Septa Gets New Rail Cars for Regional Rail

We're talking all things transportation, and one of the big pushes is to try to have less vehicles driving around and people utilizing public transportation, and a major push that is happening is with SEPTA. So we brought somebody from SEPTA, Mr. Andrew Bush is joining us, and he's going to talk about some new rail cars that you guys have purchased. How are you doing, Andrew? Good, Greg. How are you? Good, good. So yeah, talk to us a little bit about these new rail cars. They're coming from Canada, right? Yeah, so we just got these in about a month ago, working on them now. These are used cars, so they're 30-plus years old, new to SEPTA, but used, but in great shape, 24 cars. So we're going to add those to the regional rail fleet to increase our capacity. So customers starting early next year, customers are going to start to see those out on the lines. We'll be adding those to existing trips. And then as we get more. online, we'll be able to add some trips. So it's really about trying to meet this demand that we have right now. Right now, we know we have more demand than we can meet. So it's important for us to keep adding capacity while we're entering into a long-term purchase for a new fleet, but that'll take about five to seven years to finish. So trying to supplement what is the oldest rail fleet in the nation at SEPTA with some cars. We're going to look and see if there's And it must be really exciting that you were talking about the demand is there, and this is something that you guys essentially need to do because the demand is so good. That must be really exciting to be able to say that. It is, and it speaks to the progress we've seen over the last couple of years, more people coming back. We're at over 820,000 daily riders now, which is the highest it's been since before the pandemic. So the trend line is certainly going in the right direction, but we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to be available for everyone who needs us, and that includes for commuting to work and doctor's appointments, essential trips. But also, we're seeing a lot of demand on weekends. People going, you know, talking about all the great sports events. People use us to get there and all kinds of other places. So we want to keep adding that capacity. Very good. And while you're talking, we actually have some video up showcasing those new rail cars. And they look a little different than what we're used to with the regional rail. Because there's some seats that are facing in like a different direction than what we're used to. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, these have longitudinal seating on one side, which is different. And we think it's going to be kind of interesting for our customers to experiment with. It adds, there's a lot more space for walking on these rail cars than what customers are used to on our current rail cars. So in addition to adding some capacity, it gives us a chance to get some kind of feedback that we wouldn't have otherwise gotten. Let's see how people like these and is this something that maybe we look toward for the future. But these great looking rail cars and we think people are going to be really happy with them. And Andrew, last thing I'll ask you is because of course when I think of you guys purchasing these rail cars, I can only think of my personal experience going to the dealership and picking the vehicle that I have. So I mean, what was it about these rail cars in particular that you guys were like, you know what? Yeah, and that's a good point because there isn't, unfortunately, a car lot for rail cars. They're few and far between. They're hard to find. So it was this time last year when we had a shortage of cars due to some emergency repairs that we went out looking. And we looked at some agencies that you have to find an agency that's getting ready to get rid of some cars and see what kind of shape they're in. Some agencies had some that just weren't worthwhile because they would have needed too much work. We found these cars in Montreal. They were in very good shape and also they fit right into the fleet because we have other cars that are the same model. So these were a good fit. They're in excellent shape. We just have to do some modifications to get them ready to run here. So this is the kind of thing we're looking for and talking to all of our peer transit agencies to see if they want to unload a gently used rail car, we're potentially buyers. And, you know, actually, I was reading a little bit more about this. I mean, it seems like the funding was allocated by Governor Josh Shapiro. I mean, how big is it to have that support on the federal funding on that level? Yeah, it's huge. So Governor Shapiro and the legislature have been very supportive, allocated a total of more than $200 million for not just the rail cars, but also to help us with much needed infrastructure improvement. So that's great. I think everyone knows SEPTA's been around for a long time. We have aging infrastructure, and that includes these old rail cars. So we're always kind of struggling to get enough resources to meet those needs, so it helps when our elected officials are able to allocate those funds to us, and we're putting them to good use. So the rail cars, and then we have a number of improvement projects underway as well. Very good. Andrew, before I let you go, is there anything that you would like to mention that I didn't ask that you feel is important to talk about the rail cars? Yeah, so I think we covered most of it. We just urge our customers to continue to check their schedules. There's not going to be any immediate schedule changes due to this, but in the next couple months we'll have more information about when these will be rolling out, and you can stay tuned on everything at SEPTA.org. We have all the latest is available there. All right. Andrew Bush, thank you very much for joining us. Truly appreciate it.