Suburban Station

Suburban Station is an art deco office building and underground commuter rail station in Penn Center, Philadelphia. Its official SEPTA address is 16th Street and JFK Boulevard.[2] The station is owned and operated by SEPTA and is one of the three core Center City stations on SEPTA Regional Rail. The station was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad to replace the original Broad Street Station and opened on September 28, 1930.

Suburban
SEPTA Regional Rail station
Front entrance of Suburban Station
Location	16th Street & JFK Boulevard Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Owned by	SEPTA
Line(s)	SEPTA Main Line
Platforms	5 island platforms
Tracks	8
Connections	Broad Street Line at City Hall   Market–Frankford Line at 15th Street   Subway–surface trolley lines at 15th Street SEPTA City Bus: 2, 4, 16, 17, 27, 31, 32, 33, 38, 44, 48, 62 SEPTA Suburban Bus: 124, 125
Construction
Disabled access	Yes
Other information
Fare zone	C
History
Opened	September 28, 1930 (replaced Broad Street station)
Rebuilt	January 9, 2007 (completion)
Electrified	Yes
Previous names	Penn Center Station
Traffic
Passengers (2013)	24,198 (Weekday)
Services Preceding station SEPTA Following station 30th Street Station toward Airport Airport Line Jefferson toward Glenside 30th Street Station toward Chestnut Hill West Chestnut Hill West Line Jefferson toward Temple University 30th Street Station toward Elwyn Media/Elwyn Line 30th Street Station toward Thorndale Paoli/​Thorndale Line 30th Street Station toward Trenton Trenton Line 30th Street Station toward Newark Wilmington/​Newark Line 30th Street Station toward Cynwyd Cynwyd Line Terminus 30th Street Station Terminus Chestnut Hill East Line Jefferson toward Chestnut Hill East Fox Chase Line Jefferson toward Fox Chase Lansdale/​Doylestown Line Jefferson toward Doylestown 30th Street Station toward Penn Medicine Manayunk/​Norristown Line Jefferson toward Norristown-Elm Street Warminster Line Jefferson toward Warminster West Trenton Line Jefferson toward West Trenton
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Philadelphia toward Harrisburg Keystone Service Until 1988 Terminus Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station Philadelphia toward Paoli Paoli Line Terminus Philadelphia toward Hawes Avenue Schuylkill Branch Philadelphia toward West Chester West Chester Branch Philadelphia toward Wilmington Wilmington Line Philadelphia toward Chestnut Hill Chestnut Hill Line Philadelphia toward Trenton Trenton Line
Suburban Station Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of Philadelphia Show map of Pennsylvania Show map of the United States
Location	1617 John F. Kennedy Blvd. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°57′15.30″N 75°10′1.2″W
Built	1929
Architect	Graham, Anderson, Probst & White; Stewart, Joseph, & Co.
Architectural style	Art Deco
NRHP reference No.	85001962[1]
Added to NRHP	September 05, 1985

History

The station opened as a stub-end terminal for Pennsylvania Railroad commuter trains serving Center City Philadelphia, intended to replace the above-ground Broad Street Station in this function. The station's full name was originally Broad Street Suburban Station. It also includes a 21-story office tower, One Penn Center, which served as the headquarters of the PRR from 1930 to 1957.

When Amtrak took over the Silverliner Service from Penn Central in 1972, it was operated as a quasi-commuter service that terminated at Suburban Station.[3][4] The trains were named Keystone Service in 1981.[5][6] By the late 1980s, the Metroliners used for the service were in poor shape, but Amtrak had a shortage of AEM-7 locomotives due to wrecks. On February 1, 1988, Amtrak converted all Keystone Service trains to diesel power and terminated them on the lower level of 30th Street Station, as diesel-powered trains were not allowed in the tunnels to Suburban Station.[6] The change was listed as "temporary" on timetables starting on May 15, 1988 and lasting into 1990.[7][8]

Suburban Station was originally a stub-end terminal station with eight tracks and four platforms. Plans for a tunnel to link the Pennsylvania and Reading commuter lines were floated as early as the 1950s, but funding to seriously study the project did not start until SEPTA's formation in the late 1960s. The project languished in the 1970s for want of funding until federal money was appropriated during Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo's time in office. SEPTA took over operation of all commuter rail service in the Philadelphia area in 1983; it had previously contracted their operations to Conrail from 1976 to 1983 and to PRR and Reading from 1966 to 1976.

