Regional Rail

SEPTA's fare structure does not discriminate against City Transit passengers so more affluent suburban commuters can ride the railroad for less, according to a decision by the federal appeals court in Philadelphia. The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a split decision handed down Wednesday, ruled that SEPTA's fare structure was not discriminatory, but a "legitimate business" decision to offset decreasing ridership on its Regional Rail line. The 2-1 decision upholds a ruling last year by U.S. District Judge Daniel H. Huyett 3d, who at the time described the suit, filed by the Committee for a Better North Philadelphia, as "nothing more (than)

A power outage knocked out service to all of SEPTA's regional commuter trains for about 2 1/2 hours yesterday, stranding thousands of riders during the evening rush. SEPTA said the failure occurred about 5:45 p.m. at a distribution center at Wayne Junction in North Philadelphia that services the entire Regional Rail network. Transit agency spokesman Richard Maloney said the failure was an example of "Murphy's law" at work. Some trains ended up being stuck between stations at a time of high volume, he said.

A man in his 20s who apparently fell off the platform was injured by a regional rail train as it arrived at Suburban Station shortly after 5 a.m. Saturday, SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said. The man ended up under the train, Busch said. He was treated at Hahnemann University Hospital for minor injuries and a possible broken foot. - Jonathan Lai

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.

All SEPTA regional rail lines will be working Wednesday, operating from the normal start of service in the morning on a weekday schedule, SEPTA announced Tuesday evening. Meanwhile, PATCO announced that service resumed at 6 p.m. tonight, with trains departing every half hour. Amtrak was to resume most service in the area Wednesday, though New York City service remains suspended because of tunnel flooding. NJ Transit said it would resume limited bus service Wednesday in Camden.

A federal judge has upheld SEPTA's fare structure in a case charging that City Transit passengers pay discriminatorily high fares so that more affluent suburban commuters can ride railroad lines for less. In an opinion released yesterday by SEPTA, U.S. District Judge Daniel H. Huyett 3d called the action against the transit agency "nothing more (than) an attack on the business judgment of SEPTA. " He said the nonprofit community group that filed the suit, the Committee for a Better North Philadelphia, had failed to come up with another way SEPTA could meet the legitimate goal of preserving or increasing ridership on the Regional Rail system.

SEPTA Chairman Lewis Gould sent to a City Council committee meeting yesterday for some promised sharp questioning about the authority's proposed commuter rail fare increases. Councilman John Street had promised to "get in somebody's face" over higher fares, but he didn't ask Gould any questions when the SEPTA chairman juggled his schedule to show up for a noon session of the Appropriations Committee. Street yielded the floor to Councilman Ed Schwartz, saying there was a "method to my madness" that would become apparent at a later date.

William T. Coleman Jr., former U.S. secretary of transportation, said yesterday that the safety of SEPTA's regional rail system has been much improved over the past year, but he added that repairs to bridges and stations are still imperative. Coleman, testifying at a Senate field hearing in Philadelphia conducted by Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), said large infusions of money are needed to complete the repairs. He urged SEPTA officials to seek money from the proposed sale of Conrail to pay for upgrading the system that SEPTA inherited from Conrail in 1983.

Hoping to chop about $65 million from its $665 million budget, SEPTA is considering cutting back several of its city and regional rail services, moves that could affect 4,700 regional rail commuters in Montgomery County. Proposals to curtail city rail services are being discussed in a series of budget hearings this week, said Jim Whitaker, a SEPTA spokesman. Any changes to the regional commuter lines would require separate hearings, he added. This week's hearings will consider consolidating some local and express services during peak periods, and scaling back weekend service on most rail lines, Whitaker said.

Three years ago, SEPTA's regional rail commuter lines came to the rescue of thousands of Philadelphia commuters who normally use the city's buses, subways and trolleys. That was during the 14-day strike in 1995 by Transport Workers Union Local 234. Now, SEPTA is hoping that the regional rail system will once again shine should the authority be hit with another walkout by its largest union on Sunday. SEPTA may try to operate the Market-Frankford Elevated and Broad Street subway lines, and some buses, using management and supervisory staff.