SEPTA sidelines a third of El train fleet

Cracks found in 58 railcars used on the Market-Frankford Line

UPPER DARBY >> Passengers traveling from 69th Street on the Market-Frankford “El” Line may find packed trains today as a third of the fleet has been sidetracked for emergency inspections after cracks were found in 58 cars, SEPTA officials said Monday.

Scheduled maintenance on a railcar revealed a crack had spread to a load-bearing beam Friday night, triggering SEPTA officials to inspect the entire fleet over the weekend. It was discovered that 58 cars showed signs of a weld crack, with two cars having sustained structural damage.

Currently SEPTA is operating with a third of its normal rush-hour fleet off the tracks. Of 218 total cars, a full complement during rush hour is 144 total cars, but by Monday night rush SEPTA said only 108 would be on the tracks.

“This morning 16 trains were on the line during rush hour, lower than the normal 24,” said SEPTA General Manager Jeff Knueppel at a press conference Monday afternoon. “This number should rise to 18 trains by (Monday) evening’s rush.”

Knueppel said he rode the subway Monday morning without issue, and riders expressed they too had a morning without chaotically overpacked trains.

“It happens, what are you going to complain about?” asked Albert Faust of Upper Darby, outside the 69th Street Station Monday morning. “See how expensive it is to drive downtown instead of taking the train.

“Everything has its problems.”

Joe Harper of Philadelphia said he was happy SEPTA took the precautionary steps.

“It’s good they’re doing the checks, God forbid something could happen,” Harper said.

Knueppel stressed that SEPTA’s decision to sideline a significant portion of its MFL fleet was done out of safety precaution, and is hopeful to see trains returning to typical schedules over the next few weeks. In the meantime, additional bus service is being provided during peak travel hours at 52nd and Market and at Girard Station for passengers heading downtown.

SEPTA recently had issues with cracks in the load-bearing beam on the Silverliner V trains in the service’s Regional Rail fleet — 120 cars were pulled from the tracks.

“I am aware that the M4 car issue, coupled with the discovery of the Silverline V equalizer beam defect this past summer, creates many questions … I want our customers to understand that safety is our highest priority,” Knueppel said.

Differing from the Silverliner V stress fracture, the issues in the M4 trains originated in the vent box, which provides air to the traction motors. The cracks struck either in the thinner metal of the vent box or in the weld area and in a few cases spread to the loadbearing beam, Knueppel said.

“After forming the crack, it then propagated into the car body bolster for approximately eight inches … for reference, car body bolsters are 28 inches wide,” Knueppel said.

The M4 cars were built by ADTranz and were delivered to SEPTA between 1997 and 1999. Knueppel said SEPTA was looking into potential warranty claims on the 20-year-old cars.

The car body bolster is a cross-beam attached to the underside of a car body that contains the apparatus which supports and stabilizes the car on its trucks. It was an issue that is difficult to detect — inspectors are currently removing floor panels on the M4 fleet to determine if further cracks have spread to loadbearing beams on MarketFrankford Line trains.

“As of this morning, the inspections have yielded 58 cars with vent cracks and two with car body bolster cracks,” Knueppel said. “This situation is complicated by the fact that M4 cars operate as part of a married pair, meaning they work in tandem with another rail car, and one compromised car can render the other car out of service.”

While the cracks in the vent boxes are more superficial, the potential to spread to the car body bolsters are the main concern.

“Safety will remain our highest priority, and we’re grateful to our customers for their ridership and we ask them for continued patience while we move quickly but carefully to address this problem,” Knueppel said.

RICK KAUFFMAN — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Upon news that a third of its Market-Frankford Line fleet of subway cars had been taken off the rails for safety checks, SEPTA ramped up its bus service to alleviate overcrowding on some Monday morning trains.