From budget battles with Harrisburg lawmakers to service cuts and fare hikes, this has been a tumultuous year for SEPTA. The transit agency’s latest battle involves daily delays, cancellations, and overcrowding on its Regional Rail lines as inspectors pull trains out of service due to potential safety hazards.
But SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer offered us some good news: Come Friday, the inspection-related cancellations will end.
“ We are almost 90% complete as of Monday,” Sauer said of the mandated inspections in an interview with City Cast Philly. “ We fully expect to meet the deadline by close of business on Friday, the 14th. We have made really good progress, where it got off to a pretty slow start.”
How Did We Get Here?
In 2025, SEPTA experienced five fires on separate trains along its Regional Rail system on Feb. 6, June 3, July 22, Sept. 23, and Sept. 25. These accidents occurred along different rail lines, and originated in the trains’ electrical systems.
All trains involved in the fires are part of the Regional Rail’s Silverliner IV fleet. These cars have been in service since the 1970s. Although SEPTA began to replace the aging fleet in 2013, the trains weren’t completely retired and plans to acquire replacement double-decker rail cars were scrapped. And so with no permanent funding solution for SEPTA, the rail network continued to use the old cars.
The Feds’ Response
The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates civil transportation accidents, released a report in October that blamed the Silverliner IV’s outdated designs and SEPTA’s maintenance practices for the safety risks and resulting fires. It recommended that the transit agency pull the cars out of service until the exact cause of the fires was determined, enact a plan to mitigate the risks, and seek funding to replace the rail cars as soon as possible.
The Federal Railroad Administration echoed the sentiments of the NTSB and ordered SEPTA to inspect the fleet and take remedial action by Oct. 31.
SEPTA’s Response
”Safety is the number one goal of the authority,” Sauer told City Cast Philly this week. “We don't want to get anyone hurt. We want everybody who works and rides on SEPTA to make sure that they go home the same way that we got them. So we won't put equipment on the line that isn't safe to run.”
After the initial accidents in the summer, SEPTA pulled some cars out of service for inspections and implemented new safety measures. But under the new order, SEPTA began pulling more trains for emergency mechanical inspections. Yet as Oct. 31 approached, it was clear the agency would not make the deadline and asked for a two-week extension.
The extension was given, but not without U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy slamming SEPTA’s safety practices and “gross mismanagement” of its finances. This prompted Governor Josh Shapiro to fire back, pointing to Republicans in the state senate who refused to pass his budget with adequate funding for SEPTA.
Because of that continued budget impasse, SEPTA dipped into capital funds meant to address emergencies (like fires) in order to cover operational costs and continue service.
What’s Next?
While Sauer expects to meet the new Nov. 14 deadline, he warned that there is still no dedicated funding source for SEPTA in the state budget, and more projects are getting pushed aside.
And that means reductions in service or ending certain routes “are on the horizon if we don't resolve it with a permanent funding solution,” Sauer said.
