SEPTA Releases New Interim Regional Rail Schedule
by Trang Do
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Thanks to loaned equipment from Amtrak, NJ Transit, and MARC in Maryland, there will be 1700 additional seats on SEPTA's Regional Rail lines come Monday morning.
SEPTA released a new interim schedule Sunday night to reflect the addition of three borrowed locomotives and 18 passenger cars.
Regional Rail riders CBS3 spoke to said they didn't see much difference at all in the new rail times.
"The new schedule is pretty much within five minutes, the way the schedule was before," said Mariann Elias of Mt. Airy. She uses the Chestnut Hill East line.
Septa officials announced on July 3rd that the agency pulled 120 of its Silverliner V cars, due to a structural defect. It resulted in a loss of 13,000 seats on Regional Rail lines, until those cars can be repaired or replaced.
"We have no choice, we have no choice," said Roz Schaffer of Ardsley. "How else are we suppose to get to work?"
With the Warminster line running just once an hour, Schaffer said her commute from Ardsley to the Art Museum area has become a nightmare.
"I have to get up at 5 a.m. every morning," she said. "I'm a walking zombie."
Despite the inconvenience, some commuters said it could've been much worse.
"It means that they caught this before anything really serious happened to anyone, and that of course is the good part about it," said Susan Shimp. "It would have been nice if they checked the trains regularly and discovered this a little bit sooner, but at least nothing happened."
The new interim schedules are posted here:
