SEPTA is moving forward with a $2 billion effort to replace its oldest Regional Rail cars, even though the transit agency has yet to secure all the money needed for the project and riders could wait about seven years for the new trains.

Pennsylvania this week approved an updated long-term transportation plan that includes the $2 billion project to replace all 218 of SEPTA’s Silverliner IV rail cars.

The trains are more than 50 years old, with the oldest built during the Nixon administration. SEPTA says they are the oldest still in operation in the country and are well past due for replacement.

The project is moving forward despite the lack of funding. SEPTA expects half of the $2 billion cost to be covered through low-interest loans. Grants will make up less than half.

Andrew Busch, SEPTA’s chief officer of media relations, said the need is pressing enough that the agency plans to move forward despite the funding uncertainty.

“We’d like to be able to look at a project as fully funded or close to fully funded before we embark on it. But this is such an acute need that even without the funding in place, we’re going to move forward,” Busch said.

Even with the process moving ahead, passengers shouldn’t expect to board the replacements anytime soon. Asked how many years it could be before a passenger steps onto a new Regional Rail car, Busch said it would likely be more than five.

“I expect that it’s, it’s over five years, probably closer to seven,” Busch said. “You’re probably closer to ten years before it gets wrapped up.”

“They’re built from the ground up. There’s not a dealership that you go out to and buy them off the shelf,” Busch said, adding that they need to be designed to last fourty years.

The push for new trains comes after problems with the aging fleet led to months of inspections, maintenance and delays for passengers.

Images of flames pouring through the cabin of a Silverliner IV also raised concerns about the aging cars.

Regional Rail commuter Leon D Hammond Jr. recalled the impact of the delays.

“It didn’t matter what time if I left early, I still was late,” Hammond said.

SEPTA said in July that 98% of its Regional Rail cars were available for service following the issues last summer. The agency is also looking to leased and purchased rail cars from other transit agencies to give it additional flexibility.

Earlier this year, SEPTA leased cars from Maryland for $2.6 million as it completed federally mandated repairs to the fleet. Busch said SEPTA will decide at the end of the year whether to continue that lease.

The agency is also purchasing 24 train cars from Exo in Montreal, which Busch said should be arriving shortly.

“We’re going to have to do some retrofits and some some adjustments to get them into service. So it’s probably going to be a few months before those are available to us. But longer term, that gives us a bigger fleet to pull from when we either have to pull other cars out from service or to supplement what we have out there,” Busch said.

With the replacement fleet still years away, SEPTA’s existing cars will need to remain in service. The agency said it is keeping them on a stepped-up maintenance plan in an effort to minimize disruptions.

“We’re confident that those are ready to to go for these next years that we need them to be available for us. But we are working very hard to move forward on this contract to replace this fleet. It’s a long time coming. It’s overdue,” Busch said.

Hammond said he has already noticed some improvement over last summer.

“Right now I see that it’s getting a little better now. So I’m pretty stoked with that,” Hammond said.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.