(The following appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on March 3, 2011.)
PHILADELPHIA — Regional Rail passengers won’t be allowed to sit in the front two seats of trains made up of the new Silverliner V cars that are starting to be delivered for use, SEPTA officials said Wednesday, citing safety concerns.
Passengers’ groups disputed SEPTA’s argument, saying the agency was capitulating to rail crews’ demands that the front the trains be reserved for their use.
“The concern we had was a combination of safety for our passengers and the safety of our employees operating the trains,” said Jim Fox, director of system safety for SEPTA.
While cabs for engineers in the existing fleet stretch all the way across the front of the car, the Silverliner V cabs occupy only half the front end. For several years, engineers have urged SEPTA to do away with the front two seats to give them the same room and view that they have now and to prevent passengers from interfering with the trains’ operation.
Fox said engineers needed a clear path out of the cab to “bail out” if a collision appeared imminent. He said passengers or their luggage might block an engineer’s ability to get out of the cab quickly in an emergency.
And he said customers in the front two seats would be most vulnerable to injury in a grade-crossing collision or to objects thrown from overpasses.
SEPTA has ordered 120 of the Silverliner V cars, which it hopes to have in service by the middle of next year. The first five cars are operating as a single train.
The full story appears on the Philadelphia Inquirer website.