13th Street station is a

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

subway station in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, located under

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

between 13th and Juniper Streets in Center City. The station serves the

Market–Frankford Line The Market–Frankford Line (MFL) (also called the Market–Frankford Subway–Elevated Line (MFSE), the Market–Frankford El (MFE), the El (), or the Blue Line) is one of three rapid transit lines in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; it and the Broad ...

and as the eastern terminal station for all five routes of the subway–surface trolley lines. 13th Street is located on the east side of

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

and Penn Square and is connected to the Downtown Link concourse, a collection of underground passageways serving multiple stations on the Market–Frankford Line,

Broad Street Line The Broad Street Line (BSL), also known as the Broad Street subway (BSS), Orange Line, or Broad Line, is a subway line owned by the city of Philadelphia and operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The line r ...

PATCO Speedline The PATCO Speedline (signed in Philadelphia as the Lindenwold Line and also known colloquially as the PATCO High Speed Line) is a rapid transit route operated by the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO), which runs between Philadelphia, Pe ...

, and Regional Rail lines. The station is also served by bus routes operated by SEPTA's City Transit Division and Suburban Division, as well as

NJ Transit Bus NJ Transit Bus Operations is the bus division of NJ Transit, providing bus service throughout New Jersey along with service along one light rail line, with many routes going to New York City and Philadelphia. In , the bus system had a ridership ...

routes. The subway–surface platform was known as Juniper Street until 2011. The station is signed as 13th/Juniper Streets on historical system maps.

History

The station opened August 3, 1908 as part of the first extension of the

Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in operation since 19 ...

's Market Street subway. The line had originally opened a year earlier between 69th Street and 15th Street stations. The Downtown Link and associated underground corridors surrounding the station are expected to undergo a two-year renovation project in conjunction with renovations to the

's City Hall station.

Market–Frankford Line platforms

The Market–Frankford Line platforms are located one floor below ground level, connected to the Downtown Link concourse. The south concourse, accessible from the eastbound platform, features direct underground access to SEPTA's headquarters and transit museum, located at 1234 Market Street. Market–Frankford trains continue west via Market Street across the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It fl ...

to serve

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

and

Upper Darby Upper Darby Township, often shortened to Upper Darby, is a home rule township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The township borders Philadelphia, the nation's sixth most populous city as of 2020 with 1.6 million residents. As of the 2020 cen ...

, and continue east along Market until Front Street, turning north towards

Northeast Philadelphia Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Northeast and the Great Northeast, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 census, Northeast Philadelphia has a population of between 300,000 and 450,000, depending ...

Subway–surface trolley platform

The subway–surface trolley platform for Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36 is located two stories below ground level, and is accessible only by

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

stairway Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

from the Market–Frankford platforms. The station is located at the end of the subway–surface line on a

balloon loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop ( North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains. Bal ...

parallel to Juniper Street, and features a single track with all trolleys operating in the same direction. Inbound trolleys discharge passengers on the southernmost portion of the platform. The trolleys then proceed to pick up passengers at either Berth 1 or Berth 2. Routes 10, 11 and 13 board at Berth 1, which is located on the northernmost portion of the platform. Routes 34 and 36 board at Berth 2, which is in the center of the platform. Upon departure of the station, the track wraps around and heads west towards 15th Street station. It also features a short spur track to the northeast that was formerly used to park occasional stranded or dead trolleys. The track was recently disconnected from the main line due to unsuccessful attempts to tie it into the trolleys'

communications-based train control Communications-based train control (CBTC) is a railway signaling system that uses telecommunications between the train and track equipment for traffic management and infrastructure control. CBTC allows a train's position to be known more accurat ...

signaling system.

Station layout

The stations has two high-level

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

s for the Market–Frankford trains and one low-level side platform for subway–surface trolleys. Fare control and Downtown Link concourse access are both on the upper platform level.

Image gallery

File:13th Street MFL 2.jpg, Market–Frankford platform and tracks File:13th Street Subway Entrance 2017a.jpg, Market–Frankford platform entrance File:13th Street Subway Entrance 2017h.jpg, Headhouse and bus stop on the northeast corner of 13th & Market streets

References

External links

SEPTA 13th Street Station

Juniper Street entrance from Google Maps Street View

13th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View

12th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{SEPTA Rapid Transit Stations SEPTA Market-Frankford Line stations SEPTA Subway–Surface Trolley Line stations 13th Juniper Railway stations in the United States opened in 1908 Railway stations located underground in Pennsylvania 1908 establishments in Pennsylvania SEPTA Rapid Transit stations located underground