SEPTA will soon receive a $317 million federal grant, which will be used to purchase 200 rail cars to replace the aging models used in the Market-Frankford Line, writes Thomas Fitzgerald for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The amount is by far the largest Federal Transit Administration competitive grant SEPTA has ever won, according to agency officials.

“With this vital funding, SEPTA can modernize its inventory and continue providing safe and reliable transportation for all of Southern Pennsylvania,” said U.S. Senator Bob Casey. 

SEPTA officials are currently evaluating bids from rail car manufacturers to build M5 cars for the El, which the agency estimates will cost $700 million to $800 million for the new fleet.

Once a contract is signed, it would take about five years for the first of the new rail cars to arrive.

The current M4 El cars are about 25 years old and have structural cracks, becoming more unreliable and, at times, leading to delays and trip cancellations.

“The Market-Frankford Line is the workhorse — moving more people than any other service,” SEPTA CEO and General Manager Leslie S. Richards said in a statement. 

As a result, she added that replacing the M4 cars “is our highest priority.”

Read more about the El train’s aging fleets and new funding to replace them at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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