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  • unneeded full trolley diversion, problem was 41-Chester

  • Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.
Discussion relating to Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (Philadelphia Metro Area). Official web site can be found here: www.septa.com. Also including discussion related to the PATCO Speedline rapid transit operated by Delaware River Port Authority. Official web site can be found here: http://www.ridepatco.org/.

Moderator: AlexC

 #1499544  by Patrick Boylan
 
Why did SEPTA close the trolley subway? Couldn't they find 2 or 3 employees to help wye 3 out of 5 routes? Do they supply no personnel when they use the detour? They certainly lose revenue, since during detours they open the 40th and Market turnstiles.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/septa-troll ... ratransit/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The article says the accident was at 41st and Chester. For our international visitors who aren't familiar with the routes, south to north:
routes 11 and 36 usually use Woodland Ave, route 13 uses Chester Ave. 11 and 36 have a construction detour till August, meanwhile they too use Chester Ave
route 34 uses Baltimore Ave
There are detour, commonly in Philly we call them "diversion", tracks on 42nd St that have a roundabout route that will get them to 40th and Market subway station, the switches allow direct east-north and west-south travel.
Those routes converge at 40th and Woodland and go into the trolley subway to get to center city. The trolley subway has several of its own stations that of course don't get served when the detour's in effect.
The route 10, north of Market St, also has similar detour tracks, also set up for single direction, in this case east-south and north-west, to get to 40th and Market.

Even though the track switches don't directly allow it, with a little bit of personnel on the ground, SEPTA could, and has in the past, wye the 11 13 and 36 at 42nd and Baltimore and send them in Baltimore Ave, which would be much less disruptive than using the full detour. It'd be especially less disruptive for the 34, which would need no wye.
The 10 in fact didn't need any detour, since its subway access is separate. However majority rules, and there is some sense to the idea that if 4 of the 5 routes are detoured then there aren't enough trolleys on the 10 to serve the entire subway, and the 10 doesn't serve 2 of the trolley subway stations anyway.
 #1499736  by redarrow5591
 
The problem was also EXACTLY where the accident was. The section insulator was right over the involved trolley, so if they had to shut down power, it would have killed everything from Baltimore and Chester @ 41st through the Portal complex and the Subway to west of 33rd Street Station; The 10 would have been affected as they are on the same feeder past 38th and Lancaster to 33rd Street.

In addition, the riding public is not intelligent. If you left the 10 and 34 in the subway, pandemonium would have broken out as most people would not think to go to the El and 40th Street for the rest of the lines. It was smarter to divert everything until the accident was cleared.