The Chestnut Hill East Line is a route of the

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 ...

(

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

) system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ge ...

, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill. It is one of two lines that serve Chestnut Hill, the other one being the

Chestnut Hill West Line The Chestnut Hill West Line is a commuter rail line in the SEPTA Regional Rail network. It connects Northwest Philadelphia, including the eponymous neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, as well as West Mount Airy and Germantown, to Center City. Rou ...

. The line is fully

grade-separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...

History

The Chestnut Hill East Line is a continuation of the

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 ...

's suburban services on the

Chestnut Hill East Branch The Chestnut Hill East Branch is a railway line in Pennsylvania. It runs from a junction with the SEPTA Main Line in Nicetown–Tioga, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, to Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. The oldest part of it was built in 1832 by the ...

from Philadelphia to

and Chestnut Hill. The oldest part of the line that became the

was opened in 1832 by the

Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad The Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad (PG&N) was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1831 and opened its first line in 1832, making it one of the oldest railroads in North America. The Philadelphia and Rea ...

, and later became part of the Reading system. Electrified service began on February 5, 1933. Until 1984 Chestnut Hill East trains used the

Reading Viaduct The Reading Viaduct, also called The Rail Park, is a disused elevated rail line in the Callowhill district of Philadelphia that has been partly transformed into a rail trail. In 2010, the Center City District and a new community organization, F ...

to reach Spring Garden Street and the

Reading Terminal The Reading Terminal ( ) is a complex of buildings that includes the former Reading Company main station located in the Market East section of Center City in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It comprises the Reading Terminal Headhou ...

; this ended with the opening of 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 ...

which routed the trains through the city center and on the ex-Pennsylvania Railroad part of the system. From this point the route was designated R7 Chestnut Hill East as part of SEPTA's diametrical reorganization of its lines; trains continued on to the

Trenton Line The Trenton Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail (commuter rail) system. The route serves the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with service in Bucks County along the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey. Route Trenton L ...

. The R-number naming system was dropped on July 25, 2010. , most Chestnut Hill East Line trains continue through Center City to the Trenton Line. SEPTA activated

positive train control Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains a ...

on the Chestnut Hill East Line on July 25, 2016. On April 9, 2020, service on the line was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, though and stations were still being served by other rail services. Service resumed on June 28, 2020.

Stations

The Chestnut Hill East line makes the following station stops after leaving the

; stations indicated with a gray background are closed. All stations are located within the city of Philadelphia.

Ridership

Yearly ridership on the Chestnut Hill East Line between FY 2008–FY 2019 has remained steady around 1.4–1.6 million, save for a dip in FY 2019.

Notes

References

External links

*
Reading Company Routes and Mileages
{{Delaware Valley transit SEPTA Regional Rail Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia Germantown, Philadelphia Mount Airy, Philadelphia