Regional Rail

Philadelphia.......... 31.1% Montgomery......... 30.5% Delaware.............. 14.4% Bucks...................... 9.8% Chester................... 8.4% Delaware state....... 3.1% New Jersey............. 2.6%

FIRST, there's a thump. Then - lightning fast - a crunch. The inhuman sound erupted moments after Richard Dixon jerked the emergency brake on the train he was operating. Right away, he knew what it was - the sound of a body being crushed beneath his train. It was a 17-year-old boy. "It's really hard to describe," the engineer said, recalling the suicide that unfolded a decade ago as his Regional Rail train barreled north from Jenkintown toward Warminster. "You just know it - and you don't forget it. " For 15 people, trains speeding along the city's railroads have been a gruesome, but easily accessible, means of killing themselves over the past five years.

SEPTA officials announced Wednesday that they planned to award a roughly $100 million contract within the next two months for a new fare-payment system. At a news conference at the agency's Center City headquarters, spokesman Richard Maloney said the system would let passengers pay with credit cards, debit cards, cellphones, or electronic SEPTA cards. The system will likely take several years to install, officials said. John McGee Jr., SEPTA's chief officer for new payment technologies, said introducing the system on buses, trolleys, and subways would involve few changes.

WHEN SEPTA's new Silverliner V made its maiden voyage last October, taking reporters and a few startled Regional Rail riders on the five-stop run between Suburban Station and Cynwyd, it had that new railcar smell emanating from plush, blue vinyl seats, that magic-carpet ride and that seductive bedroom voice announcing SEPTA stations as if they were topless joints. The "Little Silverliner that Could" - three railcars from Hyundai Rotem's South Korea factory - held the promise that, as soon as SEPTA put 117 more into service, Regional Rail riders could blow a goodbye kiss to the butt-busting battalion of Silverliner IIs and IIIs, built during the '60s, when Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney were young.

Despite the region's sluggish economy, SEPTA carried more riders in the last 12 months than it had in any of the 22 previous years. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, SEPTA's buses, subways, trolleys, and trains had about 334 million passengers, up 4 percent from the previous year and the most since 345 million in fiscal 1989. SEPTA officials credited service improvements, higher gasoline prices, Center City population growth, and a growing use of transit by young adults.

Despite the region's sluggish economy, SEPTA carried more riders in the past 12 months than it has in any of the last 22 years. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, SEPTA's buses, subways, trolleys and trains had about 334 million passengers, up 4 percent from the previous year and the most since SEPTA carried 345 million riders in fiscal 1989. SEPTA officials credited service improvements, higher gasoline prices, Center City population growth, and a growing use of transit by young adults for the rise in ridership.

SEPTA on Thursday took a $9 million step toward its long-awaited, long-delayed electronic fare system, although questions remain about how rail passengers will use it. A SEPTA board committee approved a $9 million contract with LTK Engineering Services of Ambler to manage installation of the system. The full board will vote on it Thursday. SEPTA officials plan to award a contract in September for the fare system, which will allow passengers to pay with credit cards, debit cards, cell phones, or electronic SEPTA cards.

SEPTA on Thursday took a $9 million step toward its long-awaited, long-delayed electronic fare system, although questions remain about how rail passengers will use the system. A SEPTA board committee okayed a $9 million contract with LTK Engineering Services, of Ambler, to manage the installation of the new fare system. The full SEPTA board will vote on the contract next Thursday. SEPTA officials plan to award a contract in September for the new fare system, which will allow passengers to pay their fares with credit cards, debit cards, cell phones, or electronic SEPTA cards.

On a hydraulic lift 12 feet above SEPTA tracks, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff pulled off a piece of a bridge in Norristown and watched it crumble in his fingers. "This is the fastener," Rogoff said Monday, tugging on a rusted rivet. "There's nothing here. " Rogoff collected several rusted flakes the size of pie platters from the bridge girder on the Norristown High-Speed Line. He said he'd take the pieces back to Washington to buttress the Obama administration's case for more money for SEPTA and other aging transit systems.

On a hydraulic lift 12 feet above SEPTA tracks, Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff pulled off a piece of a bridge in Norristown and watched it crumble in his fingers. "This is the fastner," Rogoff said Monday, tugging on a rusted rivet. "There's nothing here. " Rogoff collected several rusted flakes the size of pie platters from the bridge girder on the Norristown High Speed Line. He said he'd take the pieces back to Washington to buttress the Obama administration's case for more money for SEPTA and other aging transit systems.