Spring Garden station (SEPTA Metro)

Spring Garden station is a rapid transit station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, serving SEPTA Metro L trains. It is located on Spring Garden Street between 2nd and Front streets in the Northern Liberties neighborhood. It is the westernmost station of the Frankford Elevated section of the line and the last westbound station before trains enter Center City Philadelphia.

Spring Garden
Train leaves Spring Garden station
General information
Location	600 North Front Street[1] Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	39°57′38″N 75°08′25″W
Owned by	City of Philadelphia
Operated by	SEPTA
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	SEPTA City Bus: 25, 43 Greyhound FlixBus OurBus Peter Pan
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Accessible	No, planned[2]
History
Opened	May 16, 1977 (1977-05-16)
Services
Preceding station SEPTA Metro Following station 2nd Street toward 69th Street Transit Center Front–Girard toward Frankford Transit Center
Track layout Legend to Frankford I-95 ( Delaware Expy. ) Spring Garden St. ramp to Callowhill St. to/from I-676 to 69th Street
Location

Though the station's official address is on North Front Street,^[1] it is actually located in the median of the Delaware Expressway (Interstate 95) over Spring Garden Street, just north of the highway's interchange with the Vine Street Expressway (Interstate 676). The station is also served by two SEPTA City Bus routes, the 25 and 43. A oddity is that the trains announce that Route 5 serves here, but it doesn't, it also announces, "At Columbus Boulevard". It's not known why it announces Columbus Boulevard.

History

The platform at Spring Garden station

Spring Garden is one of the newest stations on the line. It opened in 1977 in conjunction with Interstate 95's routing through Philadelphia;^[3] about 1 mile (1.6 km) of the Market–Frankford Line tracks were realigned to the center median the highway. Spring Garden replaced the nearby Fairmount Avenue station, which was original to the Frankford Elevated that began serving trains in 1922.^[4][5] Fairmount Avenue was a "B" train skip-stop station, although that service pattern has since been discontinued.

Spring Garden is one of three stations on the Market–Frankford Line that is not ADA-accessible, the other two being 11th Street and 34th Street stations.^[6] The addition of elevators in the station was announced in SEPTA's 2021–2032 Capital Program proposal; the station platform would be rehabilitated and made accessible to passengers with disabilities by 2026 at an estimated cost of $7.37 million.^[2] The project also includes the renovation of the existing platforms as well as new signage, lighting, and security cameras.^[7]

Station layout

The station has one island platform—unlike most Market-Frankford stations—with a single entrance/exit on the south side of Spring Garden Street. There is also an exit-only staircase that serves the north side of the street.