Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The City full of “brotherly Transit”
The City of Brotherly Love has a lot to offer for the transit fan, from subways, trolleys and electrified commuter rail.
The Broad St. Subway (Orange) is 4 tracks like NY on its northern end, 2 tracks on its southern half. It also has the Ridge St. Spur. The Market-Frankford El (Blue) has beautiful El portions with a subway through City Center.
Philly has a moderate sized streetcar/light rail system. The system consists of the Subway-Surface routes of West-Philly. Route-15 Girard line is now running again with modern PCC’s. Route-23, thru Central City runs very intermittently for special occasions. Philly also maintains former interurban lines radiating out of 69th Street in Upper Darby, including the famous Norristown P&W Line.
PATCO is Philly’s other subway. It uses a part of the old Philly Broad St., Ridge St. spur to Locust St. and the old Bridge Line on the Ben Franklin Bridge. It became PATCO in 1969 when the line was extended to Lindenwold. It is designed for high speed and uses automation.
On top of this Philly has electric trolley busses as well as an extensive electrified commuter rail system.
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Broad Street Subway
32 photos
This subway Line, now the orange B Line, mimics New York with 4-tracks north of Walnut-Locust with local and express service.
Market-Frankford El
53 photos
The MFL or now blue “L” Line is the busiest rail line in Philly, running from Upper Darby in the west to Frankford in northeast Philly.
PATCO
22 photos
This is a regional subway line linking downtown Philadelphia with New Jersey suburbs, including a great ride over the Ben Franklin Bridge Bridge
Subway-Surface Trolleys & Rte 15
Coming Soon
Philly has a traditional trolley system with all but the 15-line funneling into a subway to City Hall.
Media/Sharon Hill Trolleys
30 photos
These suburban interurban trolley lines leave from Upper Darby to Media and Sharon Hill
Regional Rail
8 Photos
Regional Rail links the region through the Center City Tunnel, with one line going to Philly Airport.
Buses & TrolleyBuses
3 photos
Philly maintain a few trolleybus lines in NE Philly, and regular buses are the workhorse of city transit