Ivy Ridge (SEPTA station)

Ivy Ridge SEPTA regional rail
Out-of-service Ivy Ridge Station, October 19, 2010. Trackage (formerly at foreground) was dismantled in June 2010 for the Ivy Ridge Trail. Active Ivy Ridge Station to the left (out of sight)
Station statistics
Address	Umbria Street and Parker Avenue Philadelphia, PA
Coordinates	40.0341°N 75.2355°W / 40.0341; -75.2355
Lines	Manayunk/Norristown Line
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Other information
Owned by	SEPTA
Fare zone	2
Services
Preceding station   SEPTA   Following station Manayunk toward 30th Street Station Manayunk/Norristown Line Miquon toward Elm Street, Norristown Terminus Cynwyd Line Ivy Ridge Manayunk (closed 1986) toward Suburban Station

Ivy Ridge is a station located along the SEPTA Manayunk/Norristown Line in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The initial station was built in a minimalist design similar to that of Elm Street, Norristown.

Located at Umbria Street and Parker Avenue, the current station has a 204-space parking lot.

History: Two stations in one

Ivy Ridge Station was constructed by SEPTA in 1980 as a one-station extension of the Manayunk Local service on the former Pennsylvania Railroad Schuylkill Branch. No extension or addition of track was necessary, as Manayunk trains had ended their runs and changed direction at this location, within a remotely controlled interlocking where the Schuylkill Branch (by that time abandoned north of this point) went from two tracks to one. The single-platform station was constructed within the space occupied by the abandoned second track, removed in the early 1960s after the PRR discontinued passenger service to Norristown. A moderate-sized parking lot was included.

When service to Ivy Ridge Station ended in September 1986, SEPTA built new platforms at this location on its ex-Reading R6 Norristown Line down below. The stations and lot were connected by means of a long staircase. Ironically, while the original Ivy Ridge upper platform is fully high-level, these newer platforms, built before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, were exclusively low-level, and remain so to this day. (There is no legal step-free station access for passengers, as Parker Avenue, which crosses the current SEPTA tracks, is a brownfield cul-de-sac lacking sidewalks.)

As it became clear that SEPTA had no interest in reviving service to the upper Ivy Ridge station, the parking lot was expanded with sections of the PRR track being removed. All remaining Schuylkill Branch trackage in Manayunk was dismantled in June 2010 to make way for the Ivy Ridge Trail, a Philadelphia extension of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail over the Pencoyd Viaduct.

External links

• SEPTA – Ivy Ridge Station