SEPTA Regional Rail
| File:SEPTA.png | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, PA |
| Reporting mark | SPAX |
| Locale | Philadelphia area |
| Dates of operation | 1965–present |
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) operates a number of commuter rail lines, known as the Regional Rail lines, to and from places in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, mainly suburbs. All seven of them pass through 30th Street Station, Suburban Station, and Market East station in Center City, as well as Temple University station (on the campus of Temple University), as part of their route. The regional lines run on former Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading Railroad tracks.
Until the Center City Commuter Connection opened in November 1984, lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad ended at Suburban Station, while the lines of the Reading Railroad ended at Reading Terminal, which is a block from the new Market East station. Up until 1981, SEPTA/Conrail operated diesel trains of the former Reading Railroad from Philadelphia to Allentown (via Quakertown and Bethlehem), Pottsville (via Reading) and Jersey City, New Jersey (to the CNJ terminal). Also, the segment between Fox Chase-Newtown which was not electrified was discontinued in 1983.
SEPTA discontinued use of all diesel trains by 1983. Most trains were either Budd Rail Diesel Cars, or locomotive-hauled push-pull trains with former Reading F7's.
Here is a list of the lines; note that some trains enter the city on one line and leave on another. Each line goes through Center City on the Center City Commuter Connection, with one terminus on each end. The Glenside end of the R1 is on trackage shared with the R2 and R5; the other lines all end at terminal stations.
- R1 Airport Line: Philadelphia International Airport to Glenside.
- R2 Warminster - Wilmington and Newark: Warminster to Newark, Delaware.
- R3 West Trenton - Media/Elwyn: West Trenton station in Ewing, New Jersey to Elwyn.
- R5 Lansdale/Doylestown - Thorndale/Paoli: Doylestown to Thorndale. The segment of this line between Center City and Thorndale was known as the "Main Line" in the Pennsylvania Railroad's time, and became the namesake of the affluent Philadelphia suburb of the same name.
- R6 Norristown - Cynwyd: Norristown to Bala Cynwyd.
- R7 Chestnut Hill East and Trenton: Eastern Chestnut Hill to Trenton, New Jersey. This line offers an inexpensive connection to New York Penn Station via New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor Line.
- R8 Fox Chase and Chestnut Hill West: Fox Chase to western Chestnut Hill.
History and numbering
Regional Rail lines are numbered from R1 to R8, with the notable ommission of R4. The reasons for this are rather complicated, going back to the original planning stages.
The Center City Commuter Connection was planned and built as a connection between the former Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading Railroad commuter lines, allowing commuters to use any of the three downtown stations. Before the connection, the first of its kind in the United States[1], was built, PRR trains passed through 30th Street Station and terminated at Suburban Station, and RDG trains terminated at Reading Terminal, 3-4 blocks east of Suburban Station. It should be noted that the R1-Airport line operates on former RDG trackage (south of its split from the R2 and R3), but passenger trains did not run on the line until the connection to the airport was built in 1985.
The original plan for the system was made by University of Pennsylvania professor Vukan Vuchic, based on the S-Bahn commuter rail systems in Germany. Numbers were assigned to the PRR-side lines in order from south (Airport) to northeast (Trenton), and the RDG-side matches were chosen to roughly balance ridership, to attempt to avoid empty trains. The following lines were recommended:[2]
- R1 Airport to West Trenton
- R2 Marcus Hook (now Newark) to Warminster
- R3 Media/West Chester (now Elwyn) to Chestnut Hill West
- R4 Bryn Mawr (on shared trackage with the R5) to Fox Chase
- R5 Paoli (now Thorndale) to Lansdale/Doylestown - express from Center City to Bryn Mawr, with R4 running local
- R6 Ivy Ridge (now Cynwyd) to Norristown
- R7 Trenton to Chestnut Hill East
In addition to the Center City Commuter Connection, it was assumed that SEPTA would build one more connection, the Swampoodle Connection. This would allow PRR-side trains from Chestnut Hill West to join the RDG Norristown line instead of the PRR mainline at North Philadelphia Station. The Chestnut Hill West line and the Norristown line run adjacent to each other at that point, in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Swampoodle. The Swampoodle Connection was never built, leading (among other factors) to the following changes:
- R3 could not go to Chestnut Hill West, so R3 trains from Media/West Chester instead went to West Trenton along the R1. Service to Chestnut Hill West was picked up by the R8.
- R4 was dropped; Bryn Mawr is now only served by the R5, and Fox Chase became half of the R8.
- R8 was added for Fox Chase to Chestnut Hill West service, using the former R4-Fox Chase and R3-Chestnut Hill West halves.
Several expansion plans have proposed using the R4 designation for a new line.
At a later time, R1 was applied to the former RDG tracks, shared with the R2 and R5 (and R3 for all but the last stop), to Glenside. R1-Airport trains now run to Glenside rather than becoming R3 trains to West Trenton. In later years, SEPTA became more flexible, and now a decent number of trains change number designations downtown to cope with differences in ridership on various lines.
Since the original service, the following termini have changed:
- R2-Marcus Hook was extended to Wilmington and Newark
- R3-West Chester was truncated to Elwyn
- R5-Paoli was extended to Downingtown and Parkesburg, and later truncated to Thorndale
- R6-Ivy Ridge was truncated to Cynwyd
Timeline
 | This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
- 1979: Service from Bethlehem to Allentown is discontinued. R2 Naamans Road station closes.
- 1980: 52nd Street station closes. Ivy Ridge station opens and service is extended to it on what is now the R6 Cynwyd.
- 1981: Service from Hatfield to Bethlehem, PA, and from Norristown to Reading and Pottsville is discontinued. R2 Baldwin station closes. R5 Exton station opens.
- 1983: Service from Fox Chase to Newtown on the R8 is discontinued. R5 Thorndale station opens. R8 Westmoreland station closes.
- November 1984: The Center City Commuter Connection opens.[3]
- April 28, 1985: The R1 opens to Philadelphia International Airport.[4]
- 1986: Service from Elwyn to West Chester on the R3 and from Cynwyd to Ivy Ridge on the R6 is discontinued.
- 1990: Service on the R5 is extended from Thorndale to Parkesburg.
- 1995: Service on the R5 to Parkesburg is cut back to Thorndale. R6 Shawmont station (built in 1834) closes.
- 1997: Eastwick station opens on the R1 Airport line.
- 2003: R2 Lamkin station closes.