The entrances to the underground stations in the city centre are rather inconspicuous, and anyone who descends the more than 100-year-old stairways will find a short, low platform, usually only sparsely lit at the corners, and just a few passenger information boards. Homeless people can occasionally be found here, while security staff only sporadically show up. With a loud rattling noise, a streetcar announces its arrival, and shortly afterwards a four-axle vehicle pulls in. Waiting passengers board it through the front door via several steps, and it soon continues its journey. Parallel to the streetcar tracks, a subway train passes at regular intervals with even louder noise – meaning that a total of four parallel tracks run through the tunnel here.
We are in Pennsylvania’s largest city – Philadelphia – where the surviving classic tram lines, built to a gauge of 1,588 mm, have been using a central tunnel section in the inner city for 120 years and are therefore known as the “subsurface lines”.
A large system
Among major US cities, Philadelphia offers a comparatively extensive range of rail-based public transport systems, serving large parts of the urban area and, in some cases, the surrounding region as well. Nevertheless, at many times usage of the network falls short of its potential. The reasons are undoubtedly varied, but the outdated condition of most facilities and vehicles, the lack of a sense of security and poor accessibility certainly play a significant role. Services operated by the local transport authority SEPTA (South-Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) are heavily used during peak hours, but often only moderately so at other times. In the past, SEPTA’s efforts to improve services frequently failed due to a lack of financial resources. This is now set to change.
The 12-Year Capital Investment Program
Against this backdrop, those responsible decided some time ago to implement an extensive investment programme over a twelve-year period. The main objectives are more reliable operations, easier access to facilities, a higher degree of barrier-free accessibility, lower overall energy consumption and a significant improvement in station safety.
Implementation of this concept has already begun in many areas. One factor to be considered is that the network consists of a number of different systems that are scarcely compatible with one another. While S-Bahn-like suburban rail lines serve the wider metropolitan area, the remainder of the network comprises three underground lines, five tram lines sharing a common central tunnel, one purely tram line operated with historic PCC cars, two interurban tram lines, a suburban rail line powered by a third rail, three trolleybus lines and numerous diesel bus routes.
In addition, a diesel-operated suburban line, served at regular intervals by high-powered Stadler low-floor multiple units, further adds to the diversity.
A map of the urban rail network is available here:
https://www.urbanrail.net/am/phil/philadelphia.htm
For technology- and transport-enthusiast observers, day-to-day operations are highly varied; for the transport operator itself and its staff, however, the system’s heterogeneity presents numerous challenges. Not least, the various system interfaces and forced transfers sometimes cause inconvenience for passengers and result in longer overall journey times. For occasional users who do not use public transport daily, the network is undoubtedly rather confusing.
Accordingly, one of the measures addresses precisely this issue: at the end of 2024, all rail-based services mentioned were renumbered.
- Market–Frankford Subway: L
- Broad Street Subway: Local B1, Express B2, “Spur” Shuttle B3
- Subway–Surface Trolleys (tramway/streetcar lines): T1 (formerly 10), T2 (formerly 34), T3 (formerly 13), T4 (formerly 11), T5 (formerly 36)
- Heritage tramway line 15 (“Trolley”): G
- Suburban tramway lines (“Media–Sharon Hill Lines”): D1 (formerly 101), D2 (formerly 102)
- Norristown High Speed Line: M
A network scheme can be found HERE.
For the time being, the previous line designations will continue to be displayed alternately on the vehicles to make it easier for passengers to find their way around.
.
Passenger information at stops is also set to be improved. In the tram sector, this goes hand in hand with the redesign and consolidation of a number of stops, not least to enable the meaningful introduction of a fleet of new low-floor trams in the first place. In 2024, SEPTA ordered 124 five-section low-floor light rail vehicles from Alstom. This also includes a changeover to pantograph operation and the associated adaptation of the overhead line equipment.
However, before these vehicles can be deployed on the city streetcar routes as well as on the two interurban lines D1 and D2, extensive infrastructure modifications are required, including tracks, overhead wiring, signalling systems and station facilities. On lines D1 and D2, the transition to new signalling technology has already begun. At present, 29 four-axle Kawasaki vehicles dating from the 1980s operate there as bi-directional cars, while a further 112 very similar vehicles run as single-ended cars with traditional trolley poles and contact shoes on the ‘subsurface’ lines T1 to T5. All of them are to be gradually replaced by the new vehicles from 2028 onwards.
These new trams are also intended to operate on line G (formerly 15), which returned to service in 2016 after two decades of closure, using modernised PCC cars (as previously reported). In practice, however, a maximum of only four tramcars currently operate on the line on a daily basis, with the remaining services provided by diesel buses.
Philadelphia’s three-line subway network is, of course, also included in the investment programme. Japanese manufacturer Hitachi Rail is supplying a total of 200 new vehicles, which will be assembled at its US plant. These will replace the various types of rolling stock currently used on SEPTA’s metro lines. The line crossing the Delaware River via the large Benjamin Franklin Bridge is operated by PATCO. There is also a clear need for modernisation in station design: here too, greater attention is to be paid to perceived safety and passenger information, while the power supply and signalling systems are also being renewed.
New rolling stock is furthermore planned for the suburban rail services and for the somewhat curious Norristown suburban line.
Philadelphia is also home to the world’s second-oldest continuously operating trolleybus system – the “trackless trolleys” have been running in the city since 1923. New vehicles are to be procured here as well: a tender for 38 twelve-metre trolleybuses equipped with sufficiently powerful traction batteries for off-wire operation on the three remaining routes 59, 66 and 75 has been issued. They are intended to replace an equal number of New Flyer/Kiepe Electric low-floor trolleybuses dating from 2007/08.
In the bus sector, the fleet will be supplemented by initial battery-electric buses, replacing older diesel vehicles.
Summary
Overall, substantial investments totalling approximately USD 15 billion are planned over a twelve-year period – the largest investment programme in the operator’s history.
It is to be hoped that all of these measures can indeed be implemented. The necessary funding for improving public transport is once again under scrutiny, and the realisation of the investment projects depends not least on the provision of appropriate federal funding. Last year, drastic service cuts were announced due to a lack of funding, but these did not ultimately have to be implemented as planned. SEPTA is making every effort to implement the 12-year programme on schedule and without major delays. The measures that have been decided upon are certainly necessary – they will definitely help to increase the attractiveness of public transport and thus improving the quality of daily life in Philadelphia.
