts running off peak. The Comets have a lot of life in them and the CRRC cars could take over rush hour runs.
 #1568976  by njtmnrrbuff
 
I think it's probably safe to say that by 2030, the Silverliner IVs will be retired from service. Yes, who knows, if ridership doesn't rebound close to pre-COVID-19 levels, if Septa wanted to retire them or a certain number of them right now, than they can probably do that but I think we will probably see then through 2025 at the very least. Hopefully those push pull trains running on local runs can keep to the schedule-that's my concern although the AC64 units have good acceleration.
 #1569183  by PHLSpecial
 
Silverliner VI Wishlist: individual seats over bench seating, 2x2 seating, luggage box for big bags, bike racks, buttons to open doors. Also E-bell?

Is the push pull sets set only used for express service only still?
 #1569350  by njtmnrrbuff
 
Right now there aren't as many Septa express trains running as there were before COVID-19 started. Yes, from what I have heard from fellow railfans, they have seen Septa push pull sets run on local trains on the Paoli-Thorndale, W. Trenton, and Trenton Lines. If Septa wanted to run those push pull trainsets on off peak runs and they can keep to the schedule, they they probably would.
 #1569479  by rcthompson04
 
njtmnrrbuff wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:14 pm Right now there aren't as many Septa express trains running as there were before COVID-19 started. Yes, from what I have heard from fellow railfans, they have seen Septa push pull sets run on local trains on the Paoli-Thorndale, W. Trenton, and Trenton Lines. If Septa wanted to run those push pull trainsets on off peak runs and they can keep to the schedule, they they probably would.
SEPTA ran an all day push pull set of 4 cars back in 2018-19 I believe. It didn’t perform poorly per se, but it had some issues in part due to the run it was assigned. I think they had it touch each line excluding the lines that run exclusively in Philadelphia (Airport, CHW, CHE, and Fox Chase) and the Cymwyd line.

I would think dedicating a set or two to all day runs and trying to keep them on the same line or two all day would make the most sense. Pre-Covid SEPTA ran one train an hour each direction on the Paoli-Thorndale line that terminated/originated at Temple while the other continued to Lansdale/Doylestown. There were other lines with similar setups.
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