33rd Street station is a subway station in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, serving all trolleys of the

SEPTA Metro SEPTA Metro is an urban rail transit network in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The network includes two rapid transit lines, a light metro line, ...

T. It is the last station of the T outbound with all lines before the T1 splits away and exits the tunnel at 36th Street Portal. The stop is located on the campus of

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

History

The station was opened in November 1955 by the

Philadelphia Transportation Company The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in operation since ...

(PTC) as part of a larger project to move portions of the elevated Market Street Line and surface trolleys underground.Puckett, John L. and Mark Frazier Lloyd. , accessed May 31, 2020. The original project to bury the elevated tracks between 23rd to 46th streets was announced by the PTC's predecessor, the

Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transport, public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A Privately held company, private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Tr ...

, in the 1920s, but was delayed due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The PTC's revised project also included a new subway–surface tunnel for subway–surface trolleys underneath the campus of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, continuing from the original western portal at 23rd and Market streets to new portals at 36th and Ludlow streets for Route 10 and 40th Street and Baltimore Avenue for other routes. On April 11, 1988, a trolley derailed at the station, injuring 27 people.

Station layout

The station has two low-level

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

s, each capable of platforming two trolleys at a time. Fares are collected on board trolleys.

References

External links

Images at NYCSubway.org
{{SEPTA Metro stations, T1=y, T2=y, T3=y, T4=y, T5=y SEPTA Metro T stations Railway stations in Philadelphia Railway stations in Pennsylvania at university and college campuses Railway stations located underground in Pennsylvania