Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro on Monday toured a maintenance plant in Malvern to check up on the Southeast Pennsylvania Transit Agency (SEPTA)’s progress in complying with a federal order to complete safety upgrades to the fire-prone Silverliner IV rail cars the agency uses, the AP reports.
“We cannot let SEPTA fail. We have to continue to be there for SEPTA and for all mass transit agencies. It’s too important for our economy, it’s too important for communities, it’s too important for our entire commonwealth,” Shapiro told reporters before he ordered his attorney general to open a criminal investigation into the company that made the rail cars and see if they have any connections to Venezuela. Shapiro then said SEPTA actually isn’t that important but he’ll also order the agency to come up with a new rail car that would be so much better than the Silverliners, which are too cold and don’t have sunroofs so you can see the sky while you’re riding on the train. Shapiro then said he would talk to the Emir of Dubai about designing a new rail car, they have such wonderful rail cars there in Dubai. And there’s no crime on them either. No crime on their trains, can you imagine that?
Okay that was fake news. The real story is one of such boring competence and responsible leadership in addressing a real issue that it needed a contrast of the other kind of “leadership.”