Franklin Square (PATCO station)

Infobox Station
name=Franklin Square


image_size=
image_caption=
address=6th & Race Streets
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
line=rail color box|system=PATCO|line=Speedline
platform=2 inter-connecting side platforms
tracks=2
opened=June 7, 1936
closed=1979 (low ridership)
owned=Port Authority Transit Corporation
services=s-rail|title=PATCO

Franklin Square is an abandoned PATCO Speedline station located at Franklin Square in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

The station first opened on June 7, 1936, along with 8th Street in Philadelphia and City Hall and Broadway in Camden, New Jersey, as part of Philadelphia Rapid Transit's Bridge Line service. The station was opened for several years before it was closed, citing low ridership.

The station was refurbished and reopened as a PATCO station in 1976, coinciding with the Bicentennial celebration. The station remained open until 1979, when it was closed again due to low ridership.

All PATCO trains pass through this station when they enter Philadelphia. The platform and walkway are usually visible out the left side of the train. The interior is well lit and graffiti free. From the surface, entrances are visible, but sealed by concrete at the intersection of 7th, Franklin and Race Streets. Metal doors, painted blue, on the east side of 6th Street, were the entrance to a never-opened trolley terminal These can be found built into the base of the "Bolt of Lightning" Sculpture, directly across the street from Franklin Square. If coming off the Vine Street Expressway and heading towards the Ben Franklin Bridge, drivers can view these entrances out of their left side as they circle around the base of the sculpture. From this underground terminal, tracks would have been placed in the outer lanes of the bridge, but the system was never built and the lanes are now used by automobiles.

New service

As part of several options aimed at the Philadelphia/South Jersey area, PATCO is considering a new trolley/streetcar service to begin at the Franklin Square Station and continue to Spring Garden Street and Pier 70 along Columbus Boulevard, that could be extended to the redeveloping Navy Yard area and new stadium complexes in South Philadelphia. This service would cost an estimated $700 million ($157.6 million per mile), offering service every 5 minutes at peak times and every 12 minutes off-peak.Under this proposal, the service could be operated by PATCO to allow free transfer to PATCO Riders on the Streetcar/Trolley from a reopened Franklin Square station. [ [http://www.drpa.org/%5Cdrpa%5CTransit_Study_map.html Southern New Jersey to Philadelphia Transit Study: South Jersey Alternative] , accessed December 9, 2006] .

ee also

*Franklin Square (Philadelphia)

External links

* [http://www.trainweb.org/phillynrhs/patco.html National Railway Historical Society - Philadelphia Chapter]
* [http://www.drpa.org/pdfs/55survey_altpa1.pdf Alternative PA-1: Improves South Jersey’s Access to Philadelphia Waterfront Utilizes Abandoned Franklin Square Station]

References