PHILADELPHIA RAPID TRANSIT CO.
The present rapid transit facilities of the City of Philadelphia include Market St. Subway-Elevated line extending East from the 69th St. Terminal to the Delaware River. The tracks are elevated from 66th St. to 22nd St. and pass in subway under the business section to another elevated section on Delaware Ave. This line first began service in 1905 and during the year 1920 handled approximately 80,000,000 passengers.
As far back as 1912 an exhaustive study of the city’s transportation facilities was made and a comprehensive program of extensions was proposed for the rapid transit system. Owing to legislative delays, and conditions due to the war, progress has been delayed on this program so that so far only the Frankford Elevated line has been built. This is now nearly ready for operation, from the foot of Market Street to Frankford, a distance of 6.4 miles all double tracked. Other extensions planned for construction in the near future include a four-track subway running north and south under Broad Street, and an elevated line extending from the present Market Street line at West Philadelphia to Darby.
The present elevated-subway system is double tracked throughout and multiple unit trains up to seven cars each are operated on headways down to two minutes. No express service is operated, all trains making every stop.
Philadelphia Rapid Transit Elevated and Subway Lines
Train on Market Street Elevated, Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company