Annual trolley tunnel cleaning blitz begins soon, suspending some trolley service into Center City
Riders can take the Market-Frankford Line in lieu of riding the trolley to and from Center City from 40th Street.
It’s that time of year again.
No, not fireworks or Shore season.
It’s SEPTA’s annual trolley tunnel maintenance blitz, which has been a staple of Philly summers for the last 13 years.
Beginning at 10 p.m. Friday, July 11, the Center City trolley tunnel will be closed as the transit agency replaces worn track; cleans pipes, drains, and vent wells; replaces overhead wires; removes graffiti; upgrades lighting; and other tasks required to keep the system running safely.
The closure will impact trolley Routes 10 [T1], 34 [T2], 13 [T3], 11 [T4], and 36 [T5].
The trolley tunnel will reopen at 6 a.m. Monday, Aug. 11.
During the cleaning blitz, trolleys will begin and end at 40th and Market Streets. Riders who typically take trolleys from West Philly into Center City and back are advised to take the Market-Frankford El.
SEPTA does this yearly work in the summer when ridership is typically lower.
“The blitz gives our crews the opportunity to tackle construction, maintenance, and safety improvement work in a concentrated period of time to reduce the number of outages throughout the year,” SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer said in a news release.
SEPTA will skip the trolley tunnel closure next summer because of the number of events planned to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday, as well as Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, and several World Cup soccer games.
The transit agency’s board last week approved a budget that requires cuts to service beginning in August and increases in rider fares in September. The budget has been referred to as SEPTA’s “doomsday” because of the severity of the cuts, totaling nearly 50% of routes. If additional funding isn’t allocated in Pennsylvania’s budget, more cuts are planned, including five Regional Rail lines.
Funding from Harrisburg will also likely have an impact on SEPTA’s long-discussed Trolley Modernization project, which aims to make the city’s trolley system safer, more efficient, and more accessible. The yearly cleaning blitzes have included work to prepare for these efforts.