Chestnut Hill East Line

Chestnut Hill East Line
Overview
Type	Commuter rail line
System	SEPTA Regional Rail
Status	Operating
Termini	Chestnut Hill 30th Street Station
Daily ridership	5,852
Website	septa.org
Operation
Operator(s)	SEPTA
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Standard gauge
Electrification	Catenary
Route map Legend 30th Street Station Suburban Station Market East Temple University Manayunk/Norristown Line Wayne Junction Warminster Line, West Trenton Line Lansdale/Doylestown Line, Fox Chase Line Fishers closed 1992 Wister (old location) closed Wister Wingohocking closed Church closed Germantown formerly called "Chelten Avenue" Walnut Lane closed Washington Lane Stenton Gorgas closed Sedgwick Mount Airy Mermaid closed 1930 Wyndmoor Gravers Chestnut Hill East

The Chestnut Hill East Line (formerly called R7 Chestnut Hill East), is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail (commuter rail) 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.

History

The Chestnut Hill East Line uses the Reading Company right-of-way, which was originally constructed by the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown (PG&N) railroad before the American Civil War. The PG&N intended to build a railroad from Philadelphia to Norristown but stopped when construction reached Germantown due to the hilly nature of the terrain west of Germantown and along the Wissahickon Creek, which they would have had to cross to reach Norristown. The PG&N decided to change course and build another railroad line close to the Schuylkill River. This line would become SEPTA's Manayunk/Norristown Line. The original railroad line that ended in Germantown was then extended north with a sharp right hand turn and then northwest to its present terminus in Chestnut Hill (where the Chestnut Hill West Line also has a terminus only a few hundred yards away).

The line was elevated in 1930. Electrified service to Chestnut Hill (and to Norristown) was opened on February 5, 1933.

Name change

On July 25, 2010 SEPTA renamed the service from the R7 Chestnut Hill East to simply the Chestnut Hill East Line as part of system-wide service change that drops the R-number naming and makes the Center City stations the terminus for all lines. This also ended the combined R7 Trenton/R7 Chestnut Hill East service.^[1]

List of stations

All of the stations on this line are within the City of Philadelphia. Boarding data is from FY2010, and includes all lines that serve that station. Stations on this line include:

Zone	Milepost	Station	Boardings	City	Notes
C	0.8	Spring Garden Street	0	Philadelphia	station closed
	2.1	Temple University	3,122		moved to its present location in 1992
1	4.0	Tioga	0		station closed
	4.3	Nicetown	0		station closed
	5.1	Wayne Junction	628		Warminster Line, West Trenton Line, Lansdale/Doylestown Line, Chestnut Hill East Line and Fox Chase Line
	5.7	Fishers	0		station closed
	6.1	Wister	65
	6.5	Wingohocking	0		station closed
	6.8	Germantown	131		Originally called Germantown Junction as original Germantown terminal at Germantown Avenue and Price Street was still in use when opened. Also once called Chelten Avenue (not to be confused with Chelten Avenue station on the Chestnut Hill West Line)
2	7.7	Walnut Lane	0		station closed and replaced by Washington Lane
	7.8	Washington Lane	204
	8.6	Stenton	484
	8.7	Gorgas	0		station closed and replaced by Stenton before 1910
	8.9	Sedgwick	278		Station was originally called Mount Pleasant; renamed for Sedgwick Farms development
	9.3	Mount Airy	306
	9.8	Mermaid	0		Station closed for grade separation project on or about April 1, 1930; passengers to use rebuilt Wyndmoor station
	10.0	Wyndmoor	726
	10.3	Gravers	147
	10.8	Chestnut Hill East	296		Station two blocks from Chestnut Hill West Line station

Ridership

Fiscal year	Average weekday	Annual passengers
FY 2010	5,852	1,681,865[2]
FY 2009	5,840	1,679,405[3]
FY 2008	5,770	1,658,300[4]
FY 2005	4,481	1,258,100
FY 2004	3,937	1,105,040
FY 2003	4,027	1,290,700
FY 2001	n/a	1,321,000
FY 2000	n/a	1,373,000
FY 1999	n/a	1,292,000
FY 1997	n/a	1,248,242
FY 1996	n/a	1,329,326
FY 1995	4,388	1,353,094
FY 1994	4,598	932,917
FY 1993	3,547	602,621
Note: n/a = not available

References

1. ^ "List of new SEPTA schedules". http://www.septa.org/schedules/rail/index.html. 
2. ^ http://www.septa.org/reports/pdf/asp12.pdf
3. ^ http://www.septa.org/reports/pdf/asp11.pdf
4. ^ http://www.septa.org/reports/pdf/asp10.pdf

External links

• SEPTA – Chestnut Hill East line schedulePDF