SEPTA moving to drop rail-line initials

Soon it may be time to say goodbye to SEPTA's R5 Regional Rail line. And the R3. And every other "R" line.

SEPTA won't get rid of the lines, just the R's.

The transit agency is making plans to replace the R designations with the ultimate destination names. So, the R8/Chestnut Hill West would become simply the Chestnut Hill West line, and the R8/Fox Chase would become just the Fox Chase line.

SEPTA says visitors and infrequent riders sometimes get on the wrong trains, confused by different lines with the same R designations.

If SEPTA follows through with the proposed name changes, they likely would be made in late July. Harry Garforth, SEPTA's manager of rail planning, described the changes at a meeting last week of the SEPTA Citizen Advisory Committee's Regional Rail subcommittee.

SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said no final decision had been made to remove the R designators.

"It's something we're leaning toward, but it's still under active discussion," he said.

"It's a huge undertaking with a lot of ramifications for the system and the public, so there's a lot of planning that has to go into the change," said Matthew Mitchell, of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers. He noted that with many other changes in the works for SEPTA rail service, including new cars and, eventually, an automated fare system, "this might be the best time to make such a change. We're effectively relaunching the railroad, and we'll hope all the attention gets more people to try the service."

David Forde, chairman of the Citizen Advisory Committee, said the panel was "not in favor of this change, but we are more than willing to work with SEPTA as they work to implement this significant change."

Forde said the change could be too confusing for riders. He said SEPTA must have a "clear, coordinated, and sustained education campaign with improved signage and an increase in the number of maps in our stations so that riders, both new and experienced, will be able to get to their destination without confusion."

Currently, SEPTA's 13 train routes are labeled R1 through R8, except that there is no R4. And there are two different final destinations for each R route, except for the R1 line, the airport branch.

For instance, some R3 trains terminate at Media or Elwyn in Delaware County. Other R3's run to West Trenton. Regular commuters know the difference between the R3/Media-Elwyn line and the R3/West Trenton line, but SEPTA says passengers unfamiliar with the system can easily end up on the wrong train.

The R designations were created when SEPTA completed the Center City Commuter Tunnel in 1984, connecting the former Pennsylvania and Reading systems. Instead of terminating at Suburban Station or the Reading Terminal, trains could operate through to the other end of the line. An R7 train could run from Trenton to Chestnut Hill East, for example.

But today, most rail trips don't run from one end of a line to the other. Only 33 percent of weekday trips are end-to-end runs, according to SEPTA.

Many trains go to Center City, then to a rail yard to be sent out on another line. And 19 percent change R designations as they leave Center City without stopping in a yard.

Vukan R. Vuchic, a University of Pennsylvania transportation professor who was a creator of the R designation system 25 years ago, has said SEPTA was making a mistake in trying to get rid of it. He said he was concerned that SEPTA would use the R-designation change to alter how it operates the train system.

He said the agency had never tried to fully use or make passengers aware of the through-travel potential offered by the Center City tunnel.