Broad Street Line

Encyclopedia : B : BR : BRO : Broad Street Line

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority's Broad Street Line (BSL) (also known as the Broad Street Subway (BSS) or Orange Line) 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. 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, where 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, now used by the PATCO Speedline. It was also used by the Delware 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.

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

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. [link]

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. 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.

Contents

1 Stations
2 Timeline
3 External links
4 References

Stations

All stations are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the 'Lines' column:

L represents stations served by Local trains,
E represents stations served by Express trains,
R represents stations served by the Broad-Ridge Spur, and
S represents stations served by Special Sports-Express service.

Stations along the Broad-Ride itself are shaded in gray.

Station	Lines	Notes
Fern Rock Transportation Center	LERS	transfer to SEPTA Regional Rail and SEPTA buses 28, 57, 70, C only above-ground station [photo link]
Olney Transportation Center	LERS	original north terminus flying junction for never-built spur transfer to SEPTA buses 6, 8, 18, 22, 26, 55, 80, C, L
Logan	L	transfer to SEPTA buses C, J
Wyoming	L	transfer to SEPTA buses C, 75
Hunting Park	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 1, C, R
Erie	LERS	flying junction for never-built spur transfer to SEPTA buses 23, 53, 65, C, H, XH
Allegheny	L	transfer to SEPTA buses C, 60
North Philadelphia	LR	transfer to SEPTA Regional Rail and SEPTA buses 54, 60
Susquehanna-Dauphin	L	formerly Dauphin-Susquehanna transfer to SEPTA buses C, 39
Cecil B. Moore	L	formerly Columbia transfer to SEPTA buses 3, C
Girard	LERS	transfer to SEPTA buses 15, C
Fairmount	LR	transfer to SEPTA buses 61, C
Spring Garden		abandoned, on the Broad-Ridge Spur
Chinatown	R	formerly Vine
8th Street	R	transfer to Market-Frankford Line and PATCO Speedline transfer to SEPTA buses 47 and 61 formerly Market Street
Spring Garden	LES	transfer to SEPTA buses 43, C
Race-Vine	LES	transfer to SEPTA Route C bus
City Hall	LES	free transfer to Market-Frankford Line and Subway-Surface Lines transfer to SEPTA Regional Rail at Suburban Station transfer to SEPTA buses 17, 27, 31, 32, 33, 38, 44, 48, 121, C
Walnut-Locust	LES	transfer to SEPTA buses 9, 12, 21, 42, C
Lombard-South	L	transfer to SEPTA buses 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	LS	Citizens Bank Park, Lincoln Financial Field, Wachovia Center and Wachovia Spectrum stadiums transfer to SEPTA buses 17, 71

Timeline

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 Olney.
1967: Roosevelt Boulevard subway station built at Adams Avenue in anticipation of extending the subway along the Roosevelt Boulevard.
1973: Subway extended to Pattison Avenue sports complex.

External links

References

[U.S. Urban Rail Transit Lines Opened From 1980] (PDF)

	Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
City Division	Market-Frankford Line - Broad Street Line - Subway-Surface Lines - Bus Lines - Girard Avenue Trolley
Suburban Divisions	Norristown High Speed Line - Trolley Routes 101 & 102
Regional Rail	[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ] R1 - R2 - R3 - R5 - R6 - R7 - R8