Market–Frankford Line

Market–Frankford Line
Market–Frankford Line train departing 52nd Street station in West Philadelphia
Overview
Status	Line open
Owner	City of Philadelphia (Frankford to 15th St) SEPTA (15th St to 69th St)
Locale	Philadelphia and Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Termini	69th Street Terminal Frankford Transportation Center
Stations	28
Service
Type	Rapid transit
Operator(s)	SEPTA
History
Opened	March 4, 1907
Technical
Line length	Template:Mi to km
Character	Elevated and underground
Track gauge	62.25
Minimum radius	?
Route map Frankford Yard Frankford T.C. Arrott T.C. Church Frankford Creek Erie–Torresdale Northeast Corridor/ Conrail Delair Branch Tioga Allegheny Somerset Conrail Richmond Industrial Track Huntingdon York–Dauphin Berks Girard I-95 Spring Garden PATCO to Lindenwold 2nd Street 5th Street/​Independence Hall 8th Street PATCO PATCO to 15–16th & Locust SEPTA Main Line to Glenside Jefferson 11th Street 13th Street City Hall 15th Street Suburban 19th Street 22nd Street Schuylkill River Northeast Corridor 30th Street Station Drexel Station at 30th Street Harrisburg Subdivision NEC/Keystone Corridor 32nd Street Tunnel 33rd Street 34th Street 36th Street Portal 36th Street 37th Street 40th Street Portal 40th Street diverted trolleys only | 46th Street 52nd Street 56th Street 60th Street 63rd Street Cobbs Creek Millbourne 69th Street T.C. to Orange Street & Sharon Hill 69th Street Yard to Norristown T.C. Underground concourse/transfer station Free transfer between services Out-of-system transfer between services Surface buses connect at all stations except Millbourne

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 the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

Route

The Market-Frankford Line begins at 69th Street Terminal,in Upper Darby From there it is elevated over Market Street until 46th Street, where it curves off to the north and heads underground via a portal at 44th 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 Street station consists of an island platform between the two innermost tracks for Market–Frankford Line trains, and outboard "wall" platforms for Subway–Surface route 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36 trolleys. After passing beneath the Schuylkill River, the next stop to the east for Market–Frankford Line trains is at 15th Street; Subway-Surface trolleys also have stations at 22nd Street and 19th Street. 15th Street is the central interchange station for the MFL, Subway-Surface trolleys, and Broad Street Line. The Subway-Surface tracks end in a loop beneath Juniper Street at Market just after crossing above the Broad Street Line. The Juniper Street platform connects to 13th Street station on the MFL.

Though it now tunnels in a straight line directly beneath Philadelphia City Hall, prior to 1936, the original MFL trackage between 15th and 13th Street 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 as they pass around the south side of City Hall en route to Juniper Street station. The Market Street tunnel continues east to Front Street and then turns north, where it rises in the median of I-95. The rail line and freeway share an elevated embankment for about ½ mile (0.8 km), including Spring Garden station (which replaced Fairmount station on the Frankford Elevated). The line then heads under the southbound lanes and over Front Street on an elevated structure that turns northeast onto Kensington Avenue, which merges with Frankford Avenue, which the line follows to its end. Just north of Bridge Street, a quick curve to the north brings the line to 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 from approximately 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. Its weekday average ridership of 178,715 made it the busiest line in the entire SEPTA system. The Market–Frankford Line required 142 vehicles at peak hours, 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.

On February 11, 2008, SEPTA expanded the morning and afternoon weekday service with off peak trains running every six minutes instead of every eight minutes. It represents a 12% increase in MFL Service through the day.

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 Street Terminal to a loop around City Hall at 15th Street. 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, 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 and 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 in the 1970s.

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 as part of a program of railroad improvements undertaken by the City of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Railroad, but funding ran out before the subway extension was complete. Construction resumed in 1947, and the current configuration opened on November 6, 1955. The old elevated structure was removed by June 20, 1956. In addition to extending the Market Street subway tunnel west to 44th Street, with new stations at 30th, 34th and 40th streets, a new trolley tunnel was built under Market, Ludlow and 36th streets and the former Woodland Avenue, leading to a new western portal at 40th Street for routes 11, 13, 34 and 36 (route 10 trolleys use a portal at 36th and Ludlow). New stations for the trolleys were constructed at 22nd, 30th, 33rd (between Market and Ludlow), 36th (at Sansom), and 37th (at Spruce) streets. The 24th Street trolley station and tunnel portal was abandoned.

An 'A' train arriving at Girard.

Skip-stop operation began on January 30, 1956. In the original skip-stop configuration, in addition to the A and B stops shown on the map above, 2nd and 34th Street were "A" stations, and Fairmount (replaced by Spring Garden) was a "B" station; the A and B designations at these stations were changed to "All-Stop" because of increased patronage 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.

Between 1988 and 2003, SEPTA undertook a $493,300,000 complete reconstruction of the Frankford Elevated between Bridge-Pratt Terminal and the 2nd Street portal. The new Frankford Elevated was built with new stringers and deck installed on the original columns; thus giving not only a reduction in cost, but also reducing the street-level impact on adjoining neighborhoods. In addition to the new Elevated structure, all of the stations were replaced with new stations with higher boarding platforms and elevators, allowing customers with disabilities to easily board and depart from Market-Frankford trains.

