PHILADELPHIA, PA — SEPTA will receive $80 million in federal funding to make three Philadelphia trolley stations fully accessible, advancing a broader modernization of a network that carries more than 60,000 riders through the Center City tunnel each day.
The Federal Transit Administration grant will fund accessibility improvements at SEPTA’s 22nd Street, 33rd Street and 36th Street stations, according to U.S. Sen. John Fetterman.
The work will include new elevators and raised platforms designed to bring the stations into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The three stations are among the busiest in SEPTA’s trolley network and provide access to the Center City Trolley Tunnel, which connects riders with employment centers in Center City and University City.
The award comes through the FTA’s All Stations Accessibility Program and forms part of SEPTA’s broader Trolley Modernization initiative, which is intended to improve accessibility, safety and reliability across the system.
“With this announcement, ASAP funding is now supporting a total of eight SEPTA Metro station accessibility projects,” SEPTA General Manager Scott A. Sauer said.
Fetterman wrote to FTA Acting Executive Director Jamie Pfister in April in support of SEPTA’s application for the grant.
“This money will make all the difference for our seniors, for Pennsylvanians with disabilities, and for anyone who relies on SEPTA,” Fetterman said.
The $80 million award follows a separate $13.3 million FTA grant disclosed last week to support replacement of SEPTA’s roughly 50-year-old Silverliner IV Regional Rail cars.
SEPTA also recently broke ground on an accessibility overhaul at 11th Street Station on the Market-Frankford Line. That project was funded in part through the same federal accessibility program.
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