Everything about R3 Septa totally explained
The
R3 is a route of the
SEPTA Regional Rail commuter rail system. The former
Pennsylvania Railroad end of the route serves the western suburbs of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with service to
Media, terminating in
Elwyn in
Middletown Township, Pennsylvania, and the former
Reading Company end serves the northern suburbs with service via
Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, terminating at
West Trenton in
Ewing, New Jersey. Service once extended further on both ends - west beyond Elwyn to
West Chester and northeast beyond West Trenton to
Jersey City, New Jersey.
R3 Media/Elwyn
The
Media/Elwyn Line connects
Center City Philadelphia with Elwyn, branching from the
Northeast Corridor at
Arsenal Interlocking, just south of
30th Street Station. The line, known officially as the "SEPTA
West Chester Line," is a two-track line and was
electrified in the
1920s, at the same time the present day
Northeast Corridor was electrified between Philadelphia and
Wilmington, Delaware. Electrified service to Media and
West Chester was opened on
December 2,
1928.
Unlike most of the former
Pennsylvania Railroad lines, which are entirely grade separated with very few
grade crossings, the Media/Elwyn Line has numerous grade crossings. Characteristic of the line is the three high
trestle crossings, the longest being that over
Ridley Creek between Media and Elwyn. The present crossings were built by the PRR in the early
1920s during the electrification project.
The line was originally built by the
West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad. The first section opened
November 15,
1853, from Philadelphia to
Burmont. On
October 19,
1854 an extension to
Media opened, and further extensions were built, culminating with the completion to
West Chester on
November 11,
1858. In the early
1880s the
Pennsylvania Railroad gained control, merging into
Penn Central in
1968 and
Conrail in
1976. SEPTA took over operations in
1983.
As of 2005, most R3 weekday Media/Elwyn trains continue through downtown as R3 West Trenton trains. All weekend trains terminate downtown.
The R3 Elwyn makes the following station stops, proceeding west from
30th Street Station:
West Chester
Until
September 19,
1986, commuter service on the line continued past Elwyn to
West Chester. In fact, the line itself is still known in official documentation as the
West Chester Line. Major rehabilitation was needed on the line, and SEPTA had limited funds for the necessary repairs. In addition, Chester County was more interested in expanding the Exton station on SEPTA's R5 line. SEPTA only had funds for one of the two projects, so R3 service to West Chester was terminated in favor of expanded R5 service.
Unlike the line between Arsenal Interlocking and Elwyn, the line past Elwyn is single track, although prior to the SEPTA takeover in 1983, there were passing sidings at or near most of the stations. These passing sidings, located near Glen Riddle, Lenni (where the abandoned PRR
Chester Creek and
Wawa branches merged with the line), Glen Mills, Cheyney, Westtown, and West Chester, are easily marked with the PRR's trademark "bowtie" catenary poles—single track areas used single-pole catenary supports. The sidings allowed multiple commuter trains to operate on the single-track section. Currently, the single track section of the R3 near
Lenni is used by the
SEPTA Regional Rail division to train new operators, and the section from West Chester to
Glen Mills is used by the
West Chester Railroad, which operates scenic
excursion trips on weekends.
Amtrak maintenance trains use the line to access a quarry located near the Glen Mills station. Local residents and businesses of
West Chester are lobbying to SEPTA and the
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to bring regular commuter service back to the line.
Since the demise of regular service, vandals gradually stole copper catenary wire from the line, prompting SEPTA to remove the remainder of it in the summer of 2005. This portion of the catenary (westward of Lenni) dates to 1928; it would have to be replaced in any event for service to resume.
Stations served by SEPTA and its predecessors prior to
1987 include the following:
Omitted is Pennellton Station, which comprised a passing siding between the stations of Darlington and Wawa. A newspaper article from 1911 indicates that by that time service had already been discontinued to the station.
Elwyn to Wawa Rail Service Restoration
In June of
2005, SEPTA gave the Notice to Proceed to URS Corporation for the engineering and design of the restoration of rail service between Elwyn and Wawa stations. This follows a feasibility study and other earlier studies as early as the 1990s. SEPTA estimates that the cost for the 3-mile extension of service is $51,327,000. The construction project would include new track, catenary, signals, communications, and structures; and a new station at Wawa with a large park-and-ride facility. The location of the new Wawa station next to US Route 1 allows for excellent highway access.
According to a Delaware County Times article of October 18, 2004 ("R-3 rail line extension on track"), the new Wawa station is estimated to have 500 commuters on a typical weekday. The engineering phase, which includes preliminary engineering, environmental impact analysis, and final engineering, will be complete in
2007 or
2008. Construction will follow and take 24 to 36 months to complete, or
2011 at the latest.
Despite the planned restoration of service to Wawa, the
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) has been pushing SEPTA for many years to restore full service to West Chester, citing an increase of the local population between Wawa and West Chester and would allow commuters in that area an alternative to driving either to the R5 stations in Exton or Paoli, and allow a reduction in congestion on
U.S. Route 202 between
U.S. Route 1 and West Chester.
