That is a problem on the already existing push pull runs. I take one of the three existing push pulls in the evening on the Paoli Thorndale Line almost every evening. The 443pm departure from Suburban seems to have occasional “operating” issues. Some times it is definitely Amtrak related. Other times it cannot be explained by Amtrak alone.
A reliable poster on another online forum stated this mid-day push-pull train exists because someone on the SEPTA Board of Directors complained about the excess ACS-64’s laying around until the MLV cars are delivered from CRRC.
In the mean time, the Sprinters will unnecessarily be subjected to the daily beating of start/stop commute service. The same type of service MU’s were designed to handle. Hopefully they are on a good preventative maintenance schedule while they prove themselves in local service.