SEPTA marks high point of $50 million wiring project

SEPTA on Friday celebrated an accomplishment that took 15 years, cost about $50 million, and is virtually invisible to its Regional Rail passengers.

Crews installed a plaqueonthe overhead catenary wires by the Wallingford station marking the installation of 150 miles of new wiring to reduce train delays and improve performance.

Catenary wires provide electric power to run Regional Rail trains over the system's 280 miles of track.

Friday was a rare chance for SEPTA workers like lineman first class Bernie Shine, 49, of Collingswood, to bask in the limelight.

"It's dangerous work," said Shine, noting that crews install 12,000-volt power lines while working three feet from live tracks carrying speeding trains. "But it has to be done. There used to be a lot of breakdowns."

"What a difference you've made," SEPTA deputy general manager Jeffrey Knueppel told the line crews during ceremonies at the Wallingford station.

He noted that Regional Rail ridership has grown 50 percent since 2000, and while "the catenary replacement program is not the only reason for this growth, it certainly is a strong part of the equation."

When SEPTA took over train operations in 1983, it inherited decrepit power systems that had been installed more than a half-century earlier by the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroads.

Wires would snap in cold weather, sag in hot weather, and get snagged in train equipment, forcing speed reductions and frequent train-service disruptions.

Trains on the West Trenton Line, for example, were slowed to 50 m.p.h. from the usual 70 m.p.h. because of the condition of the catenary wires.

The 32 linemen on the job in 2000 were like "firemen battling a seemingly endless string of fires," said Kneuppel, who was joined Friday by Thomas Mangold, director of power for the Regional Rail system.

Now, 50 linemen with two wire trains repair and replace the overhead lines in day and night shifts.

They have about 50 additional miles of old catenary to replace, but the most deteriorated wires are removed and replaced. There's no specific timetable to finishing the remain rewiring.

The work has modernized the catenary on the West Trenton, Warminster, Doylestown, and Cynwyd Lines, and crews have also replaced overhead wire between the Wayne Junction and Lansdale stations.

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