After five electrical fires on board SEPTA's Regional Rail cars this year, the feds said enough was enough. At the end of September, the Federal Railroad Administration ordered fire inspections of all of SEPTA's 50-year-old Silverliner IV cars, sidelining about two-thirds of its total fleet. Trains, if they were running at all, had fewer cars. Packed trains skipped stops, and commuters were exasperated. As KYW's Mike DeNardo tells us, it brought a raft of inconvenience for SEPTA's Regional Rail riders.
(image of fire at North Philadelphia SEPTA depot. credit: SkyForce10)