Penn Medicine Station

Penn Medicine Station (formerly University City station) is a train station in the University City section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the SEPTA Regional Rail system. The station serves the area around the University of Pennsylvania, and is located at South Street and Convention Avenue. Located on the West Chester Branch, it serves the Airport, Fox Chase, Lansdale/Doylestown, Manayunk/Norristown, Media/Wawa, Wilmington/Newark, Warminster, and West Trenton Regional Rail services. In 2013, this station saw 3,091 boardings and 2,950 alightings on an average weekday.^[5]

Penn Medicine Station
Penn Medicine Station platform
General information
Location	3149 Convention Boulevard Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates	39°56′52″N 75°11′25″W
Owned by	SEPTA
Line(s)	West Chester Branch
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	SEPTA City Bus: 30, 40, 42, 49, LUCY
Construction
Bicycle facilities	10 rack spaces[1]
Accessible	Yes[2]
Other information
Fare zone	CC[3]
History
Opened	1995 (1995)
Previous names	University City Penn Medicine–University City
Passengers
2017	2,605 boardings, 2,518 alightings (weekday average)[4]
Rank	5 of 146
Services
Preceding station SEPTA Following station Eastwick toward Airport Airport Line 30th Street Station toward Glenside Terminus Chestnut Hill East Line (weekends and major holidays) 30th Street Station toward Chestnut Hill East Fox Chase Line 30th Street Station toward Fox Chase Lansdale/​Doylestown Line 30th Street Station toward Doylestown Manayunk/​Norristown Line 30th Street Station toward Norristown–Elm Street Warminster Line 30th Street Station toward Warminster West Trenton Line 30th Street Station toward West Trenton 49th Street toward Wawa Station Media/Wawa Line 30th Street Station toward Temple University Darby toward Newark Wilmington/​Newark Line
Track layout Legend  WAW  NWK  to Center City South St. to Convention Ave. and UPenn ( Northeast Corridor )  WAW  NWK [note 1] CSX Harrisburg Sub. (W. Phila. Elevated) Airport Line to Philadelphia Airport Media/Wawa Line to Wawa Station Wilmington/Newark Line to Newark
Location

The station is less than a block from the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field and the Palestra. It is one block away from the medical campuses of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The rest of the University of Pennsylvania campus, Drexel University campus, and the Graduate Hospital campus and the neighborhood across the Schuylkill River are also nearby and easily accessible.

History

University City station was conceived in 1979 by the City of Philadelphia as Civic Center, under which name it appeared as "proposed" on SEPTA informational maps of the 1980s. The name had been abandoned by the time construction began in 1991. The station instead opened with the regionally descriptive name of University City on April 24, 1995.^[6]

The station has a blue and red color scheme, a nod to Penn's colors.

On January 27, 2020, SEPTA announced that the station would be renamed Penn Medicine Station after selling naming rights to Penn Medicine for $3.3 million in a 5-year deal.^[7]

Routes served

Since its inception, the station has been a stop for all trains on the five SEPTA rail lines which pass through the station, including rush-hour express trains on the Wilmington/Newark and Media/Wawa lines; thus it has a high level of service at all times.^[6] Even though not all lines serve it, Penn Medicine is listed in timetables and other SEPTA literature as one of the five Center City Philadelphia (CCP) stations, and falls within the CCP Regional Rail fare zone.

The station is also served by SEPTA bus route 40 which runs along South Street, and bus routes 30, 42, 49, and the LUCY Green Loop from the nearby corner of Convention Avenue and Health Sciences Drive.

Station layout

Penn Medicine Station has one high-level island platform serving both tracks.