The National Transportation Safety Board issued an urgent recommendation on Wednesday to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority to eliminate fire risks in its fleet of Silverliner IV railcars.
NTSB said it has concluded that the outdated design of the Silverliner IV railcars, in combination with SEPTA’s maintenance and operating practices, represent immediate and unacceptable safety risks of electrical fires that can spread to occupied compartments. Additionally, the agency found that the risks posed by the design cannot be fully addressed without an extensive fleet retrofit or replacement.
The agency also found that SEPTA’s current operation practices of keeping the defective railcars in service have put passengers and crews in dangers. The urgent recommendations were issued to address what the agency sees as an immediate, critical issue that threatens lives and/or property. SEPTA has 30 days to respond to the NTSB’s recommendation.
The recommendation stems from an investigation of a fire in Ridley Park, Pa., as well as four other Silverliner IV fires over the course of the past year in Levittown, Paoli, Fort Washington and Philadelphia. Investigators found that the recurrence of fires shows “organizational lapses that block effective risk mitigation.” The changes SEPTA has proposed to its operations, maintenance and engineering activities require ongoing monitoring to ensure they protect passengers and crew, the NTSB said.
The NTSB’s recommendations included suspending operation of the Silverliner IV fleet until the transit agency determines the root causes of the fires and implements a plan to address the causes; implements a plan to monitor the success of its risk-mitigation approach to the Silverliner IV fleet; creates an expedited procurement or retrofit schedule; and seeks funding from appropriate sources to accelerate the fleet’s replacement.