Market–Frankford Line

 

Market–Frankford Line
Market–Frankford Line train departing 52nd Street station
Info
Type	Rapid transit
Status	Two stations closed for complete reconstruction
Locale	Philadelphia and Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Terminals	69th Street Terminal Frankford Transportation Center
No. of stations	28
Daily ridership	178,715 (FY 2005)
Operation
Opened	March 4, 1907
Owner	City of Philadelphia
Operator(s)	SEPTA
Character	Elevated and underground
Technical
Line length	mi ( km)
No. of tracks	2
Gauge	5 ft 2¼ in (1581 mm)
Electrification	600 volts DC
Line map             69th Street Terminal     Millbourne     63rd     60th     56th     52nd     46th     40th     34th         30th             15th         13th     11th             8th     5th     2nd     Spring Garden     Girard     A Berks     B York–Dauphin     A Huntingdon     B Somerset     Allegheny     A Tioga     Erie–Torresdale     B Church     Margaret–Orthodox     Frankford Map Legend     Route 100     Routes 101 and 102     Subway–Surface Trolleys     Broad Street Line     PATCO Speedline A "A" trains only B "B" trains only Accessible station Closed for renovations

The Market–Frankford Line (MFL) (also called the Market–Frankford Subway–Elevated Line (MFSE), El or Blue Line) is a rapid transit line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, operated by Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

Route

The Market Frankford Line begins at 69th Street Terminal just west of the city line in Upper Darby and runs on a private right-of-way to the city line. From there it is elevated over Market Street until 46th Street, where it curves off to the north and heads underground, with a portal at 46th Street. At 42nd Street, the tunnel returns to the alignment of Market Street.

At 32nd Street, the tunnel carrying the Subway-Surface lines joins the MFL tunnel. The MFL tracks are in the center and the trolley tracks are on the outside. 30th-31st Sts. station consists of an island platform between the two innermost tracks for Market–Frankford Line trains, and outboard "wall" platforms for Subway–Surface Rtes. 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36 trolleys. After passing beneath the Schuylkill River, the next stop East for Market–Frankford Line trains, is at 15th St., though Subway-Surface trolleys have stations at 22nd St. (which replaced one at 24th St. with the tunnel extension), 19th St., and 15th St. The Subway-Surface tracks end in a loop at 13th and Juniper Streets, just after crossing above the Broad Street Line.

Though it now tunnels in a straight line directly beneath Philadelphia City Hall, prior to 1936, the original alignment of MFL trackage between 15th, and 13th Sts. stations, separated and went around the sides of City Hall (eastbound trains around the South side, westbound trains around the North side). Parts of that original alignment can still be seen from subway-surface cars, passing around the South side of City Hall, on the loop to 13th and Juniper Sts. The Market Street tunnel continues east to Front Street, and then turns north, where it rises in the median of I-95. I-95 and the line becomes elevated, and the line heads under the southbound lanes and above Front Street on an elevated structure. The line turns northeast onto Kensington Avenue, which merges with Frankford Avenue. Just north of Bridge Street, a quick curve to the northwest and then to the northeast bring the line to the surface and its terminus at the Frankford Transportation Center.

Operation

During rush hours (trains beginning from approximately 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.), SEPTA uses skip-stop operation. Trains marked "A" stop only at the stations marked "A" and "All Trains" on system maps, and "B" trains stop only at "B" and "All Trains" stations. Trains run on the line approximately from 5 a.m. to 12:30 a.m., and buses provide night service from midnight to 5:30 a.m.

In FY 2005, 25,220,523 passengers rode the Market Frankford Line, with 178,715 average weekday passengers, making the Market Frankford Line the busiest line in the entire SEPTA system. The Market–Frankford Line required 142 vehicles at peak hours, and cost $86,644,614 in fully allocated expenses, and collected $54,309,344 in passenger revenues, for an impressive farebox recovery ratio of 63 percent.^[1]

History

A bridge to carry the line across the Schuylkill River, just north of Market Street, was built from July 1903 to August 1905. Construction on the Market Street Elevated began on October 17 1904, and the line opened on March 4 1907 from 69th to a loop around City Hall at 15th. The line was elevated west of the river and underground east of the river. The tunnel was also used by streetcar lines, now SEPTA's Subway-Surface lines, that entered the line just east of the river, and turned around at the City Hall loop.

