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SEPTA plans to spend $154 million on new locomotives

Quote:

SEPTA plans to spend up to $154 million for 18 new Regional Rail locomotives, the authority's biggest railroad acquisition in a decade.

The electric locomotives would replace eight aging engines operating on the Lansdale-Doylestown, Paoli-Thorndale, Trenton, and Wilmington-Newark lines, and add capacity to other regional lines.

The SEPTA board is expected to approve the purchase on Thursday, with the locomotives to be delivered in 2018.

SEPTA is buying 13 "Cities Sprinter" ACS-64 locomotives to be built by Siemens Industry Inc., the German conglomerate, at its factory in Sacramento, Calif. The price includes an option for five additional locomotives.

The ACS-64 is the same locomotive Amtrak is buying for use on the Northeast Corridor. One of the first new Amtrak locomotives, which was put into service in early 2014, was involved in the deadly derailment on May 12 at Frankford Junction in Port Richmond. The train wreck killed eight people and injured 200 passengers.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...4wKcaKh2KxU.99

What's the reason they don't go with EMU's? Why haul coaches with a electric loco when you can have the flexibility of multiple units?

I wonder if they use the newer UIC Regulations for the Bi-Levels?

SEPTA OKs $300 million in spending

Quote:

Christmas came early for SEPTA on Thursday.

The transit agency's board of directors authorized nearly $300 million in vehicle purchases and construction projects, and it approved a $1.36 billion operating budget and $535 million capital budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The board also approved a new advertising policy to prohibit political ads, following a federal court ruling earlier this year that required SEPTA to accept bus ads featuring Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The big-ticket spending items approved by the board Thursday included:

- Up to $154 million for 18 Regional Rail locomotives, to be delivered in 2018.

- $29 million for a new rail station and an 895-space parking garage at the existing rail station in Lansdale.

- $26.8 million for five years of paratransit services in Delaware County, to be provided by Community Transit of Delaware County.

- $20.2 million for reconstruction of the Levittown train station.

- $17.6 million for 232 minibuses, for paratransit service.

- $10 million for a roof replacement at SEPTA's Berridge Bus Overhaul Facility and 2nd and Wyoming office in North Philadelphia .

- $8.3 million for upgrades at the Exton rail station.

- $6.7 million to rebuild the Morton power substation.

- $6.5 million for a new building at the Frankford Transportation Center.

- $4.6 million for rehabilitation of the Margaret-Orthodox station on the Market-Frankford line.

- $1.3 million for train-control equipment.

- $0.9 million for improved lighting for Broad Street Subway and light rail stations.

Much of the money will come from the $535-million capital budget approved by the board Thursday.

The capital budget, for major construction projects and vehicle purchases, is about 6.4 percent less than the current capital budget but nearly double the capital budgets in place before 2013, when the state increased its financial support for transportation.

The board also approved SEPTA's annual operating budget, at $1.36 billion.

Rising labor and healthcare costs are the biggest drivers of the 2.84 percent increase in the operating budget.

The $1.36 billion budget calls for 70 more employees - mostly in safety and construction-support positions - and would make permanent the all-night subway service on Fridays and Saturdays that began as an experiment this year.

The budget includes no fare increases. It anticipates a state subsidy of $658 million, up by $29 million from the current spending plan.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...hVtvM8V06It.99

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee (Post 7041903)

What's the reason they don't go with EMU's? Why haul coaches with a electric loco when you can have the flexibility of multiple units?

SEPTA recently made a large EMU order (the Silverliner V's).

This is to replace the mostly AEM7's in their push-pull fleet (acquired in the 1980s). They're also looking to replace the coaches with bilevels IIRC.

They use these trains pretty much only on peak expresses.

On another note, SEPTA and NJ Transit are both rumored to be interested in whether those bilevel Comets NJ Transit uses can be fitted with EMU equipment. NJ Transit, especially, is said to be interested in replacing their aging Arrow III's (which are the same vintage as SEPTA's Silverliner IV's and MTA's M2's, the latter of which have almost all been phased out in favor of their M8's).

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammersklavier (Post 7044855)

The EMU plan was scrapped.... I believe they are going with the cheaper overhaul option....

