As part of an ongoing effort to bolster its Regional Rail fleet, Philadelphia’s SEPTA is purchasing 24 railcars 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 the railcars comes from the nearly $220 million in additional capital dollars Gov. Josh Shapiro allocated in November 2025 to support urgent safety upgrades and infrastructure improvements.

“We are grateful for Gov. Shapiro’s continued support of SEPTA, and we are committed to continuing to deliver improvements for our customers,” said GM Scott A. Sauer. “These additional railcars will help us enhance reliability and expand capacity for our customers while we work toward replacing our aging Regional Rail fleet.”

Shoring up the SEPTA Fleet

SEPTA has been in contact with transit agencies across North America in recent months about potential railcar 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 of the fleet had to be taken out of 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 railcars are procured. In an effort to avoid further service disruptions, SEPTA has explored shorter-term alternatives, such as leasing and purchasing used railcars from other agencies.

Earlier this year, 10 railcars leased from MARC in Maryland were placed into service.

SEPTA/Exo Agreement

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

SEPTA is currently working out logistics for transporting these passenger railcars from Montreal. A timeline for placing them into service will be developed later this spring.

The authority will be performing modifications to the doors and other systems as part of a program to upgrade the cars to the agency’s standards.