Chestnut Hill West Line
Encyclopedia
The Chestnut Hill West Line (formerly called R8 Chestnut Hill West), is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail
(commuter rail) system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown
, Mount Airy
, and Chestnut Hill
. It is one of two lines that serve these Northwest Philadelphia
neighborhoods, the other one being the Chestnut Hill East Line
.
's Northeast Corridor
at North Philadelphia station
and runs entirely within the City of Philadelphia. Its terminal is named Chestnut Hill West
to distinguish it from the end of the Chestnut Hill East Line
(a competing line of the Reading Company
until 1976). Some stations are less than half a mile apart, a characteristic more commonly seen in an urban rapid transit
system rather than a commuter rail line. The line runs roughly parallel to the Chestnut Hill East, and the two terminals are rather close.
The line was originally opened June 11, 1884 by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad, and was operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad
until 1968. The Penn Central operated it until 1976, turning operations over to Conrail until 1983, when SEPTA took over. The Chestnut Hill West Line was originally to be numbered the R3 due to the proposed Swampoodle Connection bringing it into the Reading Company side of the Center City Commuter Connection
.
Electrified service began on March 30, 1918.
In June 1987, inspectors found the 103-year-old Cresheim Valley bridge (Bridge 5.44, its distance in miles from North Philadelphia Station) to be unsafe and condemned it. Service was terminated at Allen Lane with shuttle buses serving St. Martin's, Highland and Chestnut Hill West. Funding for a replacement bridge was not obtained until March 1988, and the replacement bridge opened December 1989. SEPTA also took advantage of this closure to initiate rail and catenary replacement on the line.
On July 25, 2010 SEPTA renamed the service from the R8 Chestnut Hill West to simply the Chestnut Hill West Line as part of system-wide service change that eliminated the R-number naming and makes the Center City stations the terminus for all lines. This also ended the combined R8 Fox Chase/R8 Chestnut Hill West service, but many trains from Chestnut Hill West to Center City still continue on to Fox Chase, and vice versa.
The Chestnut Hill West makes the following station stops, after leaving 30th Street Station:
Boardings are for fiscal year 2009. Data for North Philadelphia includes Trenton Line boardings.
From SEPTA Annual Service Plans:
SEPTA Regional Rail
The SEPTA Regional Rail system consists of commuter rail service on thirteen branches to over 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and its suburbs. Service on most lines runs from 5:30 AM to midnight...
(commuter rail) system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
, Mount Airy
Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mount Airy is a neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania.-Boundaries:Mount Airy is bounded on the northwest by the Cresheim Valley, which is part of Fairmount Park. Beyond this lies Chestnut Hill. On the west side is the Wissahickon Gorge, which is also part of Fairmount...
, and Chestnut Hill
Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Boundaries:Chestnut Hill is bounded as follows:...
. It is one of two lines that serve these Northwest Philadelphia
Northwest Philadelphia
Northwest Philadelphia is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The official boundary is Stenton Avenue to the north, the Schuylkill river to the south, Spring Ln to the west, and Wister Street to the east. The area is divided by Wissahickon Creek into two subsections...
neighborhoods, the other one being the Chestnut Hill East Line
Chestnut Hill East Line
The Chestnut Hill East Line , is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill...
.
History
The Chestnut Hill West Line branches off from AmtrakAmtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
's Northeast Corridor
Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor is a fully electrified railway line owned primarily by Amtrak serving the Northeast megalopolis of the United States from Boston in the north, via New York to Washington, D.C. in the south, with branches serving other cities...
at North Philadelphia station
North Philadelphia (SEPTA Regional Rail station)
North Philadelphia, formerly Germantown Junction Station, is a railroad station on the Northeast Corridor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is an above-ground station at 2900 North Broad Street in the city's North Philadelphia section...
and runs entirely within the City of Philadelphia. Its terminal is named Chestnut Hill West
Chestnut Hill West (SEPTA station)
Chestnut Hill West Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 9 West Evergreen Avenue off Germantown Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station was originally built by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad between 1883 and 1884, and acquired by the...
to distinguish it from the end of the Chestnut Hill East Line
Chestnut Hill East Line
The Chestnut Hill East Line , is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill...
(a competing line of the Reading Company
Reading Company
The Reading Company , usually called the Reading Railroad, officially the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway until 1924, operated in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states...
until 1976). Some stations are less than half a mile apart, a characteristic more commonly seen in an urban rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
system rather than a commuter rail line. The line runs roughly parallel to the Chestnut Hill East, and the two terminals are rather close.
