Center City Commuter Connection

The Center City Commuter Connection, commonly known to locals as "the commuter tunnel," is a passenger railroad tunnel in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built to connect the stub ends of the two separate regional commuter rail systems, originally operated by rival companies: the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad. All of the SEPTA Regional Rail lines except for the R6 Cynwyd pass completely through the tunnel, which contains two underground stations - Suburban Station and Market East Station, and the above-ground upper-level concourse for the east-west commuter lines serving 30th Street Station.

Planning and Development

Suburban Station, located at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard, was the underground terminus of the commuter rail lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). The Reading Company (RDG) ran trains on an elevated approach above city streets into the Reading Terminal, located at 12th and Market Streets (one block west of where Market East Station was built). The connection, the first of its kind in the United States [ [http://www.pennways.com/Commuter_Tunnel.html Center City Commuter Connection (Commuter Tunnel) ] ] , was built to allow trains to run through Philadelphia's downtown central business district, by uniting the commuter lines of the two rail systems.

R. Damon Childs (1929(?) - 1998, University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture 1953, Graduate School of Architecture 1957), was a 28-year-old junior land planner with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission when he proposed the Connection to permit through-routing of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railroad suburban lines. There already was a 0.8 mile (1.29 km) subway from 16th Street to 20th Street, a portion of the trackage connecting Suburban Station with 30th Street Station to the west. The tunnel project extended four of Suburban Station's eight tracks 1.7 miles (2.7 km) eastward. The tunnel addition would turn slightly north as it passes City Hall and over the Broad Street Subway. The tracks would run under Filbert Street, would then curve to the north after Market East Station, pass under the Ridge Avenue Subway spur line, and run northward under 9th Street, ascending to join the Reading embankment near Spring Garden Street. Underground replacement for Reading Terminal --originally to be called 11th Street Station-- was part of the renewal of Market East. At first the idea seemed preposterous because it required excavation under Philadelphia City Hall, one of the most massive buildings in the world, but it was nevertheless incorporated by Edmund N. Bacon into the city's 1960 Comprehensive Plan.

Groundbreaking for the tunnel project was on June 22, 1978. It took six years to complete at a cost of $330 million. The connection opened on April 28, 1984 when a free shuttle service began operating between Suburban Station and Market East Station. Full service by trains from former PRR lines began on September 3 1984. The last train from Reading Terminal departed on November 6, 1984, and trains from the former Reading Railroad began using the tunnel connection on November 10, 1984. The old approach to Reading Terminal was then abandoned. It is still mostly present, and is now known as the Reading Viaduct.

A large underground concourse connects the Regional Rail lines with local subway and trolley lines. The entire concourse spans a total nine city blocks — five blocks on Market Street between 11th Street and 16th Street, and four blocks on Broad Street between City Hall and Spruce Street. The concourse is divided up into four sections — North Concourse, South Concourse, South Broad Concourse, and City Hall Concourses. Along Market Street, the concourse runs along the Market-Frankford Line, with the North Concourse on the north side, and the South Concourse on the south side. Along Broad Street, the South Broad Concourse sits directly above the Broad Street Line, with one large walkway as wide as Broad Street itself. The Market Street and Broad Street sections of the concourse all meet at the City Hall Concourse, which connects to Suburban Station. Throughout the entire concourse are underground entrances to adjacent buildings, as well as the "MetroMarket," a group of small shops and eateries near Suburban Station.

Concourse connections

Transit stations

*SEPTA Broad Street Line
**City Hall
**Walnut-Locust
*SEPTA Market-Frankford Line
**11th Street
**13th Street
**15th Street
*SEPTA Subway-Surface Lines
**13th/Juniper
**15th Street
*SEPTA Regional Rail
**Market East Station
**Suburban Station
*PATCO Speedline
**12-13th & Locust
**15-16th & Locust

Other connections

*Aramark Tower
*Avenue of the Arts
*City Hall
*Comcast Center
*The Gallery at Market East
*Mellon Bank Center
*Penn Center
*Pennsylvania Convention Center (the former Reading Terminal)
*The Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia
*SEPTA headquarters and Transit Museum
*Wanamaker Building

ee also

portalpar|Philadelphia|Libertybell alone small.jpg
*Reading Terminal
*Market East Station
*Suburban Station
*30th Street Station

External links

* [http://www.pennways.com/Commuter_Tunnel.html PENNWAYS - Center City Commuter Connection]
* [http://www.septa.org/ SEPTA official website]

References