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Platform Chats
Platform Chats
Engineering Leadership in Action: Kate O’Connor on SEPTA’s Front Lines
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In this episode of Platform Chats, Walt Bleser sits down with Kate O’Connor—Chief Engineer at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and member of AREMA’s Board of Governors—for a conversation that covers everything from 100-year-old bridges to modern-day megaprojects, and a little career wisdom in between.
Kate shares her journey from walking cables in New York to overseeing nearly everything at SEPTA, including track, power, stations, buildings, and cleaning crews. She discusses managing a $5 billion backlog, navigating tight budgets, and completing major bridge replacements without disrupting the system.
They also dig into mentorship, cross-department collaboration, and why showing up for your team and your industry still matters. A sharp, candid look at leading in public infrastructure, with a few laughs along the way.
The Board of Governors is at 20,000 feet looking at how operations of AREMA are going. Looking at administratively, what changes do we need to make? How do we draw in more people to be interested? How are things functioning at a committee level? But it's really that 20 or 30,000-foot perspective of AREMA and seeing how do we push this into where we have even more people that want to be members of AREMA? How do we really sell this? How do we want to strategize to get more people involved? Young people, experienced people, whoever it is to get more out of the organization.
SPEAKER_02This podcast is designed, no pun intended, to change your view of who AREMA is and how AREMA has changed the trajectory of many railway careers over its 100-plus year history. Welcome to Platform Chats with your host, Walt Blesser, where he takes a moment to discuss the impacts AREMA has had on the very people who are proud to be called members. Are you ready to roll with AREMA?
SPEAKER_00Underbridged Structures is a proud supporter of AREMA and Platform Chats, specializing in innovative and practical solutions for railway and transportation infrastructure.com.
SPEAKER_01Hey everybody and welcome back to yet another episode of Platform Chats. I apologize for the delay in between episodes. We had another guest uh lined up for our May guest, and uh that individual, unfortunately, the day of the recording, had to deal with some sort of massive uh unionslash personnel issue, and uh had to reschedule, so there might be a slight gap in our cadence between episodes. Um, but nonetheless, we have a fantastic guest on today, which I will get to in a second. I hope everyone had an opportunity to check out the fact we did hit 10,000 downloads, uh, which was pretty cool, uh kind of a landmark for us. We're not trying to, we're not pumping out, you know, millions of downloads uh in the niche industry that we work in, but the fact that we have had over 10,000 is really spectacular. Uh, and we continue to hover in that uh top 10 railway podcasts in the world. So that's always a fun thing to to check out and to look back upon the success we've had since starting this thing. So we're we're smack dab in the middle of season five, believe it or not. And I would like to thank again. I I did a LinkedIn post, but I would like to thank everybody at Arima Headquarters for recognizing the efforts. Uh, again, it's not just me. I've got a team behind me that helps with production. Um, I've got a team that helps with marketing and the emails and uh working with our guests to get headshots and and to put together the emails to to draw listeners in. And so it's it is a big uh production on our end to do this. And yes, this is this is volunteer time. So again, we appreciate everyone listening. We love the positive feedback and we'd love to keep this going for as long as possible. So that's my little plug uh for platform chats as we head into the summer of 2025. And like I said, we've got some really cool guests already lined up for the summer, uh, prior to getting to the Indianapolis National Conference uh this September. So without further ado, uh we are reaching out and chatting with uh today a chief engineer of SEPTA. If I get this right, I believe that's the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Uh Chief Engineer Kate O'Connor is joining us today, and she's not just the chief engineer of uh SEPTA, but she is also on Arima's Board of Governors. So, Kate, welcome to the show. And uh yeah, let's give you a few minutes here and uh give everybody, give our listeners a background on who in the world is Kate O'Connor.