SEPTA has got a hospital for sick trains located just past the 69^th Street Terminal right in Upper Darby, writes Thomas Fitzgerald for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The massive SEPTA garage has mechanics, welders, and machinists who fix cracks in the frames of Market-Frankford Line trains to keep the heavily traveled line running.

“It’s a challenge with a fleet that’s had systemic issues basically since we got it,” said Ed Carruthers, assistant chief of rail equipment maintenance. “We get backed up.”

The most recent Market Frankford M4 cars came to Philadelphia in the late 1990s with problems.  They failed stress tests, then in 2017, cracks were discovered in 40 cars,

A structural repair program was started, costing $19.3 million in the last six years.

The El’s current weekday service requires about 96 working cars.

Usually, about 85 cars are available as repair crews rotate cars for inspections, repairs, or general overhauls at the place Carruthers calls the “minute clinic.”

The work is ongoing. As soon as the Upper Darby shop fixes cracks, rust damage, and worn parts, “something else gets pulled out of service,” Carruthers said.

Read more about the Market-Frankford El repair garage in Upper Darby in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

See which SEPTA station is the least used.