Patco Says Rebuilt Rail Cars Should Begin Going Into Regular Service Next Month
By David Madden
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- It's taken more than four years since Patco, the transit agency that runs the high-speed rail line between Philadelphia and Lindenwold, NJ, decided to refurbish (rather than replace) its aging fleet of 120 rail cars.
And now comes word the first eight of those remanufactured cars should be ready to go into service by the end of next month.
There have been software problems galore in the work being done by the New York-based firm, the latest dealing with the automatic train control system. John Hanson, CEO of Patco's parent, the Delaware River Port Authority, says those concerns have been addressed to the point that, if nothing else creeps up, "by the end of May the eight prototype cars will be in service during the off-peak hours."
Then, he says, six more refurbished train cars will go into service around July 4th, then four more a month until the entire fleet is refurbished in a little more than two years.
Hanson estimates that delivery has been delayed by about a year with all the software problems.