Railcars

New SEPTA Regional Rail cars will be at least four months late, delaying relief for riders on the increasingly crowded rail lines, SEPTA officials said yesterday. SEPTA has granted Rotem USA Corp. an extension until April 2009 to deliver the first three Silverliner V railcars because of steel shortages and the bankruptcy of a communications equipment supplier, said Patrick Nowakowski, chief operations officer. That will mean delivery of the rest of the 120-car order will also be pushed back at least four months, Nowakowski said.

IN HIS recent op-ed ("Putting This City on the Right Track"), Pat Eidling of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO writes that United Transit Systems of Korea should be selected as the builder of the new SEPTA Silverliner V rail cars due to its promise to provide some assembly jobs at the old Navy Yard. Although they would be of regional benefit, Mr. Eidling's argument that these new jobs should be the major determinant as to which foreign corporation is awarded this contract to build more than 100 new railcars has two major flaws.

The South Philadelphia factory that has fallen far behind schedule in building 117 SEPTA railcars is beset by material shortages, design flaws, inadequate equipment, and culture clashes and poor communication between Korean managers and American workers, according to interviews with workers and complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board. African American, Hispanic, and female workers say they are frequently disparaged as inferior by their Korean managers. Some managers have slapped employees, workers say, and a male employee says he repeatedly was grabbed in the crotch by supervisors.

The delivery of SEPTA's new Silverliner V railcars continues to lag because of production problems, and the manufacturer says the last of the 120 new cars won't be ready for more than a year. So far, manufacturer Hyundai Rotem Co. has delivered 19 of the cars, and two more were expected to be delivered Monday. Twelve of the new Silverliner V cars are operating regularly in SEPTA passenger service, in two six-car trains. Four of the new cars are being tested by SEPTA, and three are being used to train SEPTA crews or are undergoing scheduled maintenance, SEPTA spokeswoman Jerria Williams said Monday.

Fed up with what it describes as lengthy production delays and shoddy workmanship, Boston's transit authority is threatening to cancel its $190 million contract for 75 commuter railcars being assembled at a South Philadelphia factory. The complaints about Hyundai Rotem Corp. are similar to those raised over the last several years by SEPTA, which is still waiting for delivery of the final three of 120 Silverliner V cars ordered in 2006. "This seriously troubled procurement is at a point of crisis," said Jonathan R. Davis, chief financial officer of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, in a letter to Hyundai Rotem's new chief executive, Kyu-Hwan Han, in South Korea.

Starting in the 19th century, trains regularly pulled into the quaint brick railroad station in Pemberton. They chugged out of Camden and stopped there on the way to Hightstown until passenger service ended in 1969. Thirty years passed before the Pemberton station found a new role as a museum. Two historic locomotives and 10 cars were added as static displays, and long-term plans called for a short operating rail line providing rides. Now, if Pemberton Township and Burlington County officials have their way, the site will be part of a rails-to-trails system for hikers while continuing as a railroad museum and welcome center touting the area's history.

Nearly two years after its first try dissolved in controversy and litigation, SEPTA has resumed its search for a company to build a fleet of regional railcars. However, SEPTA has decided not to disclose who is bidding for the work. It won't even say how many firms are seeking what is expected to be a $250 million contract. The bidding deadline for a contract to design and assemble at least 104 stainless-steel railcars passed late yesterday afternoon. SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said the agency was using a "request for proposal" process, which the agency has determined does not require disclosure of that information.

A Canadian railcar maker yesterday acquired all the passenger-car designs of the former Budd Co.'s transit division, Transit America Inc. Bombardier Inc. of Quebec, which made the purchase for an undisclosed sum, will lease within the next 30 days an administrative office and warehouse space in either Bucks or Montgomery County and will employ about 50 people, officials said. Bombardier engineers will be responsible for managing the designs and providing some warranty services on existing Budd vehicles.

A long-vacant warehouse at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard is to become the U.S. assembly plant at which a South Korean firm will build rail passenger cars for SEPTA and other regional transit authorities. The deal, signed yesterday in a shipyard ceremony by Gov. Rendell and officials of the city, Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania, and Rotem USA Corp., was hailed as an example of cooperation between government and bank officials to bring foreign investment - and 200 manufacturing jobs - to Philadelphia.

About 80 residential properties near the Paoli rail yard will be tested in coming weeks for polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, the suspected carcinogens that were used for many years as liquid coolants in railcar transformers. Many of the properties were tested in 1987, and the more severe contamination was taken care of, said David Sternberg, community relations coordinator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency. What was done then "was viewed as what was necessary to mitigate an immediate threat," Sternberg said.