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, Walt. Um, so I'll take it back to high school. When I was in high school, I had a math teacher that uh I had for geometry when I was in ninth grade, and then uh trig again in 11th grade. When I was in ninth grade, I was an average student for the first part of the school year, and then suddenly something clicked, and I remember specifically taking a test and doing very, very well, and he wrote at the top, is this the real Kate? And it just kind of launched from there. I really engaged in math, and I thought math was really cool. And that teacher said to me, You know what? I think you should really look into whether engineering would be good for you. That might be a nice track for you to tie in your math skills. So I took a look at where good engineering programs were in the country and uh applied to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which is of course the greatest university in America, um, and was lucky enough to spend uh four years there. And uh after graduating from Michigan, I decided what I'd really be interested in doing is working in New York City on some of the long span bridges and with some of the other monumental structures that are in New York City. So I threw my name out there and interviewed with a small company called Edwards and Kelsey, which sadly no longer exists because it was bought out like many other smaller size, small to mid firms, was bought out by one of the monster companies. Um so, but started working at Edwards and Kelsey, did a lot of work with MTA New York City Transit, Bridges and Tunnels, did some work with Metro North Railroad and really kind of cut my teeth on stuff up in New York City. After about 10 years up there, moved back to Philadelphia because my family's here, stayed with the same company. About a year after moving back here, uh Edwards and Kelsey was bought out by Jacobs. Stuck with Jacobs for a while, uh, worked on more railroad projects, really had an interest in that uh anywhere from uh working on projects in Chicago, some New York projects, New Jersey transit. Um, of course, SEPTA started to get involved with SEPTA projects, and then was recruited to come over to SEPTA close to the end of 2013 and started here in the beginning of 2014. Um started off just running bridges and buildings, and all that that encompasses, which is all of the stations, the shops, uh fixed plan equipment, that sort of thing, elevators and escalators, and then gradually grew that into I now the chief engineer for engineering maintenance and construction, which is the whole breadth, and that includes bridges and buildings still, but also CNS, track, power, um, and also we've talked cleaning under that purview as well. So everything on the railroad, but then also, of course, the transit side. We have six modes of transportation. So not just a railroad, but also other forms of transit.
SPEAKER_01So what what year did you become the the chief?
SPEAKER_03So officially, so I've been chief engineer. They they kind of split it out. So they did chief engineer of BB and then chief engineer of maintenance of way. That happened in about uh 2017.
SPEAKER_012017. If I remember right, uh I don't believe his namesake has anything to do with the airport in New York City, but I believe you used to work with a gentleman with the last name of LaGuardia. Yes?
SPEAKER_03No, I took his spot. I okay.
SPEAKER_01Did he retire?
SPEAKER_03He retired and went to a consultant. Um I took his place, and then the role grew. So when I say I became the chief engineer in 2017, that was a larger purview than it was when I took it over when I first came here.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay, yeah, because I think we were two ships passing in the middle of the night because I remember when I had my startup, we came to call on you guys back in I want to say it was 13 or 14, might have even been 15 to work on uh Cobb Creek. And um I think you had just shown up. You were shiny and new to the organization. Like a ray of sunshine, still still shiny, not as new, but still a ray of sunshine. All right, fantastic. So you were uh listening to this. I mean, technically, does that make you identify as a structures person?
SPEAKER_03A hundred percent.
SPEAKER_01Oh, all right, yeah. I mean, I know I see you in the structures stuff, but I also know that you're not a member of one of the structures functional group committees. You're on eight and eleven as we bring this all back to arema. What is eight and eleven?
SPEAKER_03So eight is concrete structures, so it is still structures.
SPEAKER_01Oh gosh, I did say that. Eight. I'm sorry, eleven. What is eleven? I know I've I well, all right, everybody, strike that from the record. The uh functional group vice president of the structures group does know that eight is concrete.
SPEAKER_03Yes, and eleven is inner city and commuter rail.
SPEAKER_01That's what it is, inner city and commuter rail. So when you were in were you were you living up in Manhattan then, I guess in 2000 to 2006-ish?
SPEAKER_03Yep, I was.
