SEPTA receives MARC cars to ease Regional Rail disruptions, but a supply shortage is delaying Silverliner repairs

SEPTA is getting 10 train cars Friday from the Maryland Area Regional Commuter Rail to bolster its Regional Rail service, which has been disrupted by ongoing repairs to its Silverliner IV fleet. 

SEPTA officials said the MARC cars will be used “where needed” on the Regional Rail lines, and that reliability should “gradually improve,” but full service restoration has been pushed back due to supply issues. The transit authority said this week that it will not meet a federally-mandated deadline to add thermal sensors to its Silverliner IV cars, because there is a shortage of wire needed to complete the repairs. 

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Amtrak is transporting the MARC cars from Union Station in Washington to 30th Street Station, but they won’t hit the rails until SEPTA inspects them and trains its crews. That process could take up to two weeks, 6ABC reported.

Last week, Gov. Josh Shapiro directed PennDOT to send SEPTA nearly $220 million funding from the state’s Public Transit Trust Fund so the transit authority could complete various capital projects. SEPTA is partially using that funding to lease the MARC cars for one year and repair its Silverliner IV cars, which are among the oldest in the country and have been prone to electrical fires. 

“Thanks to the Governor’s continued support of SEPTA, we can enhance safety and reliability on Regional Rail,” SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer said. “We are also grateful for MARC’s partnership on this lease agreement. This has been an extremely difficult time for our Regional Rail riders and the MARC cars will allow us to add much-needed capacity for our customers.” 

A federally-mandated inspection of the Silverliner IV cars has left dozens of cars out of service and awaiting repairs. Regional Rail riders have experienced delays, skipped stops and crowded trains for weeks due to the inspections and repair works. 

Last week, SEPTA said it was on track to restore full service by Christmas, but the supply shortage is likely to push this timeline back. SEPTA said it has purchased every piece of wire available in North America, but it still doesn’t have enough to add thermal sensors to every car, WHYY reported. Completing this work will take at least two more weeks.