Ridership
Ridership data (from SEPTA Annual Service Plans) shows that the number of passengers per year has been slowly increasing each year, with a 9% increase between 1995 and 2005:
| Fiscal year |
Average weekday |
Annual passengers |
| FY 2005 |
8,722 |
2,372,816 |
| FY 2004 |
8,265 |
2,320,004 |
| FY 2003 |
8,973 |
2,244,700 |
| FY 2001 |
n/a |
2,336,000 |
| FY 2000 |
n/a |
2,379,000 |
| FY 1999 |
n/a |
2,119,000 |
| FY 1997 |
n/a |
2,188,265 |
| FY 1996 |
n/a |
2,194,600 |
| FY 1995 |
7,713 |
2,177,643 |
| FY 1994 |
8,214 |
2,087,692 |
| FY 1993 |
7,558 |
2,110,827 |
| Note: n/a = not available |
R3 West Trenton
The
West Trenton Line connects
Center City Philadelphia with the West Trenton section of
Ewing, New Jersey, where a branch formerly ran to downtown
Trenton. Like all of the
Reading Company's commuter lines, the West Trenton Line was
electrified in the early
1930s and has a mix of at-grade and grade separated crossings. Electrified service to West Trenton (and to Hatboro, Lansdale and Doylestown) was opened on
July 26,
1931. The line splits from the
SEPTA Main Line at
Jenkintown, running northeast. At
Bethayres, it crosses over the remnants of the former
Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad, now part of the
R8 Fox Chase line. At
Oakford, the former
New York Short Line Railroad, once part of the Reading's main line to West Trenton and Jersey City, merges. The
West Trenton Railroad Bridge, a
concrete arch bridge, crosses the
Delaware River to the final stop at West Trenton.
Prior to
1983, the line continued north to
Newark (
Jersey City prior to the
Aldene Plan of the 1960's), using
Budd Company-built
diesel-powered multiple-unit cars, but was dropped when SEPTA eliminated funding for
Conrail operations north of the electrified lines. Currently,
New Jersey Transit is looking at starting a commuter service between West Trenton and
Newark, allowing an alternative to the SEPTA/NJ Transit service on the nearby
Northeast Corridor line, as well as expanding rail service to currently unserved areas of Central New Jersey.
The line north of the split at
Jenkintown was originally built as the
National Railway project, opened on
May 1,
1876 to provide an alternate to the
United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Companies'
monopoly over Philadelphia-
New York City travel. From Jenkintown to the
Delaware River it was built by the
North Pennsylvania Railroad as a branch, while the
New Jersey section was built by the
Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad, merging with the
Central Railroad of New Jersey at
Bound Brook. In addition to the
Philadelphia and Reading Railway (later the
Reading Company), which leased the North Pennsylvania Railroad on
May 14,
1879, the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad also used the line for passenger and freight service to New York City. In the mid-
1900s, the
New York Short Line Railroad opened, providing a cutoff from the
Philadelphia, Newtown and New York Railroad (now the
R8 Fox Chase line) to the main New York line at
Oakford. That cutoff is no longer used, and the R3 West Trenton uses the original route via Jenkintown. In
1976 the Reading merged into
Conrail, and in
1983 SEPTA took over operations.
North of Neshaminy, track operations are controlled using
CSX radio frequencies.
As of 2005, most weekday R3 trains continue through downtown to Media/Elwyn, while almost all weekend trains are paired with
R1 Airport service.
The R3 West Trenton makes the following station stops, proceeding east from
Market East Station:
List of stations:
| Zone |
Milepost |
Station |
Boardings |
City/Township |
County |
Notes |
| C |
2.1 |
Temple University |
1988 |
Philadelphia |
boardings include all lines |
| 2.9 |
North Broad |
236 |
boardings include R5 and R6 |
| 1 |
5.1 |
Wayne Junction |
749 |
boardings include R1, R2, R3, R5, R7 and R8 |
| 7.3 |
Fern Rock TC |
761 |
boardings include R1, R2, R3, and R5 |
| 2 |
8.4 |
Melrose Park |
322 |
Cheltenham Township |
Montgomery |
boardings include R1, R2, R3, and R5 |
| 9.2 |
Elkins Park |
393 |
boardings include R1, R2, R3, and R5 |
| 3 |
10.8 |
Jenkintown |
1519 |
Jenkintown |
boardings include R1, R2, R3, and R5; Aerial photo |
| 12.0 |
Noble |
159 |
Abington Township |
|
| 12.8 |
Rydal |
26 |
|
| 13.8 |
Meadowbrook |
78 |
|
| 15.1 |
Bethayres |
507 |
Lower Moreland Township |
|
| 16.4 |
Philmont |
515 |
|
| 17.7 |
Forest Hills |
326 |
Philadelphia |
|
| 18.2 |
Somerton |
733 |
|
| 4 |
19.9 |
Trevose |
227 |
Bensalem Township |
Bucks |
|
| 21.1 |
Neshaminy Falls |
279 |
|
| 23.9 |
Langhorne |
498 |
Penndel |
|
| 5 |
26.4 |
Woodbourne |
314 |
Middletown Township |
|
| 30.8 |
Yardley |
349 |
Yardley |
|
| 6 |
32.5 |
West Trenton |
221 |
Ewing |
Mercer |
New Jersey |
Ridership on the West Trenton line has grown 30% between 1995 and 2005. Data from SEPTA Annual Service Plans:
| Fiscal year |
Average weekday |
Annual passengers |
| FY 2005 |
9,488 |
2,372,816 |
| FY 2004 |
9,958 |
2,795,338 |
| FY 2003 |
10,604 |
2,637,500 |
| FY 2001 |
n/a |
2,684,000 |
| FY 2000 |
n/a |
2,706,000 |
| FY 1999 |
n/a |
2,205,000 |
| FY 1997 |
n/a |
2,268,269 |
| FY 1996 |
n/a |
2,215,097 |
| FY 1995 |
7,498 |
2,027,012 |
| FY 1994 |
7,106 |
1,601,685 |
| FY 1993 |
6,093 |
1,350,442 |
| Note: n/a = not available |
Further Information
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