SEPTA (Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Authority) pulled about 1/3 of their EMUs (Electrical Multiple Units) from service Friday. This was big in our regional news, but I didn't see it in the national news.
Short story: Friday AM when they're getting ready to roll for the day an inspector notices a car leaning. Looks closer, holy [censored] the equalizer bar is broken clean through, luckily it jammed preventing the truck (bearing the wheels of the train car) from collapsing. This is on a Silverliner V, the newest railcars in the fleet. They check equalizer bars on other Silverliner Vs: cracked, cracked, cracked, cracked, cracked, not cracked... 95% of the cars checked exhibited the flaw. From what I read, it's a stress crack at a weld. "Hey boss, we got a problem." They restricted the speed on units in-service and had them all off the lines by the end of the day.
It's going to be a long summer for SEPTA.
Here's one of the better articles I found: http://www.phillymag.com/news/2016/07/03/septa-alternate-service-plan-regional-rail/
Short story: Friday AM when they're getting ready to roll for the day an inspector notices a car leaning. Looks closer, holy [censored] the equalizer bar is broken clean through, luckily it jammed preventing the truck (bearing the wheels of the train car) from collapsing. This is on a Silverliner V, the newest railcars in the fleet. They check equalizer bars on other Silverliner Vs: cracked, cracked, cracked, cracked, cracked, not cracked... 95% of the cars checked exhibited the flaw. From what I read, it's a stress crack at a weld. "Hey boss, we got a problem." They restricted the speed on units in-service and had them all off the lines by the end of the day.
It's going to be a long summer for SEPTA.
Here's one of the better articles I found: http://www.phillymag.com/news/2016/07/03/septa-alternate-service-plan-regional-rail/
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