Jefferson Station (formerly named Market East Station) is an underground SEPTA Regional Rail station 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 ...

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, ...

. It is the easternmost of the three Center City stations of the SEPTA Regional Rail system, and is part of the Center City Commuter Connection, which connects the former

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

commuter lines with the former

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

commuter lines. While the station's official SEPTA address is 12th and Filbert streets, it actually spans two city blocks, from 12th to 10th streets just north of

. In 2014, the station saw approximately 26,000 passengers every weekday.

History

Market East Station was built as part of the $300-million Center City Commuter Connection project, which constructed a tunnel between the former

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 ...

and an existing viaduct near Temple University station and unified commuter rail service in Philadelphia. The tunnel included provisions for an "11th Street Station." During planning stages, the station was named Market East, a name sometimes used to refer to the retail corridor on Market Street east 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 ...

. During construction in May 1984, the tunnel suffered minor damage due to an above-ground fire in an abandoned building on 10th Street. The station opened on November 10, 1984, replacing the 1893-built Reading Terminal which had closed four days earlier. Part of the station actually sits below the Reading Terminal building, which still houses Reading Terminal Market and also now includes part of the

Pennsylvania Convention Center The Pennsylvania Convention Center is a multi-use public facility in the Market East, Philadelphia, Market East section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, designed to accommodate conventions, exhibitions, conferences and other events. The "L"-shaped ...

. When the convention center first opened in 1993, a new entrance to the station was built into the Reading Terminal headhouse at the northeast corner of 12th and Market streets. In July 2012,

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

identified Market East as its preferred Philadelphia station for a future

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

line along the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

between

Boston South Station South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...

and

Washington Union Station Washington Union Station is a major train station, transportation hub, and leisure destination in Washington, D.C. Designed by Daniel Burnham and opened in 1907, it is Amtrak's headquarters, the railroad's second-busiest station, and North Ameri ...

. The new corridor would be built with fewer curves, allowing for trains to achieve much higher speeds and eventually reach the goal of a 37-minute trip between Philadelphia and

New York Penn Station Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main inter-city rail, intercity railroad station in New York City and the List of busiest railway stations in North America, busiest transportation facilit ...

. Rumors first circulated in August 2014 that the station would be renamed. On September 4, 2014, SEPTA announced the station's renaming from Market East to Jefferson, after

Jefferson Health Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals Inc, branded as Jefferson Health, is a multi-state non-profit health system whose flagship hospital is Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City, Philadelphia. The health system's hospitals serve a ...

– whose Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is a few blocks from the station – purchased the naming rights. The length of the $4 million contract for the Jefferson Station name is five years, with the option to keep it for an additional four years for $3.4 million. This was SEPTA's second naming rights sale; Pattison station was renamed AT&T station in 2010, and is now named NRG station. The station is connected to the concourse level of Fashion District Philadelphia, a shopping mall that replaced the

Gallery at Market East Fashion District Philadelphia is a shopping mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, located in Center City along Market Street. It opened in 2019 on the site of a previous mall known as The Gallery and later renamed The Gallery at Mark ...

mall in September 2019. The station was connected to the Gallery II (the mall's 1984 expansion) section of the mall, and the design of the new mall preserved the connection to Jefferson Station.

Services

Jefferson Station is served by all Regional Rail lines except the limited-service Cynwyd Line, which terminates at

. In FY 2005, the average total weekday boardings at this station was 11,848, making it the second busiest station in the Regional Rail system. Through the Fashion District mall, Jefferson Station is connected to SEPTA's

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

Broad–Ridge Spur 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 ...

subway lines, as well as the

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 ...

. The Market–Frankford Line has two adjacent stops at and , the latter of which is shared with the Ridge Spur and PATCO lines. Through the Downtown Link concourse, there are also underground corridors connecting to the and on the Market–Frankford and subway–surface lines, as well as on the Broad Street Line. Jefferson Station is located adjacent to multiple surface bus routes operated by both

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 ...

and NJ Transit. Additionally, the

Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal The Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal is the primary intercity bus station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is located at 1001 Filbert Street in Center City Philadelphia near the SEPTA Regional Rail Jefferson Station and the Fashion Dis ...

is located immediately north of the station across Filbert Street.

Station layout

Stainless steel and large plate-glass windows are a major design element throughout the station's concourse, with large color tile

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s depicting the four seasons adorning the walls. The upper seating area contains benches facing windows that look down onto the tracks. These windows admit light from the street down to track level much like a

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

, although this natural light only fills a small portion of the station. On the track level, Jefferson has two wide

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 ...

s and four tracks. Each platform, long enough for ten railcars, is divided into "A" and "B" sections so that two different Regional Rail trains may utilize the same track at the same time. To the west, the tracks have a set of cross-over tracks that allow trains to change tracks before they reach Suburban Station, located about west at 16th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard. To the east, there is a sharp curve north where trains are limited to about 20 to 25 mph (32 to 40 km/h), and then another set of cross-overs before climbing a 2.5% incline towards the elevated Temple University station.

Image gallery

File:Jefferson Station entrance.JPG, Filbert Street entrance File:Market East Platform Large.jpg, Jefferson Station platform File:Market East mural.JPG, Tiled wall across from boarding platforms Philadelphia's 11th street subway station 2017-entrance.jpg, 11th Street entrance SEPTA Silverliner V 724 at Jefferson Station.jpg, An outbound train on the Airport Line stops at the station in March 2018 Market East entrance.JPG, Station entrance sign prior to the name change (1984-2014)

References

External links

Jefferson Station
, SEPTA
12th and Market street entrance from Google Maps Street View

11th and Filbert streets entrance from Google Maps Street View

10th and Filbert streets entrance from Google Maps Street View
{{Authority control SEPTA Regional Rail stations Railway stations in the United States opened in 1984 Railway stations in Philadelphia Market East, Philadelphia Railway stations located underground in Pennsylvania Stations on the SEPTA Main Line Wilmington/Newark Line