In 2003, SEPTA also completed replacement of the old Bridge-Pratt terminal with a new $160,000,000 Frankford Transportation Center located on private right-of-way.

Between 1999 and 2009, SEPTA then undertook a $567,000,000 complete reconstruction of the Market Street Elevated between 69th Street Terminal and the 44th Street portal. The new Market Street Elevated, which utilizes single-pillar supports in place of the old-style dual pillar design, will allow the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to undertake a planned widening project on Market Street to four lanes between 63rd Street and 44th Street. In addition to the new Elevated structure, all of the stations (including Millbourne) were again replaced with new stations having higher boarding platforms and elevators, allowing customers with disabilities to easily board and depart from trains. The reconstruction of the Elevated superstructure was completed in 2008, and the last station, 63rd Street, was completed and reopened on May 4, 2009.

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.

The Market-Frankford line is fairly unique as subway-elevated systems go, both in its being built with broad gauge of 62.25, and also in its use of bottom-contact third rail. As such, any possible future physical connection to other rapid-transit lines in Philadelphia is limited to cross-platform transfer only, as both the Broad Street Subway and the Norristown High-Speed Line are both standard gauge (56.50) with top-contact third rail. The Market–Frankford Line and Metro-North Railroad are the only railroads in North America that use bottom-contact third rail, known as the Wilgus-Sprague system. Its advantages include a reduced risk of electrocution for track workers and fewer disruptions due to icing conditions during winter weather.

Extension Proposal

An extension of the Market–Frankford Line from Frankford to Roosevelt Boulevard and Bustleton Avenue 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.

• 
  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

M-4 car placard

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

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 ventilation fan housings, which resembled the almonds atop the Peter Paul (now Hershey's) Almond Joy bar. The M-3 cars, manufactured in 1960 by the Budd Company, were replaced a few years before their expected lifespan because of their lack of air conditioning and generally shaky ride quality. Early in their service lives, some M-3 cars had fareboxes by their center side doors; these were necessary for collecting fares during the hours after midnight, when SEPTA closed cashier's booths at many stations during the era of 24-hour rapid transit service. "Owl" service (12:00 AM-5:00 AM) trains operated on a twenty-minute headway (interval between trains) at that time. Since the 1990's, SEPTA has operated (along with the Broad Street Subway) all "Owl" service using buses, but like the old "Owl" trains, they run between 69th Street and Frankford T.C. on a 20-minute interval.

The M-3 cars, designated Class A-49 for Cars #601-646, and Classes A-50, and A-51 for Cars #701, thru 924, by SEPTA's predecessor, the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), were themselves replacements for both the original "Market Street" cars, designated Class A-8 by SEPTA's predecessor, the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC), 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), and 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 as work train cars (Cars #532, 551, 559, 583, 585, and 589), none lasted as work cars until 2000, nor were any reported to have been saved for museums. The M-3 cars totalled a fleet of 270 cars, which replaced the combined carfleet of 315 cars (215 Market Street cars, 100 Frankford cars), the oldest in operation at the time, was 56 years for a Market Street car, and the youngest was 38 years for a Frankford car. No class of subway-elevated car in Philadelphia, has surpassed the lifespan record held by the Market Street cars.

Station list

Miles	Station	A	B	Photo	Connections	Notes
0.0	69th Street Terminal	A	B	aerial	Norristown High-Speed Line, Media-Sharon Hill Trolley Lines, SEPTA City and Suburban Buses.
0.4	Millbourne		B	aerial		Originally called 66th Street, rebuilt station opened June 16, 2008
0.8	63rd Street	A	B	aerial	31, Previous connection, Route 31 trolley	Westernmost elevated station in city and county of Philadelphia. Rebuilt station opened May 4, 2009.
1.1	60th Street	A	B	aerial	Previous connection, Route 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, Route 70 trolley
2.5	46th Street	A	B	aerial	31, 64	Rebuilt station opened April 14, 2008. Located adjacent to former WFIL-TV studio where American Bandstand was taped.
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. Previous connection at 36th St. was Rte. 67 trolley.
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. Previous connections at 32nd St. elevated station were Rtes. 10, 11, 12, 31, 34, and 38 trolleys.
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, Route 47 trolley, Route 61 trackless trolley
6.0	5th Street	A	B		Previous connection, Route 50 trolley	Access to Independence Hall, National Constitution Center, and Liberty Bell
6.3	2nd Street	A	B		5
7.1	Spring Garden	A	B	aerial	25, 43	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, both of which were previously trolley routes.	Originally called Torresdale.
11.8	Church		B	aerial	3, 5	Originally called Ruan-Church.
12.3	Margaret–Orthodox	A	B	aerial	3, 5, 59, 75, 89, J, K Rtes. 3, 5, 59, and 75, all previously were trolley routes.	Original called Margaret–Orthodox–Arrott (for the Arrott Terminal).
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	This station replaced Bridge-Pratt (Frankford Terminal)

External links

• NYCsubway.org - SEPTA Market–Frankford Line
• Stan's Railpix - Septa Photo Gallery Page 3* SEPTA Market–Frankford Line Pictures