Extensions took the line east to 2nd Street on August 3 1908, and via several curves to the Delaware River between Market Street and Chestnut Street on September 7 1908. The Delaware Avenue Elevated (also called the Ferry Line, because of the multiple ferries across the river) opened on October 4 1908 as a further extension south along the river to South Street. The only two stations on this extension were Market–Chestnut and South Street.

The Frankford Elevated opened on November 5 1922[1], with trains from 69th alternating between Frankford and the Ferry Line. In 1937, operations were changed to use the Ferry Line only during the day, and not at all on Sunday. In 1939 the line to the ferries was closed. The structure was demolished. The old interlocking tower and stub remains of the junction with the Ferry Line, survived until the realignment into the median, of I-95.

A new section of tunnel from 22nd Street, where the Market–Frankford line started rising towards the Schuylkill River, to 32nd Street was built in the 1930s, but funding had run out. Construction resumed in 1947, and the current configuration opened on November 6, 1955. The old elevated structure was removed by June 20, 1956. New stations for the trolleys were constructed at 22nd, 30th, 33rd & Ludlow, 36th & Sansom, and 37th & Spruce. The 24th Street trolley station was abandoned. New stations on the MFL were built at 40th, 34th, 30th.

Skip-stop operation was begun on January 30 1956. In addition to the A and B stops shown on the map above, 2nd and 34th Sts. were "A" stations and Fairmount Avenue (replaced by Spring Garden St.) was a "B" station; the A and B designations were removed by service changes in the 1990s. As I-95 was built through Center City Philadelphia in the late 1970s, part of the Frankford El was relocated to I-95's median, and the Fairmount station was replaced with Spring Garden, on May 15 1977. A new tunnel was built for the Subway-Surface lines under Market Street as far west as 33rd Street, then south under 33rd Street, then west under Ludlow Street to 36th Street, then south under 36th Street to Woodland Avenue, then west under Woodland Avenue to the 40th Street Portal.

SEPTA has completed, in 2003, replacement of the old Bridge-Pratt terminal with a new $160,000,000 Frankford Transportation Center located on private right-of-way. ^[2]

Currently, SEPTA is undertaking a $567,000,000^[3] complete reconstruction of the Market Street Elevated between Millbourne and the 46th Street Portal. The new Market Street Elevated, consisting of a single-pier viaduct, will allow PennDOT to widen Market Street to four lanes without having elevated supports impeding the flow of traffic between 60th Street and 44th Street. The project has already reconstructed 56th Street and 60th Street Stations and also includes the reconstruction of 46th Street, 52nd Street, 63rd Street, and Millbourne Stations. The Construction is slated for completion in 2008 or 2009.^[4]

As with many other rail lines, the signal system on the Market–Frankford Line, has progressed from the original lineside block signals using semaphores, to three-aspect Type-D color light (green, over yellow, over red) signals, to cab signalling, eliminating the lineside block signals.

Extension Proposal

An extension of the Market–Frankford Line from Frankford to Roosevelt Boulevard and Bustleton Av has been proposed, in conjunction with an extension of the Broad Street Subway, but persistent political and economic obstacles are likely to prevent the implementation of any such extension. A description can be found in the Broad Street Subway article.

Frankford Terminal in 1918, before the construction of the Market–Frankford Line

Market–Frankford Line train at 30th Street Station. June 2006

Passengers aboard a Market–Frankford Line train.

Rolling Stock

The SEPTA fleet for the Market–Frankford line consists of 220 M-4 rail cars, with seating for 49 and standing room for 55, and costing $1.29 million each.^[1]

The M-4 cars, manufactured by AdTranz, were brought into service in 1997 to replace the M-3 "almond joy" stock, so called because of their distinctive top-mounted ventilation units which resembled the almonds on top of a Hershey's Almond Joy bar. The M-3 cars, manufactured in 1960 by the Budd Company, were replaced a few years earlier than the end of their expected lifespan due to their lack of air conditioning and generally shaky ride quality. A feature of the M-3 cars early in their career was the presence of fareboxes at the center side doorset of some cars. This was due to the practice of closing cashiers booths during the midnight–5:00 AM period when the line operated 24-7-365, and had fares collected onboard by the conductor, at each stop. "Owl" service (12:00 AM-5:00 AM) trains operated on a twenty-minute "headway" (interval), at that time.^[2]

The M-3 cars themselves, were replacements for the original "Market Street" cars, designated Class A-8 by SEPTA's predecessor, the PTC (Philadelphia Transportation Co.), and built by the Pressed Steel Car Co. of Pittsburgh, Pa. (Cars #1-135, 1906-1911), the J.G. Brill Co. of Philadelphia, Pa. (Cars #136-215, 1911-1913), along with the second series "Frankford" cars, designated Class A-15, and built by the J.G. Brill Co. (Cars #501-600, 1922). Though six of the "Frankford" cars survived retirement in 1960 assigned to work train service, none lasted until 2000.

