The Chestnut Hill East Line is a route of the

SEPTA Regional Rail The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by SEPTA and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its suburbs and satellite town ...

(

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

) system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill. It is one of two lines that serve Chestnut Hill, the other one being the

Chestnut Hill West Line The Chestnut Hill West Line is a route of the SEPTA SEPTA Regional Rail, Regional Rail network. It connects Northwest Philadelphia, including the eponymous neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chestnut Hill, West Mount Ai ...

. The line is fully

grade-separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

History

The Chestnut Hill East Line is a continuation of the

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railro ...

's suburban services on the

Chestnut Hill East Branch The Chestnut Hill East Branch is a railway line in Pennsylvania. It runs from a junction with the SEPTA Main Line in Nicetown–Tioga, a neighborhood in Philadelphia, to Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. The oldest part of it was built in 1832 by th ...

from Philadelphia to Germantown and Chestnut Hill. The oldest part of the line that became the

was opened in 1832 by the

Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad The Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad (PG&N) was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1831 and opened its first line in 1832, making it one of the oldest railroads in North America. The Philadelphia and Rea ...

, and later became part of the Reading system. Electrified service began on February 5, 1933. Until 1984 Chestnut Hill East trains used the

Reading Viaduct The Reading Viaduct, also called The Rail Park, is a disused elevated rail line in the Callowhill district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that has been partly transformed into a rail trail. The viaduct opened on January 29, 1893, and original ...

to reach Spring Garden Street and the

Reading Terminal The Reading Terminal ( ) is a complex of buildings that includes the former Reading Company main railroad station, station located in the Market East, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Market East section of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City in ...

; this ended with the opening of the

Center City Commuter Connection alt=Plaque from the American Society of Civil Engineers in Jefferson Station, The Jefferson Station file:CC Commuter Tunnel 2.jpg">alt=Plaque from the city government of Philadelphia in Jefferson Station, City plaque in Jefferson Station The ...

which routed the trains through the city center and on the ex-Pennsylvania Railroad part of the system. From this point the route was designated R7 Chestnut Hill East as part of SEPTA's diametrical reorganization of its lines; trains continued on to the

Trenton Line The Trenton Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail (commuter rail) system. The route serves the northeastern suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with service in Bucks County along the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey. Route Trenton ...

. The R-number naming system was dropped on July 25, 2010. , most Chestnut Hill East Line trains continue through Center City to the Trenton Line. SEPTA activated

positive train control Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains a ...

on the Chestnut Hill East Line on July 25, 2016. On April 9, 2020, service on the line was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, though and stations were still being served by other rail services. Service resumed on June 28, 2020.

Stations

The Chestnut Hill East line makes the following station stops after leaving the

; stations indicated with a gray background are closed. All stations are located within the city of Philadelphia.

Ridership

Yearly ridership on the Chestnut Hill East Line between FY 2013–FY 2018 was steady around 1.4–1.6 million. Ridership declined in FY 2019 and then collapsed during the

Notes

References

External links

SEPTA – Chestnut Hill East Line scheduleReading Company Routes and Mileages
{{Delaware Valley transit SEPTA Regional Rail Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia Germantown, Philadelphia Mount Airy, Philadelphia