Transport Workers Union Defends Craftmanship On Cracked SEPTA Rail Cars
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The union representing workers who assembled the now out-of-service SEPTA rail cars at a South Philadelphia manufacturing facility believes the cracked beams were defective, and not reflective of their work.
Local 234 of the Transport Workers Union Secretary-Treasurer Joe Coccio says the problem of cracks in the load-bearing components of the Silverliner rail cars had nothing to do with the assembly of them.
'It was just installed by the workers in the South Philly plant," he said. "It was not manufactured by the workers in the South Philly plant."
Local 234 represents 42 of the 77 employees at the Hyundai Rotem plant on Weccacoe Avenue, near the Ikea Store.
He says the shell comes from the manufacturer in South Korea, and workers assemble the rail cars. Coccio says they're 10,000 pounds over the original specs, to meet federal regulations. He says that could have caused metal fatigue and the resulting cracks, or it could have been a miscalculation in the design. He says it was not loose, missing hardware, or improperly installed components.
SEPTA pulled the Silverliner V rail cars from its regional rail fleet after discovering the cracks in load-bearing equipment on Friday. Coccio says similar cracks were found in the truck assembly (that holds the wheels and axles) on cars produced by Bombardier on the Market-Frankford El, since 1998. He says they've been inspected, removed, repaired or replaced on a regular basis.
SEPTA is hoping to get an accurate estimate in the next few days on how long it will take to repair or replace the defective equalizer bars on the Hyundai-Rotem trains.
