City Hall 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 A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

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 ...

. Located in Center City underneath

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 ...

, it serves the

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 ...

. It is the busiest station on the line, serving 57,000 passengers daily. City Hall station is served by local, express, and special "Sport Express" trains. Entrances are located on the east and west sides of City Hall, as well as in the central courtyard.

Station layout

Interchanges

A free interchange is available between all of the subway lines here, including the 15th Street stop for 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 all SEPTA subway–surface trolley routes (routes 10, 11, 13, 34 & 36). The station is connected to the Center City Concourse, a system of underground passageways, which connects to

Suburban Station Suburban Station is an art deco office building and underground commuter rail station in Penn Center, Philadelphia. Its official SEPTA address is 16th Street and JFK Boulevard. The station is owned and operated by SEPTA and is one of the three ...

, thus providing access to

SEPTA Regional Rail The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and serving the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphi ...

. City Hall Station is also connected to the Broad Street Line's

Walnut–Locust Station Walnut–Locust/Avenue of the Arts (also Walnut–Locust) is a subway station on SEPTA's Broad Street Line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is located between Walnut Street and Locust Street at 200 South Broad Street in the Avenue ...

, which in turn is connected to

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 ...

's 12–13th & Locust Station and

15–16th & Locust Station 15–16th & Locust station is the western terminus of the PATCO Speedline in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood of Center City Philadelphia. The station has a single island platform with a fare mezzanine above. The mezzanine level connects to t ...

. However, no free interchange is available to any of these stations. This is one of the two stops along the Broad Street subway not under Broad Street, with the other one being

Fern Rock Station The Fern Rock Transportation Center is a SEPTA rail and bus station located at 10th Street and Nedro Avenue in the Fern Rock neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Fern Rock serves as the northern terminus and yard for SEPTA's Broad Street ...

ADA reconstruction

As built, City Hall was an original station along the 1928 Broad Street Line, and was not designed for ADA accessible transfer between lines. In 2003, SEPTA rebuilt the station escalators at the connected 15th Street station on the

; for which a lawsuit was filed by the

Disabled in Action of Pennsylvania Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

, citing that renovating one critical component would require the rest of the station complex to be renovated, as per

building code A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards for constructed objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permission ...

requirements. As such, SEPTA would be required to make the station

ADA accessible The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 19 ...

. SEPTA and the

City of 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. Since ...

had been proposing a

US $ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

100 million refurbishment of City Hall station, which included structural repairs, improvements in lighting and ventilation, aesthetic improvements, as well as ADA improvements. However, the project's progression had stalled due to lack of funds. In November 2011, the

Central Philadelphia Development Corporation Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center (disambiguation), center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa ...

awarded construction contracts totaling $50 million for the restoration of the

Dilworth Park Dilworth Park is a public park and open space along the western side of City Hall in Center City, Philadelphia. The park opened to the public on September 4, 2014. History Dilworth Park opened in September 2014. It is named in honor of Richa ...

above the station, following the eviction of the Occupy Philly protesters occupying the area; the contract includes the accessibility improvements for the station. SEPTA awarded construction contracts for the improvements in January 2012. The project consisted of a restoration of the plaza, creating a "gateway" to the SEPTA transit station and installing elevators connecting to the street and Market-Frankford platforms at 15th. The contract did not include any accessibility for the disabled to the

platforms, which are outside the plaza boundaries. The total cost of the project has risen to $55 million, with most of the money coming from a federal grant, with additional contributions by the City of Philadelphia ($5 million), and non-profit organizations including the

William Penn Foundation The William Penn Foundation is a grant-making foundation established in 1945 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by businessman Otto Haas and his wife Phoebe, and initially called the Phoebe Waterman Foundation. It strives to improve "the quality of ...

. The project, originally to have been completed July 2014, had been delayed due to the necessity to deal with stairways, duct banks and pipes construction crews encountered, that did not appear in any blueprints. The renovated Dilworth Park opened on September 4, 2014. In 2013, the passage of PA Act 89 (Transportation Funding Law) has allowed SEPTA to move forward with the $147 million BSL/MFL station renovation. The reconstruction of 15th began in 2016, and was completed in 2018, with reconstruction of City Hall station began in 2019.

Gallery

Broad Street Line - City Hall 2017.jpg, Courtyard entrance Broad Street Line - City Hall 2018b.jpg, Station tile work File:Broad Street Line - City Hall 2018a3.jpg, Southbound express tracks File:SEPTA B-IV 689 at City Hall station.jpeg, A Broad Street Line local train bound for NRG station arriving at City Hall station Broad Street Line - City Hall 2018a.jpg, Station with train at platform File:BSL01CityHall.jpg, City Hall northbound platform File:Plaque Trolleys.jpg, Another exit to the subway–surface trolleys File:BSL City Hall Station old exit.jpg, Former exit from City Hall station on the north side of City Hall File:Broad Street Line - City Hall 2017a.jpg, Northeast entrance File:15th Street SEPTA 2017 outside.JPG, 15th Street entrance is shared with City Hall station File:Broad Street Line - City Hall 2018.jpg, Free transfer tunnel to the Market–Frankford Line

References

External links

SEPTA – City Hall BSL StationCity Hall Broad Street Line station (WorldNYCSubway.org)
{{SEPTA Rapid Transit Stations SEPTA Broad Street Line stations Railway stations in Philadelphia Railway stations in the United States opened in 1928 Railway stations located underground in Pennsylvania SEPTA Rapid Transit stations located underground