15th Street (SEPTA Station)

15th Street/City Hall station is a SEPTA Metro rapid transit complex in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is located beneath Philly's City Hall building. It is served by the L, the B, and the T. Each of the three lines have their own separate platforms, but there is an interchange to any of the services through an underground concourse referred to by some Philadelphians as "The Labyrinth" due to the underground's confusing navigation.

Interchanges

A free interchange is available between all of the subway lines here, including the 15th Street platform for the L and the T lines, and the B at City Hall platform.

The station is connected to the Center City Concourse, a system of underground passageways, which connects to Suburban Station, which provides access to SEPTA Regional Rail. 15th Street/City Hall station is also connected to the B Walnut–Locust station, which in turn is connected to PATCO Speedline's 12–13th & Locust Station, and 15–16th & Locust Station. However, no free interchange is available to any of these stations. This is one of the two stops along the B not under Broad Street; the other one is Fern Rock Transit Center.

History

20th century

15th Street was the original eastern terminus of the Market–Frankford subway–elevated, which was opened by the Philadelphia Transportation Company on August 3, 1907, and ran west to 69th Street in Upper Darby. In 1908, the Market–Frankford Line was extended eastward to Market-Chestnut (now closed), meaning 15th Street was no longer the eastern terminal.

City Hall was an original station along the Broad Street Line opened on September 1, 1928.

The original routing of the tracks curved around the foundations of the ornate City Hall building above, but was rebuilt into a straightened alignment in the mid-1930s in an effort to improve travel time. In 1936, an underground concourse opened, connecting the 15th Street and City Hall platforms.

21st century

In 2003, SEPTA rebuilt the station escalators at the connected 15th Street station on the Market–Frankford Line. Following this, a lawsuit was filed by the Disabled in Action of Pennsylvania, citing that renovating only one critical component would require the rest of the station complex (including the City Hall station on the Broad Street Line) to be renovated for ADA accessibility as per building code requirements. As such, SEPTA would be required to make the station ADA accessible. SEPTA and the City of Philadelphia had been proposing a $100 million refurbishment of City Hall station, which included structural repairs, improvements in lighting and ventilation, aesthetic improvements, as well as ADA improvements; however, this project's progression had stalled due to lack of available funding.

In November 2011, the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation awarded construction contracts totaling $50 million for the restoration of the Dilworth Park above the station, following the eviction of the Occupy Philly protesters occupying the area; the contract includes making the park accessible to people with disabilities. SEPTA awarded construction contracts for the improvements in January 2012. The project consisted of a restoration of the plaza, creating a "gateway" to the SEPTA transit station and installing elevators connecting to the street and MFL platforms at 15th Street. The contract did not include any accessibility for the disabled to the BSL platforms, which are outside the plaza boundaries. The total cost of the project has risen to $55 million, with most of the money coming from a federal grant, with additional contributions by the City of Philadelphia ($5 million), and non-profit organizations including the William Penn Foundation. The project, originally to have been completed July 2014, had been delayed due to the necessity to deal with stairways, duct banks and pipes construction crews encountered, that did not appear in any blueprints. The renovated Dilworth Park opened on September 4, 2014.

In 2013, the passage of PA Act 89 (Transportation Funding Law) has allowed SEPTA to move forward with the $147 million BLT Architects-designed renovation of the 15th Street/City Hall station complex. Construction at 15th Street station began in 2016 and was expected to be complete in 2018, while the reconstruction of City Hall station beginning in 2019. Construction at 15th Street station concluded on October 21, 2019.

In addition to new elevators and other infrastructure upgrades, the Market–Frankford platforms received new LED-illuminated artwork by Ray King. The remaining two phases of the project, which will upgrade City Hall station as well as the corridors between the two stations, is yet to be completed.

Nomenclature

Due to the rebranding of the Market–Frankford and Broad Street lines ("MFL" and "BSL") with the adoption of SEPTA Metro, both station names were updated to 15th Street/City Hall on February 23, 2025. The MFL (L) and trolley (T) platforms were previously named 15th Street, while the Broad Street Line (B) platforms were previously named City Hall. SEPTA now recognizes the two stations as a single rapid transit complex.

Platforms

All five T lines stop at this station complex. The trolley platforms are located on either side of the L tracks, with the inbound platform south of the L and the outbound platform north of it. Because the platforms are located within fare control, riders do not need to tap SEPTA Key cards upon boarding the trolleys like some of the other underground trolley stations.

The L platforms are 2 side platforms located next to their adjacent T platforms, with the eastbound platform north of the T inbound platform and the westbound platform south of the T outbound platform.

The B platforms are 2 island platforms located under the L and T platforms and tracks. The two inter track are for B2 express service to Walnut-Locust (Southbound)/NRG stadium complex (Sports Express) Fern Rock Transit Center (Northbound), while the 2 outer tracks are served by the B1 local service to NRG stadium complex (Southbound) Fern Rock Transit Center (Northbound).

Image gallery

File:15th Street SEPTA 2018a.JPG, L/T Mezzanine
File:15th Street SEPTA 2018 trolley.JPG, T platform
File:Market-Frankford Line at 15th Street, December 2007.jpg, A Market–Frankford Line (L) train arriving, 2007
Broad Street Line - City Hall 2017.jpg, Courtyard B entrance
Broad Street Line - City Hall 2018b.jpg, Station tile work (B)
File:SEPTA B-IV 689 at City Hall station.jpeg, A Broad Street Line (B) local (B1) train bound for NRG station
File:BSL City Hall Station old exit.jpg, Former Broad Street Line (B) exit on the north side of City Hall
File:15th Street SEPTA 2017 outside.JPG, 15th Street entrance

References

External links

15th Street station
at SEPTA
City Hall station
at SEPTA
15th Street Market–Frankford Line station (WorldNYCSubway.org)City Hall Broad Street Line station (WorldNYCSubway.org)

{{Authority control

SEPTA Metro L stations
SEPTA Metro B stations
SEPTA Metro T stations
1907 establishments in Pennsylvania
1928 establishments in Pennsylvania
Market Street (Philadelphia)
Broad Street (Philadelphia)
Railway stations in Philadelphia
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1907
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1928
Railway stations located underground in Pennsylvania