The long-awaited link between the old PRR and Reading lines, the Center City Commuter Connection, opened in 1984. It extended four tracks eastward to the new Market East Station (now Jefferson Station), widened two of the existing platforms, added a fifth platform and realigned the tracks. The recently renovated building above is also the core of the Penn Center office complex, and is known as One Penn Center at Suburban Station. The office building attained an Energy Star Rating in 2009.[9]

BLT Architects transformed Suburban Station in 2006. The station was redesigned to make navigation easier and adapt to current pedestrian traffic.[10] Upgrades included increased retail space, a reactivated and improved HVAC system, and a restored/refurbished waiting area. The station is now in full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Comcast Center, situated on the north half of its block near Arch Street, adds a "winter garden" on the south side, which serves as a new back entrance to the station, with the commuter rail tracks about 50 feet below street level.

Services

All SEPTA Regional Rail trains stop at this station. All run through except those on the Cynwyd Line as well as some limited/express trains which terminate on one of the stub-end tracks at this station. Through trains usually change crews at this station.

The station has an extensive concourse level above track level. This concourse has SEPTA ticket offices, retail shops and restaurants, and access to other SEPTA stations and to several Center City buildings. The connections, via the large Center City Concourse, include the Broad Street Line at City Hall station, the Market-Frankford Line and Subway-Surface Lines at the 15th Street station, and the PATCO Speedline at 15–16th & Locust station.[11]

Station layout

The station has a total of 8 tracks and 5 island platforms.

G	Street level	Exit/entrance, buses
B1	Concourse	Ticketing, shops, Downtown Link concourse to 15th Street/City Hall stations
B2 Platform level	Track 7	←      Paoli/​Thorndale Line toward Thorndale (30th Street Station)
	Island platform
	Track 6	←      Cynwyd Line toward Cynwyd (30th Street Station)
	Track 5	← No regular service
	Island platform
	Track 4	←      Paoli/​Thorndale Line toward Thorndale (30th Street Station) ←      Trenton Line toward Trenton (30th Street Station)
	Island platform
	Track 3	←      Chestnut Hill West Line toward Chestnut Hill West (30th Street Station) ←      Airport Line toward Airport (30th Street Station) ←      Wilmington/​Newark Line toward Newark (30th Street Station) ←      Media/Elwyn Line toward Elwyn (30th Street Station)
	Track 2	←      Airport Line toward Glenside (Jefferson) → ←      Warminster Line toward Warminster (Jefferson) → ←      West Trenton Line toward West Trenton (Jefferson) → ←      Chestnut Hill East Line toward Chestnut Hill East (Jefferson) →
	Island platform
	Track 1	←      Fox Chase Line toward Fox Chase (Jefferson) → ←      Lansdale/​Doylestown Line toward Doylestown (Jefferson) → ←      Manayunk/​Norristown Line toward Norristown-Elm Street (Jefferson) →
	Island platform
	Track 0	← No regular service

Gallery

• 
  Aerial view of Suburban Station
• 
  Regional Rail platforms
• 
  Underground entrance
• 
  Waiting area
• 
  Concourse shops
• 
  Concourse shops
• 
  Entrance to the concourse

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
2. SEPTA | Suburban Station
3. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT: 1972" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.
4. Nationwide Schedules of Intercity Passenger Service. National Railroad Passenger Corporation. October 29, 1972. p. 43 – via Museum of Railway Timetables.
5. Amtrak National Train Timetables. Amtrak. October 25, 1981. p. 22 – via Museum of Railway Timetables.
6. Baer, Christopher T. (April 2015). "A GENERAL CHRONOLOGY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY ITS PREDECESSORS AND SUCCESSORS AND ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT: 1980-1989" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.
7. Amtrak National Train Timetables. Amtrak. May 15, 1988. p. 65 – via Museum of Railway Timetables.
8. Amtrak National Train Timetables. Amtrak. April 1, 1990. p. 69 – via Museum of Railway Timetables.
9. "Suburban Station". Emporis.com. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
10. BLTa Architects: Suburban Station
11. "Downtown Link Center City Concourse". SEPTA. Retrieved September 2, 2019.

External links

Media related to Suburban Station (SEPTA) at Wikimedia Commons

• SEPTA - Suburban Station
• Pennsylvania Railroad - Suburban Station (Pennsylvania Railroad Stations; Past & Present)
• JFK Boulevard and 17th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• JFK Boulevard and 18th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• JFK Boulevard and 16th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• 16th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
• Main entrance from Google Maps Street View
• JFK Boulevard and 15th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View