Rapid Transit

The City of Philadelphia is served by a subway and elevated system consisting of:

1. The Market Street Elevated and Subway
2. The Frankford Elevated
3. The Broad Street Subway
4. The Ridge Avenue Subway
5. The Philadelphia - Lindenwold Line (Operated by the Delaware River Port Authority)

The subway-elevated lines operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority have a total of approximately 46 route miles.

THE MARKET STREET SUBWAY - ELEVATED

The Market Street Subway-Elevated is the city's oldest high speed line. Ground was broken on April 6, 1903, and public service was begun on March 4, 1907 between 69th Street and 15th Street. The success of this pioneering venture was immediate, and before long, public demands for additional rapid transit facilities prompted municipal subway and elevated railway construction. On August 3, 1908, the line was extended from 15th Street to 2nd Street; on September 8, 1908, it was extended from 2nd Street, via Market Street and Delaware Avenue, to Chestnut Street; and on October 4, 1908, from Chestnut Street to South Street. Operation over the latter extensions was discontinued on May 8, 1939, and all trains were then operated through to Frankford. The line operated as an Elevated between 69th Street and a point just east of the Schuylkill River until 1955, then ran underground.

This line was privately constructed by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, predecessor of the Philadelphia Transportation Company. A section of this subway, extended from just west of 23rd Street to City Hall, was four tracks wide, two tracks being used by streetcar routes which entered the subway area at the 23rd Street portal to travel underground to City Hall (Juniper Street Station). These routes, now totaling five, were, and still are, known as Subway Surface Lines.

During the business depression years of the 1930's, a tunnel was constructed under the Schuylkill River as a "make-work" project for the eventual extension of the Market Street Subway west of the river. But it was some 20 years before this tunnel was put to use.

The westward extension of the subway from 23rd Street to a point just east of 45th Street was constructed by the City of Philadelphia and was finally completed in 1955 with 4-track facilities also extended to 32nd Street, two tracks to accommodate surface car subway lines. The new subway extension to 46th Street was opened October 31, 1955 while the new surface car subway track extension was opened for complete operation a week later, November 7.

The surface car subway tunnel branches off from the main subway tube under Market Street at 32nd Street to continue under Ludlow Street, then south under 36th Street and southwest under Woodland Avenue to a point just east of 40th Street. A portal east of 36th Street permits one streetcar line to emerge to the surface and serve the northern part of West Philadelphia. There are four streetcar lines serving the southwest Philadelphia area.

 

For more information about the history of the El check out these El Progress Reports celebrating the El's 100th Anniversary:

History Of The Market Street Subway–Elevated - Part 1 - Nearly 100 Years Ago, an Instant Success

History Of The Market Street Subway–Elevated - Part 2 - El Cars: A Changing Legacy

History Of The Market Street Subway–Elevated - Part 3 - Above & Below Ground