With FRA regs sunsetting, why couldnt they just buy off the shelf proven Bilevel EMUs like from Stadler or Bombardier?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busy Bee (Post 7044987)

With FRA regs sunsetting, why couldnt they just buy off the shelf proven Bilevel EMUs like from Stadler or Bombardier?

Has there been any movement on the FRA changes...?

I've lost track... Excuse the pun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey (Post 7044943)

The EMU plan was scrapped.... I believe they are going with the cheaper overhaul option....

Those Arrows are (together with the Silverliner IV's) the oldest units in the Northeast now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hammersklavier (Post 7045214)

Those Arrows are (together with the Silverliner IV's) the oldest units in the Northeast now.

They run well .... I believe the rebuild will allow them to switch voltages....along with New LED lighting , seating , Doors...similar to the PATCO rebuild...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey (Post 7045251)

They run well .... I believe the rebuild will allow them to switch voltages....along with New LED lighting , seating , Doors...similar to the PATCO rebuild...

Yeah, but the point is, rebuilding will help extend the lifecycle, but NJ Transit needs to upgrade their EMU fleet. They've been expanding their push-pull fleet for basically a decade straight now, and the Arrow fleet seems like their red-headed step-cousin. The equipment is already 40 years old, too.

SEPTA marks high point of $50 million wiring project

Quote:

SEPTA on Friday celebrated an accomplishment that took 15 years, cost about $50 million, and is virtually invisible to its Regional Rail passengers.

Crews installed a plaque on the overhead catenary wires by the Wallingford station marking the installation of 150 miles of new wiring to reduce train delays and improve performance.

Catenary wires provide electric power to run Regional Rail trains over the system's 280 miles of track.

Friday was a rare chance for SEPTA workers like lineman first class Bernie Shine, 49, of Collingswood, to bask in the limelight.

"It's dangerous work," said Shine, noting that crews install 12,000-volt power lines while working three feet from live tracks carrying speeding trains. "But it has to be done. There used to be a lot of breakdowns."

"What a difference you've made," SEPTA deputy general manager Jeffrey Knueppel told the line crews during ceremonies at the Wallingford station.

He noted that Regional Rail ridership has grown 50 percent since 2000, and while "the catenary replacement program is not the only reason for this growth, it certainly is a strong part of the equation."

When SEPTA took over train operations in 1983, it inherited decrepit power systems that had been installed more than a half-century earlier by the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads.

Wires would snap in cold weather, sag in hot weather, and get snagged in train equipment, forcing speed reductions and frequent train-service disruptions.

Trains on the West Trenton Line, for example, were slowed to 50 m.p.h. from the usual 70 m.p.h. because of the condition of the catenary wires.

The 32 linemen on the job in 2000 were like "firemen battling a seemingly endless string of fires," said Kneuppel, who was joined Friday by Thomas Mangold, director of power for the Regional Rail system.

Now, 50 linemen with two wire trains repair and replace the overhead lines in day and night shifts.

They have about 50 additional miles of old catenary to replace, but the most deteriorated wires are removed and replaced. There's no specific timetable to finishing the remain rewiring.

The work has modernized the catenary on the West Trenton, Warminster, Doylestown, and Cynwyd Lines, and crews have also replaced overhead wire between the Wayne Junction and Lansdale stations.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/busines...XVKmWmhUuG9.99

No small item.

Like any infrastructure situation, it's not sexy and the average person doesn't care too much about it as long as it works. This is what keeps things working.

When does the SEPTA Key Launch?

Later this year. They're probably going to hold off until after the Papal Visit in September.

Quote:

Originally Posted by volguus zildrohar (Post 7061941)

Later this year. They're probably going to hold off until after the Papal Visit in September.

I thought it was supposed to be this Summer.... Sigh...typical SEPTA....wouldn't surprise me if it were delayed to 2020..

They're taking their time with this one...making sure it gets done right. There was this one article a while back that mentioned the teething issues with Chicago's Ventra system and Septa doesn't want to face a similar situation upon launch....

EDIT Here's one from about a year ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowbat2 (Post 7042967)

SEPTA OKs $300 million in spending

What about a possible 24/7 subway service ?

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