| Market-frankford Line |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT MARKET-FRANKFORD LINE | |
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| 1907 establishments | |
The Market-Frankford Line ('''MFL''') (also called the '''Market-Frankford Subway-Elevated Line''' ('''MFSE'''), '''El''' or '''Blue Line''') is a transit line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , run by SEPTA . It begins at 69th Street Terminal just west of the city line in Upper Darby and runs on a private Right-of-way to the city line. From there it is Elevated over Market Street until 46th Street, where it curves off to the north and heads underground, with a portal at 44th Street. At 42nd Street, the tunnel returns to the alignment of Market Street. At 32nd Street, the tunnel carrying the Subway-Surface Lines joins the MFL tunnel. The MFL tracks are in the center and the trolley tracks are on the outside. Several stops have access to only the Subway-Surface lines, and then they end at 13th Street, just after crossing under the Broad Street Line . The Market Street tunnel continues east to Front Street, and then turns north, where it rises in the median of I-95 . I-95 and the line become elevated, and the line heads under the southbound lanes and above Front Street on an elevated structure. The line turns northeast onto Kensington Avenue, which merges with Frankford Avenue. Just north of Bridge Street, a quick curve to the northwest and then to the northeast bring the line to the surface and its terminus at the Frankford Transportation Center . During operation. Trains marked "A" stop only at the stations marked "A" on system maps, and "B" trains stop only at "B" stations. Trains run on the line approximately from 5 AM to 1 AM, and buses provide night service from midnight to 6 AM. HISTORY A bridge to carry the line across the Schuylkill River , just north of Market Street, was built from July 1903 to August 1905 . Construction on the Market Street Elevated began on October 17 , 1904 , and the line opened on March 4 , 1907 from 69th to a loop around City Hall at 15th. The line was elevated west of the river and underground east of the river. The tunnel was also used by streetcar lines, now SEPTA's Subway-Surface Lines , that entered the line just west of the river, and turned around at the City Hall loop. Extensions took the line east to 2nd on August 3 , 1908 , and via several curves to the Delaware River between Market Street and Chestnut Street on September 7 , 1908 . The Delaware Avenue Elevated (also called the Ferry Line, because of the multiple ferries across the river) opened on October 4 , 1908 as a further extension south along the river to South Street. The only two stations on this extension were Market-Chestnut and South Street. The Frankford Elevated opened on , operations were changed to use the Ferry Line only during the day, and not at all on Sunday. In 1939 the line to the ferries was closed. The structure was demolished. A new section of tunnel from 22nd (where the Market-Frankford line started rising towards the Schuylkill River ) to 32nd was built in the 1930s but funding had run out. Construction restarted in 1947 , and the current configuration opened on November 6 , 1955 . The old elevated structure was removed by June 20 , 1956 . New stations for the trolleys were constructed at 30th, 33rd, 36th. The 24th Street trolley station was abandoned. New stations on the MFL were built at 40th, 34th, 30th. Skip-stop operation was begun on January 30 , 1956 . As I-95 was built through Center City Philadelphia in the late 1970s , part of the Frankford El was relocated to I-95's median, and the Fairmount station was replaced with Spring Garden, on May 15 , 1977 . A new tunnel was built for the Subway-Surface Lines under Market Street as far west as 33rd Street, then south under 33rd Street, then west under Ludlow Street to 36th Street, then south under 36th Street to Woodland Avenue, then west under Woodland Avenue to the 40th Street Portal. STATION LIST EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES |
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