Broad Street Line

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For the surface (bus, formerly streetcar) line in Newark, New Jersey, see Broad Street Line (Newark).

**Broad Street Line**

Locale	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Transit type	Rapid transit
Began operation	September 1, 1928
No. of lines	4
No. of stations	24
Daily ridership	114,816
Track gauge	4ft 8½ in (1435 mm)
Operator	SEPTA

SEPTA Broad Street Line

Fern Rock

Olney

Logan

Wyoming

Hunting Park

Erie

Allegheny

North Philadelphia

Susquehanna-Dauphin

Cecil B. Moore/Temple U.

Girard

Fairmount

~~Spring Garden~~ (closed)

Chinatown

8th Street

Spring Garden

Race-Vine

City Hall

Walnut-Locust

Lombard-South

Ellsworth-Federal

Tasker-Morris

Snyder

Oregon

Pattison

	Map Legend
		Local trains only


		Broad-Ridge Spur trains only


		Local/Broad-Ridge Spur trains


Express trains stop at bold stations
		Market-Frankford Line
		Subway-Surface Trolleys
		PATCO Speedline
		Accessible station

The Broad Street Line (BSL) (also known as the Broad Street Subway (BSS) or Orange Line) is a rapid transit line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that runs from Fern Rock Transportation Center in northern Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Pattison Avenue in South Philadelphia, adjacent to several stadiums. It is named for Broad Street, the street under which it runs for almost its entire length. The express tracks run south only to Walnut-Locust. SEPTA also runs 'Sports Express Service' for events at the stadiums at Pattison Avenue, generally referred to as "Special" trains in Septa documentation; these switch to the local tracks at Walnut-Locust. The trains themselves are actually owned by the City of Philadelphia and operated by SEPTA, as noted by the city seals mounted to the sides of the subway cars.

1 Broad-Ridge Spur
2 History
3 Service
- 3.1 Operation times
4 Stations
5 Timeline
6 Proposed Extension - Unfulfilled Plans
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Broad-Ridge Spur

A spur of the Broad Street Line, known as the Broad-Ridge Spur, takes trains from the northern terminus of the BSS to 8th and Market Streets via a split from the main line at Fairmount. At its southern terminus at 8th and Market, a transfer is available to the Market-Frankford Line and the PATCO Speedline. The name comes from the street above the line, Ridge Avenue. It was originally known as the Ridge-8th Street Subway, and at one time continued south and west along the Locust Street Subway, which is now used by the PATCO Speedline. It was also used by the Delaware River Port Authority when it operated its old "Bridge Line" subway service between Camden's city hall and Philadelphia, before being phased out and replace with the current PATCO service. The spur was originally intended to be a subway loop throughout Center City; however, city officials decided against it due to lack of funding, therefore the "loop" only runs from Broad & Fairmount to 8th & Market.[2]

[edit] History

Service on the northern half of the Broad Street Line between City Hall and Olney Avenue opened on September 1, 1928. Service south to Snyder Avenue began on September 18, 1938. Service to Fern Rock began in 1956, and the line was extended to Pattison in 1973. ^[1] Although the Broad Street Line north of Walnut-Locust was built for four tracks, only the sections between Walnut-Locust and Girard, and Olney and the Fern Rock shops, were equipped with four tracks at the time of opening. The two express tracks were extended from Girard to Erie in 1959, and from Erie to Olney in 1991.

Riders boarding the Broad Street Line at City Hall Station.

Two stations that have been closed are Spring Garden St. on the Broad-Ridge Line and Franklin Square on the former Camden, now PATCO, line.

Outside of New York City, the Broad Street Line is one of two rapid transit lines in the United States to use separate local and express tracks for a significant length, the other being Chicago's Red Line.