SPEAKER_01Okay, cool. Well, there were some pretty interesting thing things going on there, and I'm assuming you got to work on did you get to do any cool inspections or uh designs that come come to mind?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so uh after big dig tunnel issue in Boston, I'm sure you know about that where the concrete panel fell. Yep. So many sister agencies were really kind of in a panic. What if we have the same kind of condition existing? Anything that was a vertical anchor. So they brought in us as a consultant and said, we want you to inspect all of the vertical anchors that hold the concrete panels, uh, the exhaust vents over the tunnel. So we literally had to walk through the exhaust vents and inspect every single one of the anchors through we did Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, uh Midtown Tunnel, a number of the New York City transit tunnels. So that was that was a really interesting inspection. And the twist of it, which at the time nobody was aware, um, it was actually at the tail end. That was in that was in 2006, because I had just become pregnant with my first son, but I wasn't telling anybody yet. And they said, hey, we want you to go inspect in the exhaust vent area of and I was really trying to rack my brain of how am I gonna get out of this so that I'm not putting myself and my unborn child in a bad position. Um, but I just did a limited inspection in that time period, but prior to that, did many inspections, did some of the cooler inspections, and this is not railroad related, but um, they have a lot of cool long span bridges up in New York City, and I got to walk the cables, and that was really neat. Not only didn't really want to do that, but that was a very exciting part of my job.
SPEAKER_01That is extreme street cred for any structural engineer. That's like that is bucket list material. Uh the tunnels, so now you were not were you going in some of the tunnels between uh under the East River and the Hudson?
SPEAKER_03Or Yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and how long are those?
SPEAKER_03Not off the top of your head, but I would I would have to look back up those numbers. Um, but they are they are sizable in their length.
SPEAKER_01Right, because they're subs they're substanti I mean, they're longer, everyone thinks, well, there's the length of the width of the river.
SPEAKER_03No, they're no, because they don't take a straight shot across.
SPEAKER_01That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Yeah, I've read uh oh boy, I I cannot remember some oh boy, boy, boy. I think it was something about Gotham. It was about the building of the railroad tunnels by the Pennsylvania Railroad going from the uh uh the west side across the Hudson to get into Manhattan and just Oh man, if you're into history at all, like we we take it for granted, right? You get in if you're in Penn Station and you're on the Acela to say Philly, you just yeah, I don't know, you sit down and you just kind of take for granted that you're in a tunnel and you you arrive in Philly and it's great. And to think about the blood, sweat, and tears that went into building those things is mind-blowing uh to me. And now Scepta, let's pull this back. Uh, as a as a New York City fanboy, my family's all from there. I I got to work there for a minute. Um and I did get to do I you always get to see some cool stuff if you're underground in New York City. Uh we saw the Roosevelt car, uh, which is hidden under the Waldorf uh with Anna Maria. Uh oh, sorry, Anna Maria. She uh she did she did show me that uh we were it was it was legal, it was fine. Um does SEPTA have some tunnels and major structures?
SPEAKER_03We sure do. That's what I thought. We have uh center city on the railroad side, center city commuter tunnel, um, which is a major connector to allow our thoroughfare into and out of center city. Um, and then on the transit side, we of course have subway tunnels that run the length of Broad Street, um, and then part of our Market Frankfurt line as well.
SPEAKER_01Now, are those cut and cover?
SPEAKER_03They are, yes.
SPEAKER_01They are okay, similar to like the Park Avenue. Well, most of the tunnels uh in New York City. So it sounds like if I'm putting my uh putting this all together, are you are from the Philly area? Yes?
SPEAKER_03I am, yes, I am okay.
SPEAKER_01So you grew up in the Philly area, that's where your family is established. Then you split, went to Michigan for school. Okay, then you went to New York, came back. Got it. But you are you are uh what where do you live out? Are you in the city or are you outside the city?
SPEAKER_03No, outside the city, like 25 minutes outside the city.
SPEAKER_01Cool, very cool. What is the relationship with SEPTA? So I know you have railroads.
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_01I know you have buses. Uh there are other authorities in that area as well, I believe the DRPA.
