The warning came after a series of five fires this year. Melted seats and hanging wires were found in a charred train on Feb. 6 in Ridley Park. The NTSB said other incidents happened on the following dates: June 3 in Levittown, Pennsylvania; July 22 in Paoli, Pennsylvania; Sept. 23 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania; and Sept. 25 in Philadelphia.
Federal transportation safety officials said the outdated design of the railcars, combined with SEPTA's maintenance practices, "represents an immediate and unacceptable safety risk."
Investigators found that the safety issues cannot be fully addressed without a comprehensive retrofit or replacement of the fleet of about 225 trains, which makes up about 2/3 of SEPTA's Regional Rail fleet.
"The NTSB also found that SEPTA's current operating practices have failed to protect passengers and crews because defective railcars have been kept in passenger service," the federal agency stated on Wednesday. "Investigators said the recurrence of fires -- despite SEPTA's attempted fixes -- shows organizational lapses that block effective risk mitigation."
The NTSB traced the fires to different components, including electrical components associated with the train's propulsion system, the dynamic brakes and a traction motor.
But neither SEPTA nor the NTSB can figure out why the fires keep happening.
"There is no root cause. It has eluded all of us," said SEPTA GM Scott Sauer during a news conference on Wednesday.
All five fires forced everyone aboard to evacuate - in one case, as many as 350 passengers - with a few minor injuries reported. One railcar was involved in two of the fires, and two other railcars were destroyed, the NTSB said.
SEPTA is one of the nation's largest mass transit agencies, carrying 800,000 daily riders on buses, trolleys and rail.
The recommendation comes at a time when SEPTA and major transit agencies around the U.S. are fighting for more public funding as they struggle with rising costs and lagging ridership.
Sauer says the transit agency developed a comprehensive set of 40 mitigation measures in cooperation with the Federal Railroad Administration and NTSB, which include additional notifications and safety checks, audible alarms for fault lights and personnel.
SEPTA GM urges Silverliner IV railcars are safe following safety warning
"Due to these efforts, we are confident that we can safely continue service with the Silverliner IV fleet," said Sauer.
New safety steps include in-person inspections for all trains going through the Center City stations and live video monitoring.
"We've been using the Silverliner Force less than the rest of the fleet, and we've instituted more frequent and thorough inspections," added Sauer.
The NTSB calls for the suspension of the Silverliner IV fleet until the root causes of the fires are identified, but the FRA says they can stay, only if SEPTA makes sweeping safety changes.
"We are also so confident that our mitigation efforts will allow us to maintain safe service for our customers moving forward," Sauer added.
Still, some riders are feeling uneasy.
"I think that's a terrible thing to do right now. Pull them first, and then come up with a plan," said Shawna Richardson of North Philadelphia.
"It's scary, but as you know, a person who's commuting, all I can do is trust SEPTA and the conductors," added Amanda Petty of Princeton.
SEPTA says it does have a plan to replace this fleet, but it will take about 10 years and $2 billion.
The full list of recommendations includes the following:
- Suspend operation of the Silverliner IV fleet until the transit agency determines the root causes of fires, develops and implements a plan to address these causes and identifies and corrects the organizational factors that have prevented effective risk mitigations.
- Implement a plan to monitor the success of its risk-mitigation approach to the Silverliner IV fleet, including provisions for immediately removing the fleet from service again if its mitigations fail to prevent fires.
- Create an expedited procurement or retrofit schedule and seek funding from appropriate sources as soon as possible to accelerate the replacement of the Silverliner IV fleet or its retrofit to include modern feedback systems and meet federal fire safety standards for new railcars.
You can read the full report at NTSB.gov.