[edit] Service

Four different types of trains run along the Broad Street Line:

Local (L) — trains show white marker lights; stops at all stations
Express (E) — trains show green marker lights; stops at select stations between Fern Rock and Walnut-Locust
Broad-Ridge Spur (R) — trains show yellow marker lights; features service via Ridge Ave to 8th & Market from Monday-Saturday
Special (S) — trains show blue marker lights; features service from all express stations to Pattison for sporting and entertainment events

Instead of LED-style train indicators, each subway car has several old-fashioned light panels on both on the inside and outside of each subway car, which light up to display the route of the specific subway train. Most trains have three of the panel signs lit up to indicate its route – one for the station of origin, one for the destination, and one for the type of service (local, express, or special). Mostly all trains feature the "FERN ROCK" lit, in addition to either "PATTISON" (for local and special trains), "WALNUT" (for express trains), or "8^th-MARKET" (for Broad-Ridge Spur trains). Occasionally, Broad-Ridge Spur trains feature "OLNEY" lit up in place of "FERN ROCK." The other four signs ("ERIE, ""GIRARD," "SOUTH," and "SNYDER") are no longer used, as subway routes neither begin nor terminate at their respective stations.

[edit] Operation times

A local trip along the entire line takes about 35 minutes. Trains run from approximately 5:00 am to 1:00 am, and a bus service replaces the subway throughout the night, stopping at the same locations as the subway trains.

Service	Start Time	End Time
Northbound train	5:02 am	12:55 am
Southbound train	5:00 am	12:41 am
Northbound Night Owl bus	12:20 am	5:36 am
Southbound Night Owl bus	12:09 am	5:35 am
Northbound Broad-Ridge Spur (M-F)	5:45 am	9:15 pm
Southbound Broad-Ridge Spur (M-F)	5:25 am	8:48 pm
Northbound Broad-Ridge Spur (Sat)	6:38 am	9:22 pm
Southbound Broad-Ridge Spur (Sat)	6:15 am	9:02 pm

[edit] Stations

All stations are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Stations along the Broad-Ridge Spur itself are shaded in gray. The website www.nycsubway.org offers an extensive station-by-station description, including photographs, of the Broad Street Line.World.nycsubway.org: Philadelphia: SEPTA Broad Street Subway

Station	Lines	Notes
Fern Rock Transportation Center	L E R S	transfer to SEPTA Regional Rail R1, R2, R3, R5 lines and SEPTA buses 28, 57, 70, C only above-ground station aerial photo
Olney Transportation Center	L E R S	original north terminus flying junction for never-built spur transfer to SEPTA buses 6, 8, 18, 18 Express, 22, 26, 55, 80, C, L
Logan	L	transfer to SEPTA buses C, J
Wyoming	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 75, C
Hunting Park	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 1, 53, C, R
Erie	L E R S	flying junction for never-built spur transfer to SEPTA buses 23, 53, C, H, XH
Allegheny	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 60, C
North Philadelphia	L R	transfer to SEPTA Regional Rail lines R5 and R6 at North Broad station and R7 at North Philadelphia station and SEPTA buses 54, C
Susquehanna-Dauphin	L	formerly Dauphin-Susquehanna station transfer to SEPTA buses 39, C
Cecil B. Moore Temple University	L	located on Temple University main campus formerly Columbia station transfer to SEPTA buses 3, C
Girard	L E R S	transfer to SEPTA routes 15 and C
Fairmount	L R	transfer to SEPTA buses 61, C
Spring Garden		abandoned, on the Broad-Ridge Spur
Chinatown	R	transfer to SEPTA buses 47 South, 47m South, 61 South formerly Vine station
8th Street	R	transfer to Market-Frankford Line and PATCO Speedline transfer to SEPTA buses 17, 33, 38 West, 44, 47 South, 47m South, 61, 62 formerly Market Street
Spring Garden	L E S	transfer to SEPTA buses 43, C
Race-Vine Convention Center	L E S	transfer to SEPTA buses 27, Route C
City Hall	L E S	free transfer to Market-Frankford Line and Subway-Surface Lines 10, 11, 13, 34, 36 at 15th Street Station transfer to SEPTA Regional Rail lines R1, R2, R3, R5, R6, R7, R8 at Suburban Station transfer to SEPTA buses 17, 27, 31, 32, 33, 38, 44, 48, 121, 124, 125, C part of the Center City Commuter Connection concourse
Walnut-Locust Avenue of the Arts	L E S	transfer to SEPTA buses 9, 12, 21, 27, 32, 42, C transfer to PATCO Speedline part of the Center City Commuter Connection concourse
Lombard-South	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 27, 32, 40, C
Ellsworth-Federal	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 64, C
Tasker-Morris	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 29, C
Snyder	L	flying junction north of Snyder for never-built spur to West Philadelphia transfer to SEPTA buses 37, 79, C
Oregon	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 7, 68, C, G
Pattison Sports & Entertainment Complex	L S	Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field, Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum stadiums transfer to SEPTA buses 17, 71, C,

