T5 (SEPTA Metro)

The T5 (Elmwood Avenue line) is a trolley line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) that connects the 13th Street station in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Eastwick Loop station in Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia, although limited service is available to the Elmwood Carhouse. It is the longest of the five lines that are part of the Subway-Surface Trolley system, and was even longer between 1956 and 1962 when the western terminus was at 94th Street and Eastwick Avenue. From 1962 through the 1970s, it was at 88th Street and Eastwick Avenue, making the route long. Since 1975, it only goes as far as what was once 80th Street at the southern edge of the Penrose Plaza shopping center parking lot.

Route description

Starting from its eastern end at the 13th Street, Route T5 runs in a tunnel under Market Street. It stops at underground stations at 15th Street/City Hall, 19th Street, 22nd Street, 30th Street, and 33rd Street. From 15th to 30th Streets, it runs on the outer tracks in the same tunnel as the L.

Passengers may transfer free of charge to the L at 13th, 15th, and 30th Streets and to the B at 15th Street/City Hall. Connections to the SEPTA Regional Rail are also available. Underground passageways connect the 13th and 15th Street Stations to Jefferson Station and Suburban Station.

The T5 surfaces at the 40th Street Portal near 40th Street and Baltimore Avenue (US 13), runs southwest along Woodland Avenue along with the T4 trolleys, then turns down 49th Street where the Woodland Carhouse. After 49th Street crosses over the Wilmington/Newark Line, it takes a sharp right curve as the road becomes Grays Avenue. The T5 runs along Grays south of the Wilmington/Newark Line until it makes a diagonal move southwest onto Lindbergh Boulevard. Shortly after leaving Grays, the line intersects with 54th Street and crosses over a bridge for the Philadelphia Subdivision freight line, and immediately intersects with a road running along the line leading to Bartram's Botanical Garden, the oldest surviving botanical garden in North America.

Just before Lindbergh Boulevard becomes a divided highway east of 56th Street, the line moves onto Elmwood Avenue. From there it crosses over the Airport Line, continuing westward until it enters a residential area and makes a left turn at a five-way intersection that includes Elmwood Avenue, Island Avenue and Passyunk Avenue on the southeast corner. The northeast corner is the location of the Elmwood Depot on Island Avenue. Tracks runs northward along Island Avenue as far north as Woodland Avenue, which handles pull-ins/pull-outs for the T3 and T4 trolleys.

Island Avenue is a wide boulevard with the T5 tracks down the middle, until the road divides at Buist Avenue, where the tracks run down the median, and a trolley stop exists. Another stop exists at Tanager Street. South of Tanager Street, the southbound Island Avenue lane crosses over the tracks, and they now run between the main road and southbound frontage road. The next stop is South 76th Street, which intersects with the frontage road. The Route T5 line crosses Lindbergh Boulevard again, where it has its own stop in the median on the far sides of Lindbergh Boulevard in each direction. The southwest corner also includes the Penrose Plaza Shopping Center, which spans the west side of Island Avenue as far down as the terminus of the T5. The T5 swings away from the main road of Island Avenue a short time later and the line ends at the Eastwick Loop next to the southwest corner of the shopping center parking lot (separated by a fence), which is accessible from a U-Turn beneath the Island Avenue bridge over the SEPTA Airport Line, and is four blocks east of Eastwick Railroad Station. SEPTA plans to expand the regional rail station and possibly merge it with an extension of the T5 to an adjacent trolley station, transforming it into the Eastwick Transit Center.

Due to a recent multi-year PENNDOT reconstruction project on Island Avenue, trolleys are temporarily terminating at Elmwood Avenue & 73rd Street, with a bus bridge from there to Eastwick Loop. Free transfers between bus and trolley are available at 73rd and Elmwood. The project involves the extension of the main road south of Tanager Street and the elimination of the crossover. The main road now crosses over the tracks near Suffolk Avenue south of Lindbergh Boulevard, and the frontage road begins south from there to the Loop.

At the same time, new accessible trolley platforms are being built along the right of way for the new light rail fleet at each of the stations except for 76th Street, which will be discontinued due to its closeness to Tanager Street and Lindbergh Boulevard.

History

The T5 was established as the Elmwood Avenue Line in 1904 by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company. Original streetcar service operated between Island Road and Elmwood Avenue via Center City on Market Street to Front & Market Streets. Service rerouted into the Subway-Surface Tunnel and extended to the Westinghouse Plant in Essington on November 5, 1955, replacing Route 37 trolley service. OWL (24-hour) service transferred from Route 37 to Route 36 (T5) at the same time. At the western terminus, service was cut back to 94th Street & Eastwick Avenue on September 9, 1956. Service was cut back again to 88th Street on August 15, 1962, Service was cut back a third time to 84th Street on January 5, 1966, but extended back to 88th Street on December 11, 1972. Service was cut back to 80th Street & Eastwick Avenue on April 26, 1975. In 1985, Island Avenue was converted into a new bridge over the SEPTA Airport Line near the station, and the intersection of 80th Street and Eastwick Avenue was replaced by a frontage road loop on the north side of the tracks. Despite the elimination of the 80th Street intersection, trolleys still sign their destination as 80th Street – Eastwick. Originally, the trolley sign showed the previous name Eastwick.

In 2021, SEPTA proposed rebranding their rail transit service as "SEPTA Metro", in order to make the system easier to navigate. Under this proposal, the subway–surface lines were rebranded as the "T" with a green color and numeric suffixes for each service. Route 36 was renamed "T5". SEPTA described that "most comments were positive" in the public comment period for this rebranding project.

Under SEPTA's trolley modernization plan, roughly half of the existing T5 trolley stops will be discontinued, and the remaining stops will be upgraded to have ADA compliant station platforms.

Stations and stops

All are in the City of Philadelphia.

References

External links

Official SEPTA Route 36 schedule and map

{{SEPTA , state=autocollapse

36
Railway lines opened in 1904
Tram routes in Philadelphia
1904 establishments in Pennsylvania