SEPTA riders like new train car on display

Thaddeus Robinson rolled his wheelchair off SEPTA's new railcar, grinning.

"It's much better than the old cars," said Robinson, of West Philadelphia, after a brief tour of the Silverliner V prototype that went on display yesterday at Suburban Station. "It's much easier to get on and off. The hardest thing on the trains now is getting in and making that side turn. This is perfect."

Commuters who checked out the mock-up on Track 0 were generally enthusiastic, though they won't be able to board a real one for at least a year.

"It's a big step up. I can't wait to use them," Brandon Shaw said. "They have much bigger windows. I appreciate that."

Shaw, of Plymouth Meeting, said one feature lacking was rest rooms. "That would be good for the longer rides, like the R5."

Kara Lindstrom, a design student at Drexel University, may do her thesis on public transit, and she evaluated the car with a critical eye.

"It's more spacious. The lighting makes the ceiling seem higher," she said.

She liked the scrolling digital signs that announce the next stop. She didn't like the narrow aisle at the front of the car.

"It's much better, but they still have some work to do," said Lindstrom, of Radnor, who is a regular commuter on the Route 100 high-speed line.

The first of 120 new Silverliners, purchased for $274 million, can't arrive soon enough for SEPTA rail passengers, who increasingly have been cramped on standing-room-only commutes. SEPTA rail ridership jumped more than 12 percent in 2008 over the previous year, to a record 35 million riders.

The Silverliners will replace 73 railcars built for SEPTA in the 1960s. With the retirement of the old cars and the addition of the new ones, SEPTA will have about 400 by 2010, up from 348 now.

The mock-up gave visitors a glimpse of the future: plastic molded seats, fold-down handicapped seating, midcar doors, and communications links to allow direct announcements from SEPTA's control center.

The cars will have 107 seats, compared with 120 in the current cars, said David Casper, SEPTA's assistant chief engineer for new vehicles. SEPTA decided to keep some triple-seating in the new cars to maximize capacity, despite riders' preferences for just double seats, he said.

"It's a trade-off," Casper said, noting that the triple seats are only at the ends of the car. He said the same thing about the decision not to install rest rooms, saying they would reduce seating and require substantial maintenance. And he noted that the average trip on SEPTA rails is only about 30 minutes.

Judy Buddendorf of Clifton Heights found the new car easier to negotiate in her wheelchair.

"It answers a lot of handicapped needs," she said, citing the wheelchair areas near the doors, handgrips on the edge of seats, no-skid floors, and yellow floor strips "that show you where to go."

The mock-up will be available for public inspection on Track 0 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays through Oct. 16.