SPEAKER_03So the DRPA is a very small agency that's really headquartered in New Jersey out of Camden. Um they control the uh river crossings, the bridges, and then they have a small uh rail line called PATCO, which is about 14 miles long.
SPEAKER_01Okay, does not interchange with you guys.
SPEAKER_03I mean it so by interchange it connects into our network, so you can transfer from PATCO to SEPTA, but it's not it's not a direct relation.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and since we're down the rabbit hole of history uh stuff that I enjoy, the um, you know, because you obviously you have SEPTA and you have Long Island Railroad and you have Metro North, and these are all the cosmopolitan, metropolitan metropolitan railroads that were broken off back uh when deregulation occurred, etc. etc. What were the predecessor railroads for SEPTA?
SPEAKER_03Reading and Pennsylvania railroads. So we are a legacy system, and by that what I mean is we're actually uh conglomerate of a number of bankrupt transit and railroad agencies. So when they went out of business in the 60s, SEPTA was formed. So we're actually the product of bankruptcy.
SPEAKER_01Right. Which I believe, I believe Long Island Railroad and Metro North are as well.
SPEAKER_03Right, because uh their legacy systems, as well as you can look at Chicago and Wamata too, they're all pieced together from other, I'll say failed agencies of the past.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, and MBTA and boy, we are going way. I'm sorry to derail this conversation, but it's an interesting I always find it interesting because uh, you know, tourists or others that visit Manhattan, uh they they never understand why, you know, there there really are is no train service between Grand Central Terminal and Penns Pennsylvania Station. Penn Station. Yes. And it's like, well, because the two were bloody competitors for many, many, many years and hated each other, and until there was no well, until they basically went bankrupt in the advent of the car, so on and so forth, which is why, and I am gonna bring this right back on track, I promise, why I think it's fascinating because people such as yourselves and the employees of these other railroads are you have a massive amount of history and documentation and changing or exchanging of uh plans and and and inspection reports over the years, I'm sure, that can make your job somewhat difficult and frankly somewhat interesting, I would think.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Um we have you know, there's no cookie-cutter station or bridge or even the systems. Everything is different. And so getting to know our systems and the nuances of really it's asset management, right? How do you how do you program to make sure that you're replacing or rehabbing or doing preventative maintenance in accordance with uh the wealth of different things that we have within our system?
SPEAKER_01And so what kind of staff do you have that's looking after? I mean, what let's talk briefly just about those assets. How many roughly how many bridges are you are under your purview, bridges and tunnels? We can leave out the buildings.
SPEAKER_03Uh on the bridges side, about 350 plus.
SPEAKER_01350 plus.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And obviously some big ones that are in there.
SPEAKER_03Some big ones, but really what's interesting is looking at some of the ones date back to the 1800s. I mean, it's later in the 1800s, but the 1800s nonetheless, and the construction back then was phenomenal. And obviously, it has lasted quite a long time. Um, but now we're looking at programming those ones to do either replacements or rehabilitation. Um and some ones from the early 1900s too. So we just this past Memorial Day weekend were able to do an accelerated bridge construction where we replaced a bridge in a weekend, which was really cool. The bridge was built in 1904 by the Reading Company. Um, and we were able to do where we use an SPMT, the self-propelled mover, to bring in a bridge from a construction yard that we had about three-quarters of a mile away, and do a full superstructure replacement over a three-day weekend. Get the track back, get normal normal service restored over a three-day weekend.
SPEAKER_01See, that's that's to me. Um, I have not done a lot of bridge engineering recently in recent years, due to uh change in job author uh um basically what I've been doing for a living, uh say it nicely. Um, but that is what got me excited as a young person. I just thought, and I I think I kind of fell head over heels for the industry was all right, so you've got this thing that was built, you know, well over a hundred, hundred and fifty years ago. You have all of the infrastructure that has grown up now around it, buildings and right-of-way, right, and all this stuff. And now we have to get in there and we need to replace it. Oh, oh, but by the way, please don't disrupt commuter traffic, right? Right, right. So like it just to me that's so cool. Like, you have what's neat about your job is you get to bridge, no pun intended, the gap of um history, if you will, historic structure replacement using modern, like you just mentioned SPMTs, which I think stands for self-propelled is it modular transporter? Okay, I always forget the MT. Um you're using the most cutting-edge uh design and construction techniques in the spirit of the your well, your consumer base for lack of a better term, but your your your customer base of trying to get in, get out, and do it safely. Yes?
