How a Tunnel made SEPTA America’s Best Regional Rail

Philly native and regular SEPTA rider who shouts about them on youtube here: and I totally agree that SEPTA has the bones of one of, if not the best, regional rail system on the continent with the tunnel and all of the routes it runs on. The main reason why they can't take full advantage with S-bahn frequency is due to a lack of staff to run the trains at such a frequency due to, you guessed it, lack of funding. You get the staff to do it, get the replacement for the Silverliner IVs, which they're starting to do, do fare integration with the rest of their services, and in the further future, fix a few bottlenecks on the system, and it can truly be world class like it should be.

Philadelphia almost has an sbahn. Now you just need to increase frequency and do fare intergration so people can use regional rail where the subways dont go, kind of like in german cities (or really any european cities)

It's not just you. That is one attractive train station.

Former Mayor Frank Rizzo was a huge motivator in getting the Center City Commuter Tunnel done. It remains the largest infrastructure project in the city's history. Boston could benefit greatly by linking North and South Stations in a similar manner. Linking the former PRR and Reading Lines has been a godsend to Phila. commuters. I rode the last train out of the Reading Terminal and didn't know what the future would bring. The Tunnel allows seamless travel from Jenkintown to Paoli. Thanks for posting.

Not a tunnel, but a great project that has unified a system is NJ Transit's Secaucus Junction. NJ Transit operates in two divisions, Hoboken and Newark. The Hoboken Division was part of the Erie Lackawanna Railway, while the Newark Division was once the Pennsylvania Railroad and Central Railroad of NJ. These two divisions were never previously integrated (because competing railway companies), even when both were under Conrail. When ownership was passed to the state in 1983, they built connections where trains from the Hoboken Division would be able to switch onto the Northeast Corridor, but they still never had a direct transfer. That is until Senator Frank R. Lautenberg helped allocate for funds to build Secaucus Junction. Frank R. Lautenberg was a big supporter of NJT and Amtrak, including Access to the Region's Core...which was of course cancelled by Chris Christie and later resurrected as the Gateway Program. Because of this when it opened in 2003, the station was named in honor of his dedication. When he passed in 2013, he was fittingly carried onto an Amtrak funeral train from Secaucus Junction en route to DC. The two-track Northeast Corridor embankment was expanded to three tracks for a mile on each side of the station and to four tracks through the station itself, allowing Amtrak and nonstop NJT trains to pass stopped trains. The two-track Bergen County Line was re-aligned southwestward to join the two-track Main Line to pass through the station on the four-track lower level. Secaucus Junction is such an engineering marvel that was a no-brainer and has helped so many. Designing such a massive station without disrupting the active NEC and making it withstand the nearly constant vibration was such a challenge, but they took it head on. NJT buses, trains, and light-rail aren't perfect, but with how much of the state you can travel to and from, the NJT system really does punches above its weight.

Love the tilework at Jefferson/Market East station, the murals depict the four seasons! And Suburban Station was designed by the Chicago-based Graham, Anderson, Probst & White firm, who also worked on 30th Street Station, multiple Chicago icons like Merchandise Mart, Field Museum, Metropolitan Tower, Chicago Union Station, and the Shedd Aquarium, and Cleveland's Terminal Tower (which stood as the tallest building in North America outside of NYC from its completion in 1927 until 1964). I'm glad the Center City stations have level boarding, because much of the regional rail stations don't! Level boarding is not only of course better for accessibility, but also for dwell times as people won't have to take steps up to the door to get in! Meanwhile all LIRR stations, even the ones with low ridership, have level boarding (though not all of these have been accessible, but the LIRR has improved on this by adding elevators and ramps)! Yup, all of the SEPTA Regional Rail lines are electrified, but that's because they simply cut all their diesel services instead of electrifying. Conrail operated four diesel SEPTA-branded routes under contract throughout the 1970s! There used to be an Allentown via Bethlehem, Quakertown, and Lansdale service and this was gradually cut back. Allentown–Bethlehem service ended in 1979, Bethlehem-Quakertown service ended in early July 1981, and Quakertown–Lansdale service ended later that month. Pottsville line service to Pottsville, via Reading and Norristown, ended in late July 1981. West Trenton service previously ran to Newark Penn and this was cut back to West Trenton in early July 1981. The final service, Fox Chase-Newtown service, initially also ended in early July 1981, re-established in October of that year as the Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line, which then ended in 1983, thus today's Fox Chase Line just ends at Fox Chase. The services were phased out due to low ridership, a lack of funding outside the five-county area of SEPTA, withdrawal of Conrail as a contract carrier, aging equipment that needed replacement, and a lack of SEPTA-owned diesel maintenance infrastructure. The death knell for any resumption of diesel service was the Center City Commuter Connection, which lacks the necessary ventilation for exhaust-producing locomotives!

