As part of an ongoing effort to bolster its Regional Rail fleet, SEPTA is purchasing 24 rail cars from Exo in Quebec, Canada. Exo, which operates public transportation in the Greater Montreal area, formally approved SEPTA’s $8.58 million bid for the coach cars at its board meeting in March.

Funding for the purchase of these rail cars comes from the nearly $220 million in additional capital dollars allocated by Gov. Josh Shapiro in November 2025 to support urgent safety upgrades and infrastructure improvements.

SEPTA has been in contact with transit agencies across North America in recent months about potential rail car purchases, following FRA-mandated inspections and repairs of its 50-year-old Silverliner IV fleet last fall. The Silverliner IVs make up approximately two-thirds of the Regional Rail fleet, and large portions had to be removed from service while this work was performed. This caused trip cancellations and reduced capacity for several months.

While required repairs have been completed on most Silverliner IVs, SEPTA has committed to an enhanced maintenance program moving forward to ensure the fleet remains safe and reliable while replacement rail cars are procured. In an effort to avoid further service disruptions, SEPTA has explored shorter-term alternatives such as leasing and purchasing used rail cars from other agencies. Earlier this year, 10 rail cars leased from MARC in Maryland were placed into service.

The purchase from Exo includes 24 coach cars that were originally manufactured by Bombardier in the late 1980s. These cars will operate with SEPTA’s existing fleet of ACS-64 electric locomotives.

SEPTA is currently working out logistics for transporting these passenger rail cars from Montreal. A timeline for placing them into service will be developed later this spring. SEPTA will be performing modifications to the doors and other systems as part of a program to upgrade the cars to SEPTA standards.

-via Press Release