SPEAKER_03Yep, yes, absolutely. We're always looking for ways that we can um try to have less of a negative impact on our customer base because we certainly don't want to lose riders because they're frustrated. What goes a long way is our communication with the public, right? When we explain to them what we're doing and showcase what we're doing and explain why it's important, this is an impact now, but it means less of an impact later, right? Because we're taking care. Of our infrastructure and making sure that it's in a state of good repair. And that's the other thing that really is a challenge is we currently have a $5 billion backlog of state of good repair work. So it's finding ways to chip away at that backlog bit by bit. But as we continue to do that, other assets are aging out, right? So you think you're making a dent in the in the backlog, and then something else happens. Now a big piece of that is vehicles. Um doing vehicle fleet procurement. So we're looking at right now replacing our our railroad fleet that's 50 years old. And it's done well over those 50 years, but it's certainly at a point where you need to consider its useful life. So that factors into our state of good repair backlog, too. So it's finding ways with I we we don't have a blank check. I wish we did, but we have a limited capital budget, finding ways to use that efficiently so that we can chip away at this backlog, keep things in a state of good repair at the same time as being mindful of the fact that we're in a funding crisis right now.
SPEAKER_01Sure. But that's that requires a special skill set. So to me, um, an individual within our industry, right, could be uh could literally spend their entire career focusing on the design, not the construction, but the design of maybe concrete and or steel structures, right? And and we need those individuals. Um and there are individuals in our in our uh field that specialize in how to erect them properly in the construction staging, which as you know is what you just talked about is critical. Um you have played kind of both roles because you did work for a consultant, you've been out there as an inspector, and now the last decade or so you have been in that owner's perspective, which as you just described, it it sounds like wearing a lot of hats. So what what is your pitch for someone sitting out there listening? Maybe they're in your shoes, maybe they are Kate uh working at a large consulting firm. They're like, hey, this ownership side uh of the house sounds interesting. What what would you tell that person on a on an elevator ride if they had if they seemed interested in joining forces with you?
SPEAKER_03What I would say is that the the most interesting part is that there's something different every day. There's a new challenge every day. Whereas when you're on the consultant side, you tend to be on assigned to a project, even if it's multiple projects for extended periods of time. And that's really your only focus. Here, not only do you have a different challenge every day and different things to work on every day, and different people to coordinate with in uh various departments, but you also you're responsible for what you're producing. So if you design something and let's say it's a piece of equipment that has to go into a shop that are used by our folks that work in that shop to maintain the trains every day, you coordinate with those people, and and at the end of the day, you have to live with is what you designed useful and helping keep SEPTA running every day? And so you really have a lot of buy-in where when you're a consultant, you're finished with that project and it's just done. You really never think about it or visit it or uh have to think about how effective it is after that project is complete. So that really has a different sense of reward than it does when you're on the consultant side.
SPEAKER_01Because you own it, it's yours, right?
SPEAKER_03Because you own it, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a that is an interestingly cool perspective. And another piece that I'm gonna go way to the way back of this conversation, uh, you mentioned how you had uh a, I believe, a professor or an instructor notice that you had an aptitude for math. And so um how how what is the best way you see people like yourself, myself, etc. Uh doing the same thing for the next generation? Do you do you do reach out or do you and maybe you don't, or who how do we how do we get that next generation, and you might not have the answer, uh, to find those killer qualities that we need to help us? Because this problem you just described is uh not going anywhere in the next, at least not in my lifetime.
