SEPTA chairman stands by contract for troubled rail cars
SEPTA's board chairman said Thursday that he has no second thoughts about buying the railcars that were recently pulled from service due to flaws found in one of their key components.
SEPTA's board chairman said Thursday that he has no second thoughts about buying the railcars that were recently pulled from service due to flaws found in one of their key components.
"I was very comfortable with those guys being able to do the job," said Pasquale "Pat" Deon, referring to Hyundai Rotem, which received the contract to build 120 cars 10 years ago. Deon was board chairman at the time.
Hyundai Rotem's railcars, the Silverliner V's, were delivered from 2010 to 2013 and this month were revealed to have fatigue cracks in equalizer beams, pieces that transfer weight from a car to the axles. A Hyundai Rotem spokesman said the cracks likely formed due to a subcontractor's poorly done welds. SEPTA will choose between two types of replacement beams, and Hyundai Rotem is buying supplies of both in anticipation of SEPTA's decision on which beam type to use. It's still unclear when the parts will be available.
Hyundai Rotem got the $274 million contract to build the cars in 2006 despite not having experience building American railcars and performing poorly on a technical rating.
Hyundai Rotem built a South Philadelphia assembly plant that brought 350 jobs to Philadelphia. Promised job creation drew support from former Mayors Ed Rendell and John Street, and the company hired a close friend of Deon's, Al Mezzaroba, for advice about doing business in the city, according to a 2004 Inquirer report. Deon said all bidders had hired lobbyists.
He said Thursday that cost considerations, not politics, determined the winning bid.
Hyundai Rotem's bid was $58 million lower than the nearest competitor's, said Jeff Knueppel, SEPTA's general manager. "In this environment, it's low bid," Deon said.
It was likely that whoever got the contract would have been urged to invest in the city, he said.
"We were going to cajole whoever came here to build locally," he said.
Hyundai Rotem is among the bidders for SEPTA's upcoming order for 45 bilevel cars. Deon wouldn't say whether the Silverliner V issues would factor into SEPTA's decision over who receives that contract, but added that railcar troubles are not unusual.
"Every car I've ever bought here, even the subway cars," Deon said, "always have issues."
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