Glitches in new SEPTA train continue; delay in next delivery

SEPTA's only new Silverliner V train in service is still experiencing problems, and the delivery of the next three cars has been delayed again.

The three-car train that was put into revenue service Oct. 29 is plagued with communications glitches and sometimes has trouble getting up hills. The wheels have a tendency to slip during acceleration.

SEPTA assistant general manager Luther Diggs blamed the problems on software, and he said the manufacturer was making fixes.

"We're going to have to dial in the software. . . . We've got to keep tweaking it," Diggs said Thursday.

Production delays have repeatedly pushed back delivery of the 120 new Silverliner V cars, and Diggs said work remained behind schedule.

The cars, purchased for $274 million, are being built in South Korea, with final assembly at a plant in South Philadelphia.

The first three production cars were to be delivered by the middle of this month and six more by the end of December.

The first three are now scheduled for delivery Dec. 3. Workers accidentally damaged wiring harnesses in the cars when they drilled through plates, forcing further delays, Diggs said.

The additional six cars slated for delivery in December "probably will be" delayed, too, he said.

The cars are being built by Hyundai-Rotem Corp., a subsidiary of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Group.

The production problems, Diggs said, "are nothing earth-shattering." He said SEPTA production monitors were "crawling all over them" to ensure that problems got fixed before the cars were delivered to SEPTA.

Inexperienced workers, late material shipments, and poor workmanship have caused delays at the South Philadelphia factory.

The manufacturer has hired additional workers locally and brought more employees in from its plant in Changwon, South Korea, to try to speed production.

At the South Korea plant, where the car shells are built and partially equipped, work was slowed by the need to repair rust damage on 10 cars.

The new cars will replace 73 Silverliner II and III railcars built in the 1960s. With the retirement of the old cars and the addition of the 120 new ones, SEPTA is expected to have about 400 railcars by the end of 2011.