SEPTA Watch

Entries in 102 (2)

Thursday, September 24, 2009

7:30AM

People are talking about SEPTA

Posted by

Michael at

7:30 AM under

102,

crime,

joe casey,

r5,

trolley

Who's been saying what about SEPTA lately?

"They never worked anyway," says Rep. Adolph, trying to justifying why he pulled the trolley gates that separated cars from trolleys in Delaware County.
"SEPTA panders to suburban regional rail riders while ignoring bus & trolley riders," says a Daily News op-ed writer, in pushing for a rider's bill of rights.
"Area bridges, including the one that takes the R5 over 52nd Street are falling down, falling down," says an Amtrak document uncovered by the Inquirer.
"Charge 'em, already," say friends & family of Joseph McNair about the SEPTA cop who shot & killed him after a dispute in Montgomery County and who--so far--has not been criminally charged.
"Give wheelchair users equal access," says U.S. District Judge Gene Pratter, in ordering SEPTA to install elevators in City Hall station.
"You'll have to get by with buses for the next four months," says SEPTA to riders of the 102 as federal-stimulus-funded reconstruction begins.

And, finally, the best quote of the week comes from GM Joe Casey. And it's a real quote (unlike those above):

You remember the 30s and 40s where everyone grew up on taking public transportation? My biggest dream is to get people back to that standpoint, so it’s not foreign for them to take the system, everyone knows how to take the system, and they utilize the system everyday. We seem to have a generation that sort of forgot transit for a while. They fell in love with the car. I need to bring those people back.

Can't argue with that.

(image credit.)

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

7:30AM

101 and 102 to get stimulus-funded fixes

Posted by

Michael at

7:30 AM under

101,

102,

expansion,

havens

Retired journalist and Delaware County resident, Edward Havens, writes in with a SEPTA stimulus update for the 101 and 102:

Of the $191 million that SEPTA received for federal stimulus-funded projects, $34 million is earmarked for upgrades to the Media (101) and Sharon Hill (102) light rail lines. The dollar figure is disclosed in an article on SEPTA's website discussing bus substitution starting Sept. 8.

The federal money covers six projects:

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) program, SEPTA is investing $34 million in stimulus funding to complete six projects to improve service reliability and safety on the Route 101 (Media) and Route 102 (Sharon Hill) Trolley Lines.

But that won't be the only work:

Non-stimulus funded improvements will also be made including station upgrades, rail replacement at selected highway crossings, and tie and wood pole replacement.

Bus replacement of the double-ended Kawasaki LRVs will occur over parts or all of the two routes through August 2010.

The schedule is listed here.

The six projects are:

Fiber optic cable for power control, passenger information
Media Line warning device replacement (10 crossings)
Overhead traction power sectionalization for flexibility
Painting of steel catenary line poles
Improvement of trunk line grade crossings
Continuous welded rail for Routes 101/102

The Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers (DVARP) in its latest newsletter reports that one controversial aspect o this project will be the implementation of trouble-plagued Communication-based Train Control (CBTC) to the two broad-gauge routes. DVARP hopes that SEPTA learned its lessons from CBTC slowdowns in the five-route trolley subway and will not duplicate the mistakes.

DVARP also notes that the Media Line warning device replacement at 10 crossings is not necessarily an improvement but a response to a political complaint [as reported on SEPTA Watch, earlier.] A Delaware County lawmaker took up the cause of Springfield area motorists who objected to waiting at gated crossings.

SEPTA's upgrade projects assure the future of the Media-Sharon Hill Lines, inherited from Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Co. ("Red Arrow Lines") in January 1970. SEPTA erected steel line poles for the pantograph-equipped Kawasaki cars but catenary never was installed. Instead, current collection is from simple trolley wire.

The two lines radiate from 69th Street Terminal, Upper Darby, where connections are made to the Norristown High Speed Line (former Philadelphia & Western) and the Market-Frankford subway-elevated.

The Media route was opened in 1913. The Sharon Hill route opened to Clifton in 1906 but did not reach Sharon Hill until 1917. Today, the two routes carry an average of about 8,000 weekday passengers with the Media line having the larger passenger volume.

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