SPEAKER_03Right. Um, so I can only speak to what we can do once people are in the door, and I do try to do a lot of stuff with the younger or less experienced folks when they come in the door. So, what I've tried to do is work with people to mentor them, not just from my own perspective, but also to kind of partner them with other people in the organization so that they can get their perspective. So, one young engineer that I was working with, that I saw a lot of aptitude in what he did and a lot of potential for the future, um, I would have regular meetings with him where I would give him my perspective. But then I also matched him up with uh somebody that led our track department and somebody that led railroad operations and somebody in our system safety uh department and uh somebody from service planning. Because while I can offer my own perspective, the younger, less experienced folks have to understand why what they do every day affects all these other facets of the organization and how they need to take that into the can into consideration. The worst thing from my perspective is somebody who's just an office engineer who just sits at a desk and really doesn't think about the impact that what they're doing has on our customers, both internal and external, and the end product and really the constructibility of something, right? Did people really think about whether what they're putting on paper is buildable? Maybe, but getting that additional perspective from various people, I think, is incredibly helpful.
SPEAKER_01Uh agreed. I I agree completely. Yeah, I had I had some great mentors in my younger years, and when we were talking about railroad design, we generally started with we didn't start with the design. We started with how are we going to build it. Um, you know, what kind of right of way do we have? Do we have a place to erect the steel? Do we have a place to to move it into place, like what you're talking about, and and how does it affect everybody else? Then you guys get to take that and just compound it, I feel like it just it's a cool opportunity, I feel like, to work within the confines of any of these railroads in the northeast because it's very unique to this country uh to have the urban uh city centers, right? And the and the urban, all the uh well, the urban density, for lack of a better term, that you're working around. That's that's unique to replacing a a bridge that was well, maybe it caught fire in Oklahoma and it's in the middle of a field and needs to be rebuilt. And I'm not saying that's not a challenge. It is because it needs to be rebuilt just as fast as as any other structure that where you have revenue service. But it's a different the the impact is different, the people you're talking to, right? Absolutely. Do you think Arima has helped you on your journey through through uh well, I mean, even from consulting to SEPTA to where you are today, do you feel like it's made an impact on your career?
SPEAKER_03Oh, unequivocally. Um, not just from the training and education perspective, which is unparalleled. And I and I constantly, not just in my role on board of governors now, but prior to that, I speak to everybody in my division about the importance of getting involved and not just being a member, but trying to get involved with committees. Because the other thing that comes out of it that's incredibly valuable is you get to network with people from across the country that may have a much different perspective than you do and maybe have other ideas of how to get things done. So you have something that you've been just hammering away at and you really can't figure out a viable solution. And you sit down with some of your committee, other committee members, and you talk it out. Hey, you know, here's the problem I have, or you send something through to there's that great online forum. Um going through that as a way to put questions out there and see what other people's perspective is, or if people have information that you haven't been able to find at the resources local to you. That really has been a game changer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think you you nailed it. Uh I think a lot of people um when I speak to folks, they're like, well, you know, I don't really want to join a committee because I'm not really worried about thinking about uh, you know, arguing about should versus shall, and and and maybe I'm not smart enough to help write ballot material. And it's like, no, like just show up, absorb, you know, speak when you think you can add something to the conversation, but the real value is after five o'clock, uh when you are doing what you hey, I've got this thing I'm working on, and I'm in Philadelphia, and you're in Los Angeles. What do you guys do out there? You know, like that's to me, that's the value. And it's it's hard to describe because it is somewhat organic uh when it occurs, but it happens. I I kid you not, I think it happens every time we meet. At least it does for me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_01And so now you are on the mysterious uh board of governors. I don't that's the one thing I do not know. I I am not familiar, I know that they exist. Uh what is the ARIMA's, what is ARIMA's board of governors? What's the role? What what do you do? Um just uh give us a 20,000 foot perspective.
