30th Street station is an underground
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 c ...
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
and
trolley station in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. It is located on
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 30th and 31st Streets in the
University City neighborhood, adjacent to
30th Street Station
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
and
Drexel University. The station features four tracks – the inner pair serving 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 the outer pair for
subway–surface trolleys.
History
30th Street station opened on November 6, 1955 by the
Philadelphia Transportation 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 ...
(PTC),
built as a replacement for the elevated 32nd Street station that had opened in 1907 as part 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 original
Market Street subway–elevated line from to , which was elevated west of 23rd Street.
The PRT announced a project to bury the elevated tracks between 23rd to 46th streets in the 1920s.
The tunnel from 23rd to 32nd streets was completed by 1933, but construction on the remaining segment was put on hiatus due to the
Great Depression and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
The PRT went bankrupt in 1939 and was reorganized as the PTC,
which began building the rest of the tunnel in 1947.
The underground station is half a block southwest of
30th Street Station
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
, the city's main intercity rail and commuter rail station. A tunnel previously connected the two stations, but was closed in the 1980s, reportedly due to safety concerns.
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
and SEPTA considered reopening the tunnel in the early 2000s, but the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
ended those plans.
In December 2018, SEPTA received a $15 million grant from the
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States a ...
to make significant improvements to the station.
The improvement project was projected to cost over $37 million, with remaining funds contributed by SEPTA's capital budget and the developer
Brandywine Realty Trust
Brandywine Realty Trust is a real estate investment trust that invests in office buildings in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Austin.
As of December 31, 2019, the company owned interests in 173 properties containing 24.3 million net rentab ...
,
which owns 3000-3020 Market Street directly above the subway station and is planning the
Schuylkill Yards
__NOTOC__
Schuylkill Yards is a $3.5 billion, masterplanned development project by Brandywine Realty Trust in West Philadelphia. The project was announced in a press conference in March 2016. The project is being designed in phases. Groundbreaki ...
megaproject. The project calls for improvements to the station's mezzanine, as well as reopening and renovating the underground concourse connecting the subway station with the main 30th Street Station building.
A second access point to the station at the corner of 31st and Market streets reopened in late 2019, which includes a staircase and new elevator.
The full project was expected to be completed in 2021, but as of January 2023, is ongoing.
The
30th Street Station District
The 30th Street Station District, also referred to as the 30th Street District, is a proposed urban development located in West Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The area will be home to eight modern skyscrapers or highri ...
, a proposed development plan, calls for the station house at the northwest corner of 30th and Market streets to be rebuilt.
Station layout
The station has a high-level
island platform
An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...
for Market–Frankford trains and two low-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 platform ...
s for subway–surface trolleys.
Bus connections
In addition to rail services at 30th Street Station, the station is also served by numerous bus routes, including routes 9, 30, 31, 44, 49, 62, and LUCY operated by the
SEPTA City Transit Division, as well as routes 124 and 125 operated by the
SEPTA Suburban Division.
Image gallery
30th Street MFL.jpg, Market–Frankford line platform
File:30thStreetTransferArra.jpg, Free transfer zone in 30th Street station
File:30thStreetTrolleyStation.jpg, 30th Street Trolley station
File:SEPTA30thSt2017-trolley.jpg, 30th Street trolley station
File:SEPTA30thSt.jpg, 30th Street station entrance
References
External links
SEPTA – 30th Street StationImages at NYCSubway.org30th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View31st Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{SEPTA Rapid Transit Stations
SEPTA Market-Frankford Line stations
SEPTA Subway–Surface Trolley Line stations
30th Street MFL SSTL
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1956
University City, Philadelphia
Railway stations located underground in Pennsylvania
1956 establishments in Pennsylvania
SEPTA Rapid Transit stations located underground