This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
11/3/2025
The Federal Railroad Administration late last week granted the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) an extension to complete an FRA emergency order of safety inspections of the agency's Silverliner IV Regional Rail trains.
On Oct. 1, the FRA ordered SEPTA to take several safety-related steps to prevent the future risk of fires and other malfunctions on SEPTA’s system. The emergency order cited five instances this year in which rail cars on the commuter-rail service caught fire or experienced an emergency situation related to a thermal event.
The FRA granted SEPTA an extension of the original Oct. 31 deadline to finish point-by-point inspections of the 223 rail-car fleet and complete installations of new high-heat detectors. As of Oct. 31, SEPTA met almost all of the required actions by the FRA’s initial Oct. 31 deadline, and work will continue around-the-clock to finish the remaining items under the extension, SEPTA officials said in a press release.
SEPTA now has until Nov. 14 to complete all of the FRA's required emergency actions. Specialized teams have already inspected 120 of the 223 rail cars, on top of the normal inspections conducted on a regular basis.
“We are grateful for the FRA’s collaboration, and we are committed to following through on the required actions so that we can continue returning safe and reliable service to our customers,” said SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer. “This has been a herculean effort by our workforce to establish this process and execute the required work, and I am confident in our ability to complete these tasks in a timely manner.”
The FRA also extended the deadline to Dec. 5 for SEPTA to install thermal protection circuits on the Silverliner IV rail cars. SEPTA is working to procure the materials, train personnel and install the circuits that will provide an added layer of protection, SEPTA officials said.