Jefferson Station (SEPTA)

Jefferson Station
SEPTA regional rail station

11th Street entrance to Jefferson Station.
Location 12th and Filbert Streets
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 39°57′07″N 75°09′24″W / 39.952076°N 75.156612°W / 39.952076; -75.156612Coordinates: 39°57′07″N 75°09′24″W / 39.952076°N 75.156612°W / 39.952076; -75.156612
Owned by SEPTA
Line(s)
Platforms 2 island platforms
Tracks 4
Connections
  Broad Street Line Ridge Spur at 8th St.
SEPTA City Bus: 9, 17, 23, 33, 38, 44, 47, 47M, 48, 61, 62, 78
NJT Bus: 400, 401, 402, 404, 406, 408, 409, 410, 412, 414, 417
At Greyhound Terminal:
NJT Bus: 313, 315, 316, 317, 318, 551
Greyhound Lines
Bieber Tourways
Trailways Transportation System (Capitol Trailways, Martz Trailways, Susquehanna Trailways)
Peter Pan Bus Lines
Construction
Disabled access Yes
Other information
Fare zone C
History
Opened November 1984
Previous names Market East Station (1984-2014)
replaced Reading Terminal in 1984
Services
Preceding station   SEPTA   Following station
toward Airport
Airport Line
Terminus
Chestnut Hill West Line
toward Elwyn
Media/Elwyn Line
toward Thorndale
Paoli/Thorndale Line
toward Trenton
Trenton Line
toward Newark
Wilmington/Newark Line
Chestnut Hill East Line
Fox Chase Line
toward Fox Chase
Lansdale/Doylestown Line
toward Doylestown
Manayunk/Norristown Line
toward Elm Street
Warminster Line
toward Warminster
West Trenton Line
toward West Trenton

Jefferson Station (formerly Market East Station) is an underground SEPTA Regional Rail station located on Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its official SEPTA address is 12th and Filbert streets.[1] It is the easternmost of the three Center City stations on the SEPTA Regional Rail system, and is part of the Center City Commuter Connection, which connects the former Penn Central commuter lines with the former Reading Railroad commuter lines. The station opened in November 1984, is owned and maintained by SEPTA, and replaced the former Reading Terminal, under which a small part of the station sits. (The old terminal became part of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.)

Building

The station is part of the Gallery at Market East, a shopping mall built as part of an urban renewal project in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There are several entrances to the station, including several on the concourse level to the "Gallery II" part of the mall. After the Convention Center was opened, a new entrance was built in the Reading Terminal headhouse on Market Street.

Architecturally, the design of Jefferson Station is integrated with the Gallery Mall, which features a number of stores and quick-service food facilities, including Tiffany's Bakery, which boasts state-of-the-art digital signage for the commuters passing through Jefferson Station. The newly renovated bakery uses television to display their original content as well as the SEPTA train timetable.[2] Stainless steel and large plate-glass windows are a major design element throughout the station, with large color tile murals (depicting the four seasons) adorning the walls and the extensive use of tile for flooring. The upper seating area has recently been renovated with metal benches facing the windows that look down onto the tracks. The large windows are used both for exterior windows, where they admit light from street level down to track level like a clerestory, and for separating the concourse level from the track level. Because this is an underground station and the clerestory section is only a small part of the station, artificial lighting is used throughout the station.

Name

The station's name was changed from Market East to Jefferson on September 4, 2014 after Thomas Jefferson University Hospital bought the naming rights.[3] The length of the $4 million contract for the Jefferson Station name is five years, with the option to keep it for an additional four years for $3.4 million.[4]

Station layout

B1 Concourse Waiting area, ticketing, exits to the Gallery at Market East, Market Street, Filbert Street, Reading Terminal Market, PATCO CLOSED until Gallery I Opens (8th & Market), Broad-Ridge Spur CLOSED until Gallery I Opens (8th Street), Market-Frankford Line(11th St. and 8th St. CLOSED until Gallery I Opens)
B2
Track
level
Track 1 Manayunk/Norristown Line toward Norristown (Temple University)
Fox Chase Line toward Fox Chase (Temple University)
Lansdale/Doylestown Line toward Doylestown (Temple University)
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Track 2 Warminster Line toward Warminster (Temple University)
West Trenton Line toward West Trenton (Temple University)
Chestnut Hill East Line toward Chestnut Hill East (Temple University)
Track 3  Media/Elwyn Line toward Elwyn (Suburban Station)
 Wilmington/Newark Line toward Newark (Suburban Station)
 Airport Line toward Airport (Suburban Station)
 Chestnut Hill West Line toward Chestnut Hill West (Suburban Station)
Island platform, doors will open on the left, right
Track 4  Trenton Line toward Trenton Transit Center (Suburban Station)
 Paoli/Thorndale Line toward Thorndale (Suburban Station)

The station extends under three city blocks and the platforms are along the northern edge of the blocks. The tracks here are the deepest ones in Philadelphia.

Tiled wall across from boarding platforms

There are several monitors which show the status of the trains at these entrances, as well as near the ticket windows and at the tops of the escalators to the track level. At least one of the ticket windows, which are located on the concourse level, is open daily.

Jefferson Station Platform

There are two wide island platforms and four tracks, with each platform serving two tracks. Each platform is divided into an "A" section and a "B" section so that trains on different routes stop at different spots along the platform length. This allows waiting passengers to be dispersed along the platform rather than congregating.

Track layout

Overhead electric catenary wires supply power to the trains. Regularly scheduled diesel-operated trains are forbidden to enter the station, as SEPTA omitted provisions for ventilation fans when designing the Center City Tunnel. The Delaware Valley Association of Railroad Passengers advocated for the inclusion of ventilation fans that would allow diesel exhaust fumes to exit tunnels and stations. SEPTA deemed the option unfeasible throughout the planning process.[5] On occasion, SEPTA diesel work trains will pass through the station without stopping. In this situation, the track must be clear through the tunnel before the diesel train is allowed through.

To the west, the tracks have a set of cross-over tracks that allow trains to change tracks before they reach Suburban Station. To the east, there is a sharp curve north where trains are limited to about 20 to 25 mph (32 to 40 km/h), and then another set of cross-overs before climbing an incline of over 2.5% to Temple University Station. Jefferson Station is approximately 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from Suburban Station.

Service

Jefferson Station is served by all Regional Rail lines except the limited-service Cynwyd Line, which terminates at Suburban Station. In FY 2005, the average total weekday boardings at this station was 11,848, making it the second busiest station in the Regional Rail system.[6] Jefferson Station has also been identified as Amtrak's preferred Philadelphia station for future high-speed rail lines in the Northeastern Corridor.[7]

Intermodal Connections

The station is connected underground to SEPTA's heavy rail Market-Frankford Line and Broad-Ridge Spur and also the PATCO High Speed Line at their shared 8th Street station through The Gallery at Market East. There are also below-ground pedestrian connections to the Market-Frankford Line's 11th Street, 13th Street, and 15th Street stations. Jefferson Station is adjacent to various SEPTA and New Jersey Transit bus routes that travel on Market Street. Finally, the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal is immediately north of the station across Filbert Street.


References

Media related to Market East Station at Wikimedia Commons

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