{"id":610,"date":"2009-05-27T00:34:14","date_gmt":"2009-05-27T04:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/?p=610"},"modified":"2009-05-27T00:35:16","modified_gmt":"2009-05-27T04:35:16","slug":"patco-makes-plans-to-reopen-franklin-square-station-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/patco-makes-plans-to-reopen-franklin-square-station-in-philadelphia\/","title":{"rendered":"PATCO makes plans to reopen the Franklin Square station in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"GHOSTSTATION29P1\"<\/a>

John Matheussen, president of PATCO, surveys the closed Franklin Square station. 7\/26\/07. (Michael S. Wirtz \/ Inquirer). The Franklin Square station on the PATCO line in Old City is a ghost station, closed since 1979. There is talk of reopening it as part of a possible expansion of PATCO.<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s a railfan’s dream come true! The Franklin Square subway station may be reopening! All those years of passing through it – its silence deafening – left me wondering if it would ever see passengers again. Well it just may!<\/p>\n

The Transport Politic just made me aware<\/a> of a story published last week in the Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a> that discussed just what is going on with PATCO and its downtown Philadelphia subway stations. Here’s what the Inquirer article has to say about the proposed plans:<\/p>\n

The 73-year-old subway station beneath Franklin Square, last used in 1979, will be remodeled and reopened to PATCO commuter trains<\/strong>, Delaware River Port Authority chairman John Estey said yesterday.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Four other subterranean PATCO stations in Philadelphia and two in Camden also will get face-lifts this year<\/strong>, with new flooring, lights, security cameras, and stainless-steel columns, port authority officials said yesterday. The upgrades, which require board approval next month, will cost about $9.6 million and be paid for with the agency’s controversial “economic development” money.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

The port authority’s consulting engineers are examining the station to determine how much work is needed to reopen it. Chief executive John Matheussen estimated it would cost at least $5 million to $10 million to install elevators and make the station meet modern standards.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here’s what the Inquirer article has to say about the current physical state of the Franklin Square station:<\/p>\n

Franklin Square Station has been preserved much as it was when it closed.<\/strong> PATCO riders can still glimpse its shadowy platforms and green-and-white tiled walls on their way to and from New Jersey.<\/p>\n

But the gaudy orange foyer, with its 1970s-era fare lists (35 cents to Philadelphia stations, 75 cents to Lindenwold) and multilingual instructions on “How to Go PATCO,”<\/strong> have long been hidden from view.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article goes on to give a brief history of the station. It’s well worth the read.<\/p>\n

The Transport Politic also mentions a plan to reopen the Spring Garden station on SEPTA’s Broad Ridge Spur and also extend the route of the\u00a0 Spur trains into the Locust Street subway.<\/p>\n

Here are some of my photos of the currently closed Franklin Square station:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>
\nEastbound platform at Franklin Square station (abandoned) on PATCO as seen on 8\/11\/2003.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nWestbound platform at Franklin Square station (abandoned) on PATCO as seen on 12\/29\/2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a railfan’s dream come true! The Franklin Square subway station may be reopening! All those years of passing through it – its silence deafening – left me wondering if it would ever see passengers again. Well it just may! … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,28],"tags":[285,283,282,281,169,168,170,71,395],"class_list":["post-610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-railfanning","category-subway","tag-abandonded","tag-brs","tag-bss","tag-patco","tag-philadelphia","tag-philly","tag-septa","tag-station","tag-subway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.railfanwindow.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}