With SEPTA’s new Silverliner V’s due to hit the tracks later this year, a SEPTA union is raising questions about the quality of the trains.
Hyundai Rotem, a division of South Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai Motors Group, is assembling the first of 117 cars at its South Philadelphia factory. Three were built in South Korea and delivered to SEPTA earlier this year for testing. The entire $274 million fleet — which will replace about 70 old cars — was originally set to be delivered this year, but setbacks have pushed the completion to 2011.
“It is only going to get worse,” Joe Coccio said of TWU Local 234. “What they didn’t do is hire qualified, already skilled, already qualified workers.”
Hyundai Rotem USA Corp. President Hyung Wook Kim said the company has experienced technicians working alongside certified technicians. Luther Diggs of SEPTA operations acknowledged what he called “some transfer technology issues” as Rotem adapts its technology to U.S. federal guidelines, but he said the pilot cars have tested well.
