The Frequencies of Frequent Let Down: SEPTA’s Regional Rail

Sunday, Aug 11 2024

Philadelphia is an American icon. During its beginning, it served as the birthplace of the United States, where the Declaration of Independence was signed. It blossomed into a bustling industrial hub in the 20th century, growing into the bustling metropolis we know today. However, we must also remember that Philadelphia was built on rails. The passenger trains that we know and love today, once and still, make up a crucial backbone of transportation in the city. Perhaps you’ve heard of it: SEPTA’s Regional Rail. A gargantuan infrastructural masterpiece built by the Reading and Pennsylvania railroads (Yes, the same ones on the Monopoly board!) SEPTA’s regional rail is arguably one of the best commuter/suburban rail services on the North American continent. Its core, the Center City tunnel, connects the former Reading and Pennsylvania railroads to create one goliath of a system—allowing trains to run from the far lands of Thorndale, Pennsylvania, all the way into and through Center City, and out the other end to another polar opposite far-land we know as Doylestown, Pennsylvania. 

SEPTA's Jefferson Station (formerly Market East), a critical Regional Rail Station in the Center City tunnel that serves the areas surrounding 8--12th & Market Sts.

However, while SEPTA’s Regional Rail has some of the best infrastructural bones of any commuter rail system in the United States, with not even New York City having a crucial central city tunnel like Philadelphia’s, the Regional Rail’s biggest problem is maybe one that is of relative ease to fix: its train frequency. The trains simply do not come often enough. For instance, during weekday rush hours on its Lansdale/Doylestown Line, the second busiest line on Regional Rail, only 7 inbound trains run during a 3-hour span from 6 AM to 9 AM at Fort Washington station—which has quite high ridership already—and provide essentially what is a half-hourly service. During off-peak times, trains then switch to coming on the hour. Frequencies on the hour are typical of trains such as Amtrak’s Northeast Regional, which runs from Washington to Boston, not local commuter trains that cover a fraction of the distance intercity Amtrak trains cover. 

The crippled frequency of regional rail is simply a lost opportunity to create genuinely one of the most robust commuter rail systems in the world. More trains bring more passengers, and in a budget-tight transit authority like SEPTA, the increased ridership that raised frequencies bring can be an effective means of recovering ridership back to pre-pandemic levels—something the authority has been trying to do since. Ultimately, passenger transit is obviously about serving the passengers, and running trains on adequately increased frequencies is a proper step to taking these excellent rail roots and growing them into a blossoming system that can serve its passengers to their full potential. SEPTA’s regional rail deserves more, and so do its passengers. Increase. The. Frequencies. 

Bibliography

“The Beginnings of American Railroads and Mapping | History of Railroads and Maps | Articles and Essays | Railroad Maps, 1828-1900 | Digital Collections | Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/collections/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900/articles-and-essays/history-of-railroads-and-maps/the-beginnings-of-american-railroads-and-mapping.

SEPTA Service Planning Department Route Statistics 2023. 2023, planning.septa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2023-ROUTE-STATS-WEB-1.pdf. Alan Fisher. “Fixing Philadelphia’s Regional Rail!” YouTube, 30 Apr. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENait4eRKa4. 

Cmires. “Commuter Trains.” Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia, 16 Mar. 2022, philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/commuter-trains. DeGraw, Ronald. “Regional Rail: 

The Philadelphia Story.” TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH RECORD, vol. 1433, 1994, onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1994/1433/1433-014.pdf. 

RMTransit. “The City That Might Be the US’s Transit Capital.” YouTube, 10 Aug. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX8B-na6eis. 

SEPTA Service Planning Department. “SEPTA Route Statistics 2023.” planning.septa.org, Sept. 2023, planning.septa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2023-ROUTE-STATS-WEB-1.pdf. Accessed 11 Aug. 2024.