(The following story by Paul Nussbaum appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on April 24, 2009.)
PHILADELPHIA — Don’t expect to climb aboard a new SEPTA Silverliner V railcar until at least May 2010.
That’s a year later than called for in the contract SEPTA signed in 2006 with South Korean railcar maker Hyundai Rotem USA Corp.
SEPTA hopes to speed up Hyundai Rotem’s production after the first cars arrive so that all 120 new Silverliners will be delivered by February or March 2011, assistant general manager Luther Diggs said yesterday.
Hyundai Rotem, a division of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motors Group, and Sojitz Corp., a Japanese company, have formed a consortium to build 120 Silverliners for $274 million.
The SEPTA contract contains a penalty clause of $200 per car per day that delivery of the Silverliners is delayed.
Diggs, who traveled to Seoul last week, said “technical issues” were to blame for the delay. He declined to be more specific.
“There were things they didn’t understand that they had to work through,” he said. “It’s better to work through them now and make sure things are right up front.”
Hyundai Rotem agreed to speed up delivery to 12 railcars per month, instead of nine, once production is fully under way at the South Philadelphia plant where final assembly is to be done, Digg said.
That means SEPTA expects to have all 120 cars about 31/2 months behind schedule, he said.
The first three test cars, due this month, won’t be delivered until December, Diggs said.
Matthew Mitchell of the Delaware Valley Rail Passengers Association, who has chastised SEPTA for the growing delays, said yesterday, “It wouldn’t surprise me if there are further delays.”
He urged SEPTA not to make any last-minute changes now, especially in a controversial cab design, to avoid more delays.
“The best thing for safety and for the customers, who have been very patient, would be to get these cars here as soon as possible,” Mitchell said.
SEPTA management and Regional Rail engineers have been at odds over the design of the cabs. SEPTA ordered the cars built with subway-style half-width compartments for the operators, while engineers have asked for traditional cabs that stretch fully across the cars.
Diggs said the cab dispute had not been resolved. He said the test cars would be tested with both cab designs.
The total “liquidated damages” that Hyundai Rotem will owe SEPTA for its tardiness won’t be calculated until all cars have been delivered, but Diggs said he wanted “cash or parts,” not an “in-kind” settlement.
“I don’t want another CBTC,” he said, referring to a problem-plagued communications-based train control system for Green Line trolleys that SEPTA accepted instead of cash when new cars came in late and overweight for the Market-Frankford Line.
In other SEPTA developments yesterday, outgoing board member Jettie Newkirk returned as one of Philadelphia’s two representatives while Mayor Nutter’s appointment to replace her is held up in a dispute with City Council.
Philadelphia’s other lame-duck representative, Christian DiCicco, did not attend yesterday’s board meeting.
Newkirk, who had said goodbye to the board last month, said she would remain “until replaced.”
But without both city members present, Philadelphia loses its ability to veto actions by the 15-member board.
Nutter’s nominees, city transportation chief Rina Cutler and community housing activist Beverly Coleman, await approval by a Council committee chaired by President Anna C. Verna. She held up the nominations last month and has not scheduled a vote.
There has been friction between Nutter and Verna over several issues, including his call for Council members to give up their city-owned cars and his criticism of members’ lucrative enrollment in the contentious Deferred Retirement Option Plan.