The line was originally opened June 11, 1884 by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad, and was operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
until 1968. The Penn Central operated it until 1976, turning operations over to Conrail until 1983, when SEPTA took over. The Chestnut Hill West Line was originally to be numbered the R3 due to the proposed Swampoodle Connection bringing it into the Reading Company side of the Center City Commuter Connection
Center City Commuter Connection
The Center City Commuter Connection, commonly referred to as "the commuter tunnel", is a passenger railroad tunnel in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, built to connect the stub ends of the two separate regional commuter rail systems, originally operated by two rival railroad...
.
Electrified service began on March 30, 1918.
In June 1987, inspectors found the 103-year-old Cresheim Valley bridge (Bridge 5.44, its distance in miles from North Philadelphia Station) to be unsafe and condemned it. Service was terminated at Allen Lane with shuttle buses serving St. Martin's, Highland and Chestnut Hill West. Funding for a replacement bridge was not obtained until March 1988, and the replacement bridge opened December 1989. SEPTA also took advantage of this closure to initiate rail and catenary replacement on the line.
Name change
The Chestnut Hill West makes the following station stops, after leaving 30th Street Station:
| Zone | Milepost | Station | Boardings | City | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 4.7 | North Philadelphia North Philadelphia (SEPTA Regional Rail station) North Philadelphia, formerly Germantown Junction Station, is a railroad station on the Northeast Corridor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is an above-ground station at 2900 North Broad Street in the city's North Philadelphia section... |
149 | Philadelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,... |
flag stop; also Trenton Line, Amtrak Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union... |
| 1 | 5.5 | Westmoreland | 0 | station closed | |
| 6.5 | Midvale | freight siding | |||
| 6.8 | Queen Lane Queen Lane (SEPTA station) Queen Lane Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 5319 Wissahickon Avenue facing West Queen Lane, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The station is in zone 1 on the Chestnut Hill West Line, on former Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, and is 7.4 track miles from Suburban Station. In 2004, this station saw... |
482 | |||
| 7.4 | Chelten Avenue Chelten Avenue (SEPTA station) Chelten Avenue Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 315 and 318-20 West Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The concrete station structure, part of a Pennsylvania Railroad grade-separation project completed in 1918 in conjunction with electrification of the line, was designed by... |
380 | high-level platforms | ||
| 2 | 7.9 | Tulpehocken Tulpehocken (SEPTA station) Tulpehocken Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 314 West Tulpehocken Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This station is also known as Walnut Lane Station... |
158 | ||
| 8.4 | Upsal Upsal (SEPTA station) Upsal Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 6460 Greene Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station house, which was originally built by the Pennsylvania Railroad now operates as a restaurant.... |
388 | |||
| 8.6 | Clive | reverse crossover | |||
| 9.0 | Carpenter Carpenter (SEPTA station) Carpenter Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 201 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The historic station building has been listed in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places since August 6, 1981.... |
355 | |||
| 9.4 | Allen Lane Allen Lane (SEPTA station) Allen Lane Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 200 West Allens Lane in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. The station stands at the intersection of Allens Lane and Cresheim Road. The station building was built circa 1880, according to the Philadelphia Architects... |
279 | high-level platforms | ||
| 9.6 | Cresheim | reverse crossover (out of service) | |||
| 10.2 | St. Martins St. Martins (SEPTA station) Saint Martins Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 311 West Springfield Avenue near the intersection of West Willow Grove and Seminole Avenues, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This station was known as Wissahickon Heights Station from 1883 to 1906. The station building was built in 1883,... |
223 | |||
| 10.7 | Highland Highland (SEPTA station) Highland Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 8412 Seminole Avenue by Highland Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The station is in zone 2 on the Chestnut Hill West Line, on former Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, and is 10.7 track miles from Suburban Station. In 2004, this... |
60 | |||
| 11.3 | Chestnut Hill West Chestnut Hill West (SEPTA station) Chestnut Hill West Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 9 West Evergreen Avenue off Germantown Avenue, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station was originally built by the Philadelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad between 1883 and 1884, and acquired by the... |
442 | high-level platforms | ||
Boardings are for fiscal year 2009. Data for North Philadelphia includes Trenton Line boardings.
From SEPTA Annual Service Plans:
| Fiscal year | Average weekday | Annual passengers |
|---|---|---|
| FY 2010 | 5,626 | 1,597,237 |
| FY 2009 | 5,060 | 1,437,578 |
| FY 2008 | 5,596 | 1,588,700 |
| FY 2005 | 5,216 | 1,470,921 |
| FY 2004 | 4,965 | 1,393,701 |
| FY 2003 | 5,437 | 1,459,000 |
| FY 2001 | n/a | 1,556,000 |
| FY 2000 | n/a | 1,631,000 |
| FY 1999 | n/a | 1,474,000 |
| FY 1997 | n/a | 1,576,059 |
| FY 1996 | n/a | 1,568,560 |
| FY 1995 | 4,968 | 1,513,926 |
| FY 1994 | 5,623 | 1,592,462 |
| FY 1993 | 3,990 | 1,564,842 |
| Note: n/a = not available | ||