#3708
Budd Silverliner
🇺🇸 United States ·built by Budd Company· from 1963· American electric multiple unit railcar
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. SEPTA Silverliner II: Adam E. Moreira· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
The Budd Silverliner was a model of electric multiple unit railcar designed and built by the Budd Company with 59 examples being delivered starting in 1963. Fifty-five of the cars were purchased for the Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads with public funds for use in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area commuter rail service with the remaining 4 cars being purchased by USDOT for use in high-speed rail experiments in 1965. Based on a series of 6 prototype Pioneer III cars built in 1958, the Silverliners represented the first production order of "modern" commuter MU equipment purchased by either railroad and earned their name from their unpainted stainless steel construction which contrasted with the painted carbon steel bodies of the pre-war MU fleets.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 63 years ago, in 1963.
- Top speed is 1.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- At full speed it would cover Amsterdam–Utrecht (≈ 40 km) in 15 minutes.
- 410 kW is about 5 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 8 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 25.9 m long: about 6 cars parked nose to tail.
- Seats 124: 2 full city buses (~50 seats each).
- Served for 49 years (1963–2012).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1963
- in service from
- 1963
- retired
- 2012
- status
- retired
- number built
- 59
- kind
- multiple unit
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- builders
- Budd Company
- operators
- Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading Company, Penn Central Transportation Company, Conrail, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
- top speed
- 161 km/h
- power
- 410 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- 11-13.5 kvolt, V 25 Hz AC
- formation
- Single unit
- length
- 25.9 m
- weight
- 46 t
- capacity
- 124 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4984114, Wikipedia: Budd Silverliner (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.