Another example of Philly incompetence, corruption, and terrible decision making. The morons running SEPTA decided to replace their functional 1960s produced trains with the cheapest foreign made trains and then had them assembled by union workers in South Philly. After 4 years of service all of the new trains are defective and could derail at any time. These boobs now have to take 33% of their fleet offline for months.
You can be sure this company has feathered the nests of the politicians who chose them. When black thugs aren’t terrorizing passengers on the platforms, their brand new trains are falling apart. They are so well run that revenue comes up only $850 million short of expenses. Taxpayers are forced to subsidize their massive loss. Maybe another advertising campaign using taxpayer funds will rectify this slight problem. Philly is the clusterfuck capital of the world. I can’t wait for the DNC in three weeks.
Silverliner V 101: The problematic backstory of SEPTA’s futuristic cars
While officials stressed the flaw did not pose a safety threat, they sure acted quickly; the decision to pull the cars came just hours after an impromptu Friday night inspection. SEPTA has said it plans to keep all of the cars offline until they can be fixed, which could be “weeks” — a representative from the Delaware Valley Association of Railroad Passengers told Philly Mag that as he understood it, “things won’t get completely back to normal until the end of the summer.”
The issue that prompted all this was something to do with the “truck,” which is the part beneath the cars that holds the wheels and axles in place and connects them with the motor. Yeah, kind of an important facet of a train car.
But this setback is just the latest development in the troubled history of the Silverliner V. These cars have been plagued by delays and design flaws since their introduction.
Construction delays
In 2006, SEPTA awarded a $274 million contract to build 120 new cars to South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem. Parts were to be manufactured at the company’s home base, and then assembled at its plant in South Philly, with the understanding that they would be completed and rolled out by 2011.
A relatively young company (est. 1999), Hyundai Rotem is thought to have scored much of its business by undercutting competition; it now exports to more than 29 countries around the world. Whether or not price had anything to do with it, SEPTA Silverliner V production did not finish anywhere near on time. The final cars weren’t delivered until March 2013.
By that time, the Hyundai Rotem owed SEPTA nearly $13 million in late fees — the contract (which ended up being for $330 million including spare parts and training) called for a fine of $200 per day for each overdue car.
What happened to the fine money? SEPTA used at least some of it to pay the South Korean company to overhaul 22 older Bombardier rail cars.
Despite the issues — and the fact that several workers have complained about a less-than-stellar culture at the South Philly plant — the agency continues to rely on the same company for production. Most recently, in March 2016, it awarded Hyundai Rotem a $6.38 million contract to refurbish 11 more old Regional Rail cars.
Broken doors and more
When the first working models were introduced in 2010, the Silverliner V was touted as “the future of SEPTA.” Various news reports extolled the LCD screens that announced stops, the larger windows, the non-glare lighting, the new bench seats and wider doors and the greater top speed (110 mph).
But problems began cropping up right away.
Experts noticed multiple “shoddy welds” at the car ends. Engines that were designed to be environmentally friendly sometimes had trouble starting up again after idling for more than 15 minutes.
During the ultra-cold winter of 2014, some of the doors stopped working entirely, trapping passengers so they had trouble exiting at the appropriate stop and causing widespread delays throughout the Regional Rail system.
Other cities
Somehow, none of the (well-publicized) difficulties kept other cities from following SEPTA’s lead in contracting with the low-priced South Korean company.
Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority placed an order for 75 cars from Hyundai Rotem, due for delivery in 2012. At the start of 2013, only four had been delivered from the South Philly plant, and the MBTA threatened to sue. It did not — but maybe should have, since one year later the new fleet was plagued by the same kind of mechanical, engineering, and software problems seen in Philadelphia.
“In my 40-some years of railroad experience, we’ve never seen problems like this,” Tom Murray, president of the local chapter of the Transport Workers Union of America, told the Boston Globe, to which MBTA officials responded that the issues were “a normal part of introducing new, more technologically advanced train cars into a transit system.”
Denver’s Regional Transportation District ordered 66 Silverliner V cars in 2010. Three years later, the parts began arriving from South Korea for final assembly in South Philly, and RTD finally began taking delivery in July 2015.
Contacted this weekend, a representative from Denver RTD said there were no plans to pull Silverliner V cars from service in that city, as of yet.
“Engineers say they don’t think we’ll have issues, because it’s a different model vehicle,” said RTD senior PR manager Nate Currey, noting that this was only a preliminary response and that the agency would be looking into the issue more fully over the next couple of days.
What’s next
Currently, all 120 Silverliner V cars are out-of-service for inspection. Per SEPTA, while this will not adversely impact service through Monday July 4th (as the weekend/holiday schedules can be accommodated with the remainder of the fleet), when the workweek resumes, riders will likely feel the impact.
“It is likely that this loss of vehicles will persist until repairs can be completed,” the agency said in a statement. “Contingency service plans for regular weekday travel are currently being developed.”
A SEPTA press conference on Sun., July 3, provided more details about the issue and the agency’s contingency plans.
“While officials stressed the flaw did not pose a safety threat…”
LIE – fucking prick should be fired.
A major structural defect and the cars were “leaning”, but it is not a safety threat. Grab that POS by the neck and sqeeze.
I have an idea…enact a sidewalk tax. Now that there will be more people walking to work, tax the fuck out of them.
Just tax shoes.
Who in the fuck would buy anything made by Hyundai? Their automobiles are certainly junk and have always been junk, and the once they have been deposed by their original owners, they become the favorite choice of the poor white trash; i.e., meth heads and pill heads, here in the mid Ohio Valley.
Asians may be a lot of things, but they ain’t engineers.
Ever hear of Honda Motor Co.?
Readers might find it interesting that Hyundai Rotem all electric trains are used in Wellington, New Zealand. There do not seem to be the same types of problems with these trains although there have been some issues. I normally use one to go to work each day, hopefully that does not mean I will be a TBP reader train casualty in the future! 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_FP_class_electric_multiple_unit
“Uhhhh-uhhh-uhh-uh” – Lurch, while shaking head.