SEPTA Scraps Double-Decker Regional Rail Cars

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —SEPTA has scrapped plans to add double-decker cars to its Regional Rail lines.

“SEPTA has terminated its contract with CRRC MA for cause," SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch told Patch in a statement Tuesday. "The Authority is assessing its options for recouping funds that have been spent on the project.”

He said that SEPTA spent more than $50 million. The project was budgeted was $185 million.

SEPTA ordered 45 multilevel coaches from CRRC MA under a contract that was awarded in 2017, Busch said.

The coach cars would have been used to add to the size of the Regional Rail fleet (as opposed to replacing existing rail cars), Busch added.

As part of the project, China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation has opened a plant in Massachusetts to make the cars, Busch told Levittown Now.

Busch said there are no plans for new multi-level coaches, something the transit system doesn’t currently use.

“The next procurement we have planned for Regional Rail is for rail cars to replace the older Silverliners that date back to the mid-1970s. Those would be a modern version of what we have now,” Busch said to Levittown Now.

SEPTA’s Doylestown, Trenton, Warminster, and West Trenton lines run through Bucks County.

The entire Regional Rail system uses several hundred passenger cars, with some dating back to the 1970s, Busch said.

SEPTA Regional Rail Lines

• Lansdale / Doylestown Line —The line runs from Doylestown to Philadelphia with stops in Doylestown, New Britain, Chalfont, Lansdale, North Wales, Ambler, Fort Washington, Orland, North Hills, Glenside, Jenkintown-Wyncote, and Elkins Park, among others.
• Trenton Line —The line runs from Trenton to Philadelphia with stops in Morrisville, Tullytown, Levittown, Bristol, Croydon, Eddington, Cornwall Heights, and Adaluscia, among others.
• Warminster Line —The line runs from Doylestown to Philadelphia with stops in Hatboro, Upper Moreland Township, Willow Grove, Abington, Roslyn, Glenside, Jenkintown, and Elkins Park, among others.
• West Trenton Line —The line runs from West Trenton to Philadelphia with stops in Yardley, Middletown Township, Langhorne, Penndel, Bensalem Township, Huntingdon Valley, Abington, Rydal, Noble, Jenkintown, and Elkins Park, among others.