33rd Street station is a subway 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 the campus of Drexel University and serves all routes of the

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

. It is the last station of the subway–surface lines with all lines before the Route 10 splits away and exits the tunnel at 36th Street. The stop is located on the campus of Drexel University.

History

The station was opened in November 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) as part of a larger project to move portions of the elevated Market Street Line and surface trolleys underground.Puckett, John L. and Mark Frazier Lloyd. , accessed May 31, 2020. The original project to bury the elevated tracks between 23rd to 46th streets was announced by the PTC's predecessor, the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, in the 1920s, but was delayed 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 PTC's revised project also included a new subway–surface tunnel for subway–surface trolleys underneath the campus of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, continuing from the original western portal at 23rd and Market streets to new portals at 36th and Ludlow streets for Route 10 and 40th Street and Baltimore Avenue for other routes. On April 11, 1988, a trolley derailed at the station, injuring 27 people.

Station layout

The station has 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, each capable of platforming two trolleys at a time. Fares are collected manually on board trolleys.

References

External links

*{{commonscat-inline
SEPTA – 33rd Street Station (archived)Images at NYCSubway.org
SEPTA Subway–Surface Trolley Line stations Railway stations in Philadelphia Railway stations in Pennsylvania at university and college campuses Railway stations located underground in Pennsylvania SEPTA Rapid Transit stations located underground