Tram systems in Philadelphia
Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, in the northeastern United States. Situated on the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, it is a major centre for business, education and culture. The city played a central role in American independence and is known for landmarks including Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
Philadelphia’s public transport network includes subway and elevated railways, trams, buses and regional trains. SEPTA provides most services within the city and its surrounding Pennsylvania suburbs, with its subway, elevated and trolley services grouped under the SEPTA Metro name. Regional Rail connects central Philadelphia with the wider metropolitan area and Philadelphia International Airport.
Philadelphia’s trams are known locally as trolleys. The network comprises three distinct groups, serving the city and neighbouring communities in Delaware County:
- T lines: Five routes, T1–T5, combine street running in West and Southwest Philadelphia with a shared tunnel into Center City. Some routes continue beyond the city boundary into Delaware County.
- G line: The Girard Avenue route, formerly Route 15, runs across North and West Philadelphia between 63rd Street & Girard Avenue and Richmond Street & Westmoreland Street. It uses rebuilt PCC streetcars, with buses also used to provide the service.
- D lines: Two suburban routes link 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby with Media (D1) and Sharon Hill (D2). They share a section to Drexel Hill Junction before separating, and operate largely on their own right of way.
Together, these services provide a mixture of urban street tramways, subway-surface operation and suburban light rail. The Lines tab provides an overview of the individual routes.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) operates all of Philadelphia’s trolley services, alongside the city’s principal subway, elevated, bus and regional rail networks.
Useful official links:
Philadelphia’s first horse-drawn streetcars began operating in 1858. Running on rails provided a smoother journey than the horse buses they replaced, and the expanding network helped residential development spread beyond the city centre.
Cable traction was introduced on some routes during the 1880s, but electric operation became the lasting solution. Philadelphia’s first electric streetcar line opened in 1892, and the remaining horse services had disappeared by 1897. Previously independent operators were progressively consolidated, with the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT) taking control of the principal city network in 1902.
An important development came in 1906, when the city’s trolley subway opened beneath Market Street. It allowed trams from western neighbourhoods to reach central Philadelphia underground, avoiding congested surface streets while retaining their existing outer routes.
In 1955, the tunnel was extended west beneath the Schuylkill River, with portals serving the surface routes in West Philadelphia. This established the basic arrangement of today’s subway-surface network, combining underground operation through the centre with street running farther out.
West of Philadelphia, a separate network developed under the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company. Its routes connected the western suburbs with the city’s transport system, including the Media line, which opened on 1 April 1913.
The company became the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company in 1936, adopting the Red Arrow Lines identity. Although its routes to West Chester and Ardmore were subsequently replaced by buses, the Media and Sharon Hill lines survived. SEPTA assumed operation of the Red Arrow network in 1970, bringing these suburban tramways under the same authority as the city services.
The PRT was reorganised as the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) in 1940. Modern PCC streetcars, first introduced in Philadelphia in 1938, became an important part of its fleet.
Nevertheless, the tram network contracted substantially after the Second World War. Bus conversions accelerated following National City Lines’ acquisition of control of the PTC in 1955. SEPTA took over the city transport system in 1968, but further tram withdrawals followed during the 1970s and 1980s.
New Kawasaki light rail vehicles arrived in the early 1980s for the subway-surface and surviving suburban lines. This investment renewed the fleets on those routes, while the remaining city streetcar routes continued to decline. In 1992, tram operation ceased on Routes 15, 23 and 56, leaving the subway-surface and Media–Sharon Hill services as the surviving operational networks.
Trams returned to Route 15 on Girard Avenue in 2005, using rebuilt PCC cars originally constructed in 1947. The restoration brought traditional streetcars back to a city route outside the subway-surface network.
Trolley operation was suspended again in January 2020, with buses providing the service while road construction and another extensive vehicle rebuilding programme took place. Rebuilt PCC cars returned on 16 June 2024, operating alongside buses.
More recently, SEPTA’s Metro branding has grouped the surviving trolley services as the T lines for the subway-surface routes, the G line for Girard Avenue and the D lines for Media and Sharon Hill. These retain three distinct parts of the region’s once much larger tramway network.
