Month: June 2023

SEPTA “BAE” New Flyers finally being used onother routes out of Southern depot. Since their initial runs back in April, thee BAEs were primary used on the 29, 45 and 79 in South Philadelphia. Within the past two weeks, ,the BAEs has been assigned on the other routes which operates out of Southern. Thus far up to 3551 has been delivered and is currently at Germantown depot being accepted. Thus far 27 has been delivered and 23 were spotted tracking in service. It’s unknowned at this point how many new buses that Southern is expected to receive but based off of the D40LFs assigned there, it is a safe bet to assume that at least 70 would be assigned there with the remainder of this batch going to Callowhill and Frontier.

Here is the sheet which tracks their progress:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tpR8zwbgorYIp6wieruAL3ZXlTXr7d2Ry8o2FKsAXjQ/edit#gid=1975603389

In case you missed it, on Sunday a fatal crash occured on the off-ramp of the I-95 expressway involving a tractor trailor carrying gasoline. As a result of this, the heat became soo intense that the Northbound overpass which carries I-95 collapsed as result and also rendered the Southbound overpass as unusable.

Federal and state officials are working to address the situation. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has issued a disaster declaration, allowing the state to access federal funds and expedite repairs​​. Massive chunks of the fallen overpass are being demolished and detours are in place. The demolition is expected to take four or five days, but repairs to the highway could take months​​.

Late Sunday, SEPTA annouced that they have increased capacity on several of their lines (Fox Chase, Trenton and West Trenton) to try to address this crasis. As a result, a Push Pull set is now assigned onto the Trenton Line (#1723 and #9708). And several more trains were added.

https://www5.septa.org/bulletins/until-further-notice-septa-is-adding-extra-capacity-and-service-due-to-i-95-bridge-collapse/