Temple University station is an above-ground
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 ...
station located at the eastern edge of the
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...
campus at 915 West Berks Street between 9th and 10th Streets, in the
Cecil B. Moore section of
Lower North Philadelphia
Lower North Philadelphia is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that is immediately north of Center City and below Upper North Philadelphia and can be described as a section of Philadelphia that was designated as a "Model City" target, that h ...
,
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, ...
. The station is in the
Center City fare zone, although the station itself is located in North Philadelphia.
There is a small ticket kiosk located at the base of the stairs on the street level. Temple University maintains a security kiosk at street level. Stairways and two elevators lead up to the high-level platforms at track level. There are two
island platforms
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 ...
serving four tracks. Each platform is 380 feet (115.824 meters) long, long enough to platform four cars with only the end doors being used. The platforms have a canopy overhead and some wind-breaking walls, but are otherwise exposed to the weather.
This station is located approximately 2.6 track miles from
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 ...
. In
FY 2005, Temple University station was the fourth busiest station in SEPTA's Regional Rail system, with 2,448 average total weekday boardings and 2,593 average weekday alightings.
[ ] The station also has two large bicycle racks that both have roofs above them to protect bikes against the weather. The station can easily accommodate 30+ bicycles. The racks are also in full view of the 24-hour security guard.
Station history
Built in 1911, the old Temple U station achieved infamy in November 1984 when SEPTA was forced to shut down the Reading side of the railroad above
North Broad Street Station
North Broad station, known as North Broad Street until 1992, is a SEPTA Regional Rail station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 2601 North Broad Street ( PA 611) in the Cecil B. Moore section of Lower North Philadelphia, and serve ...
. A few days after the
Center City Commuter Connection
250px, The ASCE plaque in Jefferson Station
250px, City plaque in Jefferson Station
The Center City Commuter Connection, (CCCC) commonly referred to as "the commuter tunnel", is a passenger railroad tunnel in Center City, Philadelphia, Penns ...
and Market East Station (now
Jefferson Station) fully opened, some of the girders supporting the tracks in the platform area on the bridge over the avenue were discovered to be in imminent danger of collapse. The emergency repairs, completed early in 1985, included demolishing the station and replacing it with temporary wooden low-level platforms and steel stairs which served until the new station opened. This event helped draw attention to the deterioration of North American railroad and transit infrastructure; the two-year-long RailWorks project which resulted would provide a permanent, modern station at a location more convenient to Temple's campus.
The station was opened in 1992 and was built for
$37 million as part of SEPTA's RailWorks project to rebuild the
Reading Railroad
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 calle ...
viaduct in North Philadelphia. The station sits on the Reading side of the system and almost all trains stop here. The new station replaced the older Temple U station, which was originally named Columbia Avenue (a street since renamed
Cecil B. Moore Avenue). The old station, located at , had two
island platforms
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 ...
serving all four tracks, but was served by only a few peak hour trains by the time SEPTA began operation of the railroad.
Station layout
The station has two
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 serving four tracks.
Gallery
TempleStation2018a.JPG, Norris Street entrance
TempleStation3.JPG, Station platform facing north
TempleStation2018.jpg, Front entrance
References
External links
SEPTA - Temple University StationBerks Street entrance from Google Maps Street ViewNorris Street entrance from Google Maps Street View{{Temple University
SEPTA Regional Rail stations
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1993
Railway stations in Philadelphia
Temple University
Railway stations in Pennsylvania at university and college campuses
Stations on the SEPTA Main Line
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1911
Wilmington/Newark Line