SEPTA on Thursday began the long process of replacing 231 aging Silverliner IV train cars, even as it waits for the last of its new Silverliner V cars. SEPTA officials met with representatives of 12 car manufacturers and other companies in an "expression of interest" session Thursday. Among the manufacturers expressing interest in bidding on a contract for the new cars was Hyundai Rotem Corp., which built the new Silverliner V cars but fell two years behind schedule amid production and labor problems.

Fed up with what it describes as lengthy production delays and shoddy workmanship, Boston's transit authority is threatening to cancel its $190 million contract for 75 commuter railcars being assembled at a South Philadelphia factory. The complaints about Hyundai Rotem Corp. are similar to those raised over the last several years by SEPTA, which is still waiting for delivery of the final three of 120 Silverliner V cars ordered in 2006. "This seriously troubled procurement is at a point of crisis," said Jonathan R. Davis, chief financial officer of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, in a letter to Hyundai Rotem's new chief executive, Kyu-Hwan Han, in South Korea.

SEPTA's final group of new Silverliner V railcars won't arrive this month as scheduled, because of a lack of parts. Hyundai Rotem Co., the South Korean manufacturer that is assembling the railcars at a South Philadelphia factory, is two years behind in delivering the 120 new cars and faces millions of dollars in penalties. SEPTA had hoped to get the last of the cars in passenger service this month. SEPTA has received 110 cars, spokeswoman Jerri Williams said Thursday, with five more expected by month's end. But the last five cars won't be delivered until missing parts arrive and are installed, which is likely to be in early October, Williams said.

The last of SEPTA's Silverliner II and Silverliner III train cars, dating from the 1960s, are making their final runs this week. The two cars, the last remnants of a fleet of 75, will be taken out of service Friday evening, a day before a federal waiver of handicapped-accessibility rules expires. They will spend their final days on SEPTA's shortest Regional Rail line, shuttling between Suburban Station and Cynwyd. SEPTA has been gradually replacing its oldest cars with new Silverliner V cars for the last 20 months, as new cars arrive from the Hyundai-Rotem Corp.

Starting in the 19th century, trains regularly pulled into the quaint brick railroad station in Pemberton. They chugged out of Camden and stopped there on the way to Hightstown until passenger service ended in 1969. Thirty years passed before the Pemberton station found a new role as a museum. Two historic locomotives and 10 cars were added as static displays, and long-term plans called for a short operating rail line providing rides. Now, if Pemberton Township and Burlington County officials have their way, the site will be part of a rails-to-trails system for hikers while continuing as a railroad museum and welcome center touting the area's history.

Workers at a South Philadelphia railcar assembly plant ratified their first union contract with the South Korean manufacturer Saturday. The three-year contract between Hyundai Rotem Co. and Transport Workers Union Local 234 calls for wage increases of 13 to 16 percent, a signing bonus of 3 percent, reduced worker costs for health insurance, creation of a 401(k) retirement account with an employer contribution, increases in paid sick and personal days, and changes in work rules.

Workers at a South Philadelphia railcar assembly plant ratified their first union contract with the South Korean manufacturer Saturday. The three-year contract between Hyundai Rotem Co. and Transport Workers Union Local 234 calls for wage increases of 13 to 16 percent, a signing bonus of 3 percent, reduced worker costs for health insurance, creation of a 401(k) retirement account with an employer contribution, increases in paid sick and personal days, and changes in work rules.

Twelve of the 16 SEPTA railcars stuck in Trenton during Hurricane Irene will be sidelined for weeks as water damage is repaired, SEPTA officials said Tuesday. Caught by the unexpected rise of a creek that was "not on our radar screen," SEPTA rail operations managers realized too late that the trains could be in harm's way. They say they will shuffle cars in SEPTA's 365-car fleet to deal with the shortage created by the missing 12 on the Trenton line. The rapid rise of the Assunpink Creek, which flows next to the tracks near the Trenton station, left 16 SEPTA cars stranded.

Twelve of the 16 SEPTA railcars stuck in Trenton during Hurricane Irene will be sidelined for weeks as water damage is repaired, SEPTA officials said Tuesday. Caught by the unexpected rise of a creek that was "not on our radar screen," SEPTA rail operations managers realized too late that the trains could be in harm's way. They say they will shuffle cars in SEPTA's 365-car fleet to deal with the shortage created by the missing 12 on the Trenton line. The rapid rise of the Assunpink Creek, which flows next to the tracks near the Trenton station, left 16 SEPTA cars stranded.