Norristown High Speed Line

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Norristown High Speed Line
(Route 100)

Locale	Delaware and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania
Transit type	Rapid transit
System length	13.4 mi (21.57 km)
No. of lines	1
No. of stations	22
Track gauge	4ft 8½ in (1435 mm)
Operator	SEPTA

The Norristown High Speed Line (NHSL), operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) as Route 100 of the Suburban Transit Division, is an interurban operating between Upper Darby, Pennsylvania's 69th Street Terminal and Norristown, Pennsylvania's Norristown Transportation Center, running entirely on its own right-of-way, inherited from the Philadelphia and Western Railroad, an interurban streetcar line. Some people still refer to the line as the P&W in reference to that carrier. The line is unique in its combination of transportation technologies. The line is fully grade separated, collects power from a third rail, and has high-level platforms common to rapid transit systems, but has small vehicles, onboard fare collection, and frequent stops more common to light rail systems.

[edit] Service

The fare as of 2006 is $2.00 cash on board, or $1.30 using prepurchased tokens, with an additional $0.50 zone charge when travelling in more than one zone. The service runs seven days a week, from about 5:00 AM in the morning to 1:00 AM at night.

Map of the Red Arrow Lines showing the current SEPTA Route 100 (blue); the former branch to Strafford is dashed, as well as former trolley Routes 101-104 (red, still in use, and orange, disbanded)

[edit] Extension to King of Prussia

There is a proposal to extend Route 100 to serve the King of Prussia Mall and Valley Forge office parks. The 4.9 mile extension would branch from the existing line just north of the Hughes Park station, continue westward along the Norfolk Southern Morrisville Line right-of-way, and then northward through King of Prussia to Valley Forge. This extension would include 2.2 miles of elevated track.

It is projected that this extension would add an additional 3,800 daily riders. SEPTA already has enough N-5 rail vehicles to cover this extended service. It would also complement the planned Schuylkill Valley Metro line that will have a "Cross-County" segment that will also use the Norfolk Southern freight line from King of Prussia to Glenloch near Exton.

[edit] History

See also: Philadelphia and Western Railroad

Ridership on the Norristown line peaked in 1973 with 2,860,000 annual linked trips, and again in 1980 with 2,579,000 annual linked trips.

Ridership statistics for fiscal years 2000 and later are from SEPTA Annual Service Plans. Data for years 1972 to 1997 are from the SEPTA 1997 Ridership Census. There may be some discrepancy in how the ridership is reported since the Annual Service Plans report total unlinked trips, while the ridership census uses linked trips, which may exclude passengers transferring from other lines.

[edit] Station list

[edit] See also

• List of rapid transit systems

[edit] References

• U.S. Urban Rail Transit Lines Opened From 1980 (PDF)
• US DOT Planning Report