[edit] Timeline

Subway cars at Fern Rock Transportation Center

September 1, 1928: Original section of subway opens from City Hall to Olney Avenue. Fare is 15 cents.
1930: Subway extended to South Street.
1938: Subway extended south to Snyder Avenue.
1956: Subway extended from Olney to Fern Rock (over existing tracks to Fern Rock shops).
1959: Express service begins following installation of second pair of tracks north to Erie.
1967: Roosevelt Boulevard subway station built at Adams Avenue in anticipation of extending the subway along the Roosevelt Boulevard.
1969: Locust St.-Camden tracks separated from BSL to form PATCO Line.
1973: Subway extended to Pattison Avenue sports complex.
1991: Express Tracks extended from Erie to Olney.

[edit] Proposed Extension - Unfulfilled Plans

Both the City of Philadelphia and SEPTA have studied extending the Broad Street Line along Roosevelt Boulevard, in order to serve a growing population in the northeast section of the city. The city government's archives contain a survey report, prepared in 1948, discussing a need for an extension of the Broad Street line from Erie Avenue to the vicinity of Pennypack Circle (see Roosevelt Boulevard)^[2]. In 1964, the city proposed a nine-mile, $94 million extension of the Broad Street line along Rosevelt Blvd. in conjunction with a new Northeast Expressway to be built by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Development was limited to the building of one subway station by Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1967, at its complex on Roosevelt Boulevard at Adams Avenue, at the cost of $1 million, in anticipation of future service. This station was destroyed when the facility was demolished in 1991.^[3]^[4] Ultimately the Northeast Expressway was never built, due to lack of funds, and the subway extension remained a paper concept. On September 10, 1999, SEPTA filed a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Northeast Extension with the EPA.^[5] In December 2001, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission supported extending the Broad Street Line along Roosevelt Blvd. to Bustleton Avenue, where it would be joined by the Market-Frankford Line, extended from its Frankford terminal.(now the rebuilt Frankford Transportation Center). The estimated cost had ballooned to $3.4 billion. Given the dominance of suburban legislators on SEPTA's Board, as well as the lack of dedicated capital funding, the probability of any significant extension of subway service within Philadelphia is very low.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Broad Street Line

[edit] References

^ [1]
^ City archive on BSS
^ Phillyroads.com BSS article
^ Secrets Beneath the Streets
^ EPA Notice

v • d • e Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (official website)
City Transit Division	Market-Frankford Line - Broad Street Line - Subway-Surface Lines - Girard Avenue Trolley (Route 15) - City surface routes
Suburban Division	Norristown High Speed Line (Route 100) - Suburban Trolley Lines (Routes 101 & 102) - Suburban bus routes
Regional Rail	R1 - R2 - R3 - R5 - R6 - R7 - R8
Major Stations	Frankford Transportation Center - Market East Station - Suburban Station - 30th Street Station - 69th Street Terminal

v • d • e Currently operating heavy rail rapid transit systems in the United States
MBTA Blue, Orange, and Red Lines \| MTA New York City Subway and Staten Island Railway \| PATH \| SEPTA Market-Frankford and Broad Street Lines \| PATCO Speedline \| Baltimore Metro Subway \| Washington Metro \| MARTA \| Miami Metrorail \| Tren Urbano \| RTA Rapid Transit Red Line \| Chicago 'L' \| BART \| LACMTA Purple and Red Lines