PHILADELPHIA (November 5, 2026) – SEPTA will fully bus both 
(Media/Sharon Hill) trolley lines on the first Saturday of November and December, with November 7 the next scheduled outage. The outages allow SEPTA to perform overhead wire inspections and maintenance work, which are critical to safe and reliable operations.
“SEPTA is constantly striving to create a more comfortable and reliable experience for our customers,” said SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer. “These inspections will ensure a smoother, safer ride and prevent unexpected service disruptions.”
SEPTA completed the first of three planned outages in October and are currently scheduled to continue through at least December.
During the outages, qualified SEPTA employees will work from the top of a specialized maintenance vehicle traveling along the tracks. The vehicle allows for detailed visual and hands-on inspections that can detect and address conditions before they cause larger issues that impact service for extended periods.
These specific activities are mandated by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which has federal oversight over SEPTA’s transit systems. SEPTA routinely conducts inspections throughout the week from the ground that do not cause outages, but they are not as effective as hands-on riding inspections.
SEPTA will capitalize on these outages to complete other work on the lines such as maintenance on the signal system and trackbed – resulting in a more reliable trolley line while minimizing rider impact.
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