SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill East Line to close for three months for repairs
The Chestnut Hill East line will be closed until Sept. 2.
SEPTA plans to stop service on the Chestnut Hill East line for three months starting Sunday to repair five bridges along the 18-mile route.
Nine stops spanning Chestnut Hill, East Mount Airy, and Germantown will be without train service from Sunday to Sept. 2. The quintet of suspended structures targeted in what SEPTA calls the “Chestnut Hill East Bridge Rehabilitation Project” were rated “poor” in a recent study, meaning they will need fixes and upgrades to stay usable.
What that does not mean, according to SEPTA spokesperson Kelly Greene, is that the bridges pose a threat to riders.
“‘Poorly rated’ does not mean unsafe,” Greene said. “We just want to be proactive and repair these bridges before replacing them would be necessary.”
The closures were scheduled to make sure they affected the fewest rides possible, Greene added: Most students are out of school during the summer, she said, and many commuters are vacationing or working remotely.
Still, SEPTA plans to run three extra weekday trains in both directions along its Chestnut Hill West line while Chestnut Hill East remains out of use, the authority said.
The bridge project will unfold as riders in Chestnut Hill and across the city brace for the potential impact of SEPTA’s funding crisis. Without enough money to close a $215 million cash gap before August, officials say, they will have to run nearly all transit modes and routes less often; their current plan to deal with the shortfall ends service altogether on lines that rent part of their track from Amtrak.
The Chestnut Hill East line would face reduced service. Chestnut Hill West, which runs on federal rails around the North Philadelphia station, near Fairhill, would permanently shut down in January if the funding gap is not closed, Greene said.