Fox Chase (SEPTA station)

Fox Chase SEPTA regional rail station
Fox Chase station
Station statistics
Address	442 Rhawn Street Philadelphia, PA 19111
Coordinates	40.076643°N 75.082487°W / 40.076643; -75.082487
Lines	Fox Chase Line
Connections	SEPTA City Bus: 18, 24, 28
Platforms	2 Spanish solution (2 side platforms, 1 island platform)
Tracks	2
Parking	342 Spaces
Other information
Electrified	Yes
Accessible
Owned by	SEPTA
Fare zone	2
Services
Preceding station   SEPTA   Following station Ryers toward 30th Street Station Fox Chase Line Terminus Fox Chase Line Newtown Walnut Hill (closed 1983) toward Newtown

Fox Chase is the current terminus of SEPTA's Fox Chase Line. It is located just west of the intersection of Rhawn Street and Rockwell Avenue in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Fox Chase Station, which has the largest number of parking spaces of any on the line (342), is the closest regional rail stop to the neighborhoods of Fox Chase, Bustleton, and Pine Valley, and Rockledge and Huntingdon Valley in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 2009, SEPTA began work on rebuilding the station area and ticket office. Work is expected to be completed by summer 2010.

Extended electrification

Further information: Fox Chase Line#Beyond Fox Chase

Electrified service between Newtown Junction and Fox Chase Station was opened on September 25, 1966. In the late 1970s, there were plans to extend electrification to the line's actual terminus in Newtown, using funds supplied by both Montgomery and Bucks Counties. Had the electrification plans come to fruition, the Walnut Hill Station would have been closed, and trains would have operated non-stop from Fox Chase to Huntingdon Valley. Unfortunately, Bucks County was unable to come up with the needed funds, and electrification was put on hold indefinitely.

Newtown extension

Further information: Fox Chase-Newtown Rapid Transit Line

Before 1983, service continued northward via RDC passenger trains to a terminus in Newtown, Pennsylvania. The crossing at Rhawn Street still exists, but bumpers prevent trains from crossing.

Passengers changing over to Newtown-bound diesel Budd RDC trains at Fox Chase, November 24, 1981

Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was discontinued on January 13, 1983, due to failing diesel train equipment that SEPTA had no desire to repair. Although rail service beyond Fox Chase was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light. The traveling public never saw a bus service as a suitable replacement for a rail service, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999. There are no plans to reinstate service, and Fox Chase remains the official end of the Newtown line.

In the ensuing years, there has been interest in resuming the long-dormant passenger service. In September 2009, the Southampton-based Pennsylvania Transit Expansion Coalition (PA-TEC) began discussions with township officials along the railway, as well as SEPTA officials, about the realistic possibility of resuming even minimal passenger service to relieve traffic congestion in the region. Plans call for completing the electrification to Newtown, as originally planned in the late 1970s.

PA-TEC's efforts have received overwhelming bipartisan support by both Bucks and Montgomery County officials, as well as at the state level, despite SEPTA's overall reservations. However, SEPTA has also confirmed that they are indeed open to revisiting the line if there is strong political support in both counties.

External links

• R8newtown.com – Website advocating resumption of rail service north of Fox Chase
• Current schedule for the SEPTA Fox Chase/Newtown
• SEPTA – Fox Chase Station
• Picture of the old station building, circa 1961, before electrification in 1966.
• Station from Rhawn Street from Google Maps Street View