(The following story by Al Novack appeared on the KYW website on October 23, 2009.)
PHILADELPHIA — The first body shells of a new fleet of Septa railroad cars has arrived in Philadelphia.
A cargo ship was being unloaded at Packer Marine Terminal early Wednesday morning by longshoremen. The first three shells — wrapped up to prevent any damage during transport — from Hyundai Corporation in Korea were were being transported to a Hyundai subsidiary on Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia, where they were to be outfitted and placed atop undercarriages, then delivered to Septa for use on the Regional Rail lines (see previous stories).
This is the first of 120 new rail cars for Septa to arrive over the next 18 to 24 months.
The new cars are part of a $244-million contract awarded to Hyundai to produce the new “Silverliners.”