Station list

Miles	Station	A	B	Photo	Connections	Notes
0.0	69th Street Terminal	A	B	aerial	100, 101, and 102. Please see station page for bus connections.
0.4	Millbourne			aerial		originally called 66th Street, closed as of May 2007 for total reconstruction
0.8	63rd Street	A	B	aerial	31	Westernmost elevated station, in city and county of Philadelphia.
1.1	60th Street	A	B	aerial	Previous connection, Rte. 46 trolley	rebuilt station opened June 18, 2007
1.5	56th Street	A	B	aerial	31, G	rebuilt station opened February 27, 2006
1.9	52nd Street	A	B	aerial	31, 52 Previous connection, Rte. 70 trolley
2.5	46th Street			aerial		closed as of June 15, 2007 for total reconstruction.
3.2	40th Street	A	B		30, 40, LUCY Gold, LUCY Green; diverted/nighttime routes of Subway-Surface lines	original station at 40th Street was elevated.
3.7	34th Street	A	B		31, LUCY Gold, LUCY Green	original station at 36th Street was elevated.
4.1	30th Street	A	B		9, 30, 31, 44, 121, 124, 125, LUCY Gold, LUCY Green, Amtrak and SEPTA Regional Rail.	Free transfer to Subway-Surface Lines. Original station at 32nd Street was elevated.
5.1	15th Street	A	B		17, 27, 31, 32, 33, 38, 44, 48, 121, C, Regional Rail at Suburban Station.	Free transfer to Subway-Surface Lines and Broad Street Line.
5.4	13th Street	A	B		17, 33, 44, 48, 121, 124, 125.	Free transfer to Subway-Surface Lines.
5.6	11th Street	A	B		23; Regional Rail at Market East Station, Greyhound, other intercity buses, & New Jersey Transit buses at Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal
5.8	8th Street	A	B		47, 61; Broad-Ridge Spur, PATCO Speedline, Previous connection, Rte. 47 trolley, Rte. 61 trackless trolley
6.0	5th Street	A	B		Previous connection, Rte. 50 trolley
6.3	2nd Street	A	B		5
7.1	Spring Garden	A	B	aerial	25, 43	this station replaced the Fairmount station when I-95 was built
7.8	Girard	A	B	aerial	15
8.5	Berks	A		aerial	3
8.9	York–Dauphin		B	aerial	3, 39, 89	split between York northbound and Dauphin southbound. Original name of station was Dauphin-York.
9.3	Huntingdon	A		aerial	3, 39
9.6	Somerset		B	aerial	3, 54
10.2	Allegheny	A	B	aerial	3, 60, 89
10.6	Tioga	A		aerial	3, 89
11.3	Erie–Torresdale	A	B	aerial	3, 56	originally called Torresdale
11.8	Church		B	aerial	3, 5
12.3	Margaret–Orthodox	A	B	aerial	3, 5, 59, 75, 89, J, K	Original name of station was Margaret–Orthodox–Arrott.
12.9	Frankford Transportation Center	A	B	aerial	3, 5, 8, 14, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 50, 58, 66, 67, 73, 84, 88, R	originally called Bridge–Pratt

Saying For Each Stop

Frankford Transportation Center- Next and last stop Frankford Transportation Center a wheelchair assessable station for routes serving Northeast Philadelphia

External links

• NYCsubway.org - SEPTA Market–Frankford Line

References

1. ^ NYCSubway.org
2. ^ Trainstation.com video description

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
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 • Norristown Transportation Center • Olney Transportation Center • Suburban Station • 30th Street Station • 69th Street Terminal

Currently operating heavy rail rapid transit systems in the United States
MBTA (Blue, Orange, and Red) · MTA (New York City Subway and Staten Island Railway) · PATH · SEPTA (Market–Frankford and Broad Street) · PATCO Speedline · MTA Maryland (Baltimore Metro) · WMATA (Metrorail) · MARTA · Miami-Dade Transit (Miami Metrorail) · Tren Urbano · RTA Rapid Transit (Red) · CTA (Chicago 'L') · BART · LACMTA (Metro Purple and Metro Red)

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