Philadelphia currently has 8 tram lines, which are listed below.
| Line | Description |
|---|---|
| T1 | Line T1 runs between 13th Street and 63rd Street & Malvern Avenue via City Hall, 30th Street and Lancaster Avenue. |
| T2 | Line T2 runs between 13th Street and 61st Street & Baltimore Avenue via City Hall, University City and Baltimore Avenue. |
| T3 | Line T3 runs between 13th Street and Yeadon, with limited services continuing to Darby Transit Center, via City Hall, University City and Chester Avenue. |
| T4 | Line T4 runs between 13th Street and Darby Transit Center via City Hall, University City and Woodland Avenue. |
| T5 | Line T5 runs between 13th Street and 80th Street/Eastwick via City Hall, University City, Elmwood Avenue and Island Avenue. |
| G | Line G runs between 63rd Street & Girard Avenue and Richmond Street & Westmoreland Street via Philadelphia Zoo, Broad Street and Fishtown. |
| D1 | Line D1 runs between 69th Street Transit Center and Orange Street/Media via Drexel Hill, Springfield and Springfield Mall. |
| D2 | Line D2 runs between 69th Street Transit Center and Chester Pike/Sharon Hill via Drexel Hill, Clifton Heights and Aldan. |
Philadelphia’s trolley network uses Pennsylvania broad gauge, approximately 1,581 mm (5 ft 2¼ in). The system combines traditional street tramways, underground running and suburban routes on reserved track.
The T lines operate on surface tracks in West and Southwest Philadelphia before entering a shared tunnel into Center City. T1 uses the portal at 36th Street, while T2–T5 enter at 40th Street. Much of the surface network shares streets with road traffic, although some sections have reserved track. The G line is a surface streetcar route along Girard Avenue and Richmond Street.
The suburban D1 and D2 share a reserved alignment from 69th Street Transportation Center to Drexel Hill Junction, where they separate for Media and Sharon Hill. Their infrastructure includes double-track and single-track sections, with street running through central Media.
Electrical power is supplied through overhead wiring. The city Kawasaki cars use 600 V DC collected by trolley poles. The suburban Kawasaki cars use pantographs, distinguishing them from the city fleet.
The T lines use Kawasaki light rail vehicles introduced in the early 1980s, commonly known as K-cars. These are single-section, high-floor vehicles with a driving cab at one end and passenger doors on the right-hand side. They normally operate individually, with loops allowing them to turn at termini. Boarding involves steps, and the vehicles do not provide wheelchair access.
The D lines use a related Kawasaki design from the same period. These vehicles have driving cabs at both ends and doors on both sides, allowing them to reverse direction without a turning loop. Like the city K-cars, they are high-floor vehicles.
The G line uses rebuilt PCC streetcars, originally constructed by the St. Louis Car Company in 1947. Following an earlier reconstruction for their return in 2005, the cars underwent another extensive rebuilding programme before returning to service in June 2024. They retain their traditional appearance but incorporate modern equipment and wheelchair lifts. Buses also supplement the route’s tram service.
SEPTA has ordered 130 Alstom Citadis low-floor articulated trams, with an option for a further 30, to replace its existing trolley fleets. The new vehicles will provide step-free boarding and more passenger space. SEPTA’s current programme schedules vehicle and system testing for 2029–2030, followed by fleet delivery and deployment during 2030–2034.
SEPTA is developing infrastructure improvements along T5, formerly Route 36, as part of its Trolley Modernization programme. Planned works include accessible boarding platforms, shelters, seating, improved lighting and passenger information. Revised stop spacing, intersection changes and improvements to traffic signals are intended to make journeys faster and more reliable.
Construction is currently scheduled to take place in phases during 2027–2030, with completion targeted for 2030.
Accessibility improvements are planned at several stations in the trolley tunnel. In September 2026, SEPTA received an $80 million federal grant towards rebuilding 22nd Street, 33rd Street and 36th Street stations. The projects include lifts between street level and the underground boarding areas, raised platforms and other improvements to provide step-free access.
Separate accessibility projects at 19th Street and 37th Street stations are also in design. These schemes form part of the wider programme to make the trolley network accessible.
A new trolley maintenance and storage facility is planned at 5100 Grays Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia. It will provide workshops, maintenance bays and storage tracks to support the modernised network. SEPTA currently schedules phased construction for 2027–2030, with completion targeted for 2030.
A City–Suburban Track Connector is also planned between the D2 terminus at Sharon Hill and the T4 route at 9th & Main Streets in Darby, via Chester Pike. The connection will allow suburban trams to reach the Grays Avenue facility for heavy maintenance. It is intended for maintenance movements and will not provide a passenger service between the two routes.
The connector’s published programme schedules design for 2027–2028 and construction for 2029–2031.