When I visited Philadelphia from Europe, the difference in cleanliness and quality between SEPTA and the different subway lines was staggering to me. Thanks for covering the interesting history in more detail :D

I'm glad you showed Reading Terminal Market! It's one of my favorite places to go when I'm in Philly.

It's amazing that they managed this makeover in the face of suburbanization.

Taking the regional rail from Temple to 30th street is literally the most convenient thing ever for me as a student who lives on the NEC, plus I can get to PHL really easily if I need to!

Great job explaining a very complex set of topics and history. Very happy for the tunnel and continued SEPTA enhancements. The Reading Terminal is a treasure! I am sure that, as a Dutch person, that you find the Pennsylvania Dutch (aka Deutsch/German) term odd/confusing!

As a former locomotive engineer on septa’s regional rail lines you did a good job in this video

The 30th Street station is a beautiful station! SEPTA has a great idea on running trains through the Central City.

The regional connector in LA is also a great example. So many people have benefited from it

It’s really cool to see someone follow my same “schedule” for when I go into the city! (I love to see all of the historical buildings and museums). SEPTA makes it MUCH easier to go to the city and it’s nice to see that others also think that way!

When I was IT consulting in Center City, I rode SEPTA R2 every day. Drove 15 minutes from my home in New Castle, DE to the state-owned station in Claymont, DE, parked for free at the station, and caught the train to Suburban Station. It was a short walk from there to my client's offices. If my consulting colleague and I decided to stop for a beer after work, I didn't worry about there not being a later train. Best commute ever.

If you come into Philadelphia on Amtrak you can board any Regional Rail train that day for free, just by showing you ticket to an attendant at the station. If you have a return Amtrak ticket you can do it again. The tunnel was made in the mid 1970's connecting Penn Central and Reading lines. It is one of best infrastructure projects of the city. Before the tunnel was constructed, you could walk between reading Terminal and Suburban Station, or take the Market Frankford line from 11th Street to City Hall or stay on to 30th Street. The inner city transportation trains are only two lines, Market-Frankford and the Broad Street Subway, crossing at City Hall.. And there is a New Jersey connection with the PATCO line taking you over the Benjamin Franklin bridge in to South Jersey.

Meanwhile, here in Southern California, Metrolink is taking the first baby steps to becoming a regional rail system. First, they're using the term "regional rail" to describe their system. And the schedule on our line, the Antelope Valley Line, has been radically restructured. No longer is it frequent service at rush hour, and then infrequent service during the rest of the day. In the new schedule, there's a train every hour all day long between Los Angeles and Santa Clarita, and then half of those trains continue all the way to Lancaster. We rode a late morning train into Los Angeles the other day, and came home on the 3:30 PM train. Both trains were full, to the point where the conductor had to ask people not to put belongings on the seats, but leave them free for other passengers getting on the train. Lots of people got on at the little stops in the San Fernando Valley to come home to the suburbs. Based on one day, it looks like the regional rail concept may be a success here in car-centric Southern California!

Thank you for showing me how to get from Amtrak to Septa; I’m doing the trip in a few weeks and never did it before.

Fantastic video, you should look at the Thameslink project in London that originally started in the 1800's that connected rail lines north of London to South London... That Dutch food thing...glad you made it out alive! Just buy one of those septa rugs lol lol.