SPEAKER_03Well, and that's exactly what it is. So you just use the phrase that I was going to use. The board of governors is at 20,000 feet looking at how operations of AREMA are going, um, looking at administratively what changes do we need to make, how do we draw in more people to be interested, how are things functioning at a committee level? But it's really that 20 or 30,000-foot perspective of AREMA and seeing how do we push this into where we have even more people that want to be members of AREMA? How do we really sell this? How do we want to strategize to get more people involved? Young people, experienced people, whoever it is, to get more out of the organization.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that I think that's a phenomenal answer. And so who who who makes is it mostly made up of I assume it's mostly railroad owners, is that correct?
SPEAKER_03Mostly, yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay, okay, and I'm assuming it's from people all over the country.
SPEAKER_03Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So you've got wide widespread uh perspectives. Uh no one's working in an echo chamber.
SPEAKER_03No, I was just gonna say that. I mean, uh one of my fellow uh governors is in Alaska, so it is literally side to side of our country. So it is it is not working in a vacuum and it is getting very, very different perspectives on things.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's cool to have you on there. It's cool to have uh both privatized, uh publicly traded perspective uh alongside SEPTA, alongside I know who you're speaking of. I mean, Alaska Railroad is kind of a hybrid of all that. Uh so it's cool to have all those perspectives having um a voice. So I assume you are gonna come out to Indianapolis this fall.
SPEAKER_03Without question, I wouldn't miss it.
SPEAKER_01And and are you bringing some folks from SEPTA? I I assume with the uh attitude you have, you must have some uh excited uh employees.
SPEAKER_03So I do have excited employees. Unfortunately, right now, we are literally in a funding crisis. So I don't know how much you watch the news or how much you search for SEPTA in the news, but the headlines for the last several months have been our budget crisis. We have a $213 million gap in our funding, and we're looking to Harrisburg to our state legislature to help us bridge that gap to pass the governor's proposed bill so that we can go back to normal operation. We are drastically underfunded when compared to uh our sister agencies on both the capital side and the operating side. And in order to continue delivering service the way we want to deliver service, we need this funding help. So I say all that because right now we have a ban on travel. And so for many people, it's outside of their means to pay for it themselves to go to AREMA. So I have a number of people in my staff that are uh committee members or just AREMA members, unfortunately, they have to look at it with a different perspective this year because SEPTA can't pay for people to go out to Indianapolis.
SPEAKER_01Oh, and I and that's understood, and um, you're not alone. Um and I guess the one positive is we do record all the sessions so people can, if there's something that uh piques their interest, they can re-watch the uh presentations from afar, which is good. Uh to answer your question after today's podcast, I will have Googled uh SEPTA once. Uh SEPTA's funding. I think that's what you asked. How often I Google SEPTA? Not not often, but I can I can increase that cadence if you wish.
SPEAKER_03I mean, just because it is it's what we live and breathe every day right now.
SPEAKER_04Sure.
SPEAKER_03While I would much prefer to be focused on projects and programs and uh day-to-day inspection, maintenance, and engineering, I have to have in my mind that right now we're at a critical time. This is this month is uh when our board reviews our budget as proposed. So it is right at the forefront of everything we're thinking about on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_01Well, your mind is exactly where it should be given your title. And so I appreciate the fact that well, honestly, I appreciate the fact that you are taking the time uh not only to be involved with AREMA, but you're being involved at the highest of levels. I see you at all the conferences, it's always good to see you there. And I think it's I just I don't know, I love your perspective of just trying to gather uh well, frankly, of just not living in an echo chamber. And you're going out and you're absorbing and you're coming back to try to make that organization as best as it possibly can be. And we need more, we need more Cato Connors out there.
SPEAKER_03I keep trying to ask if somebody can figure out how to clone me, but nobody will. Either they don't know how or they don't want to. I'm not sure which one it is.
SPEAKER_01I'm not gonna answer that because that's a trap.
SPEAKER_03That's fair.
SPEAKER_01All right. Well, thank you for being on the show. Uh, I very much enjoyed the conversation, and I look forward to seeing you in Indianapolis, and hopefully by that time maybe you'll have some good news.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, Walt. My pleasure.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for rolling with Arima on today's episode of Platform Chats. For further information about Arima, please visit arema.org or contact us at info at arema.org.
