Septa Going Ahead With Projects To Refurbish Media-Elwyn Rail Beds
By Michelle Durham
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Septa officials are beginning an ambitious capital improvement project to repair century-old bridges that provide a base to parts of the Media-Elwyn regional rail line.
The transit agency is noting that legislation passed last year in Harrisburg paves the way to fund it.
"Before the passage of (Pennsylvania) Act 89, we were really in a crisis situation with the Media-Elwyn line," says Septa deputy general manager Jeffrey Knueppel. "Their service realignment plan and the conditions out there pretty much led us to believe that we were only going to be able to be in operation another two years on the Media-Elwyn line, despite that line seeing a 20-percent increase in riders since 2000."
There will be service interruptions during the weekends, beginning this fall. Kneuppel says the Cobbs, Darby, Crum, and Ridley viaducts have a combined age of 474 years.
Also, he adds, the Secane station will be refurbished. And in the summer of 2016 the Crum Creek viaduct must be completely replaced, so service will be out for ten weeks during that time, Kneuppel warns.
