SEPTA puts together the real estate for its trolley barn after setbacks

SEPTA’s board Thursday authorized spending $3.4 million to buy the last two parcels of land needed to build an Eastwick maintenance depot for the 130 new light rail cars the authority has purchased to modernize Philadelphia’s streetcar network.

That long-awaited project suffered a setback in early 2021, when SEPTA lost a bid for an abandoned GE plant on Elmwood Avenue to Amazon, which offered the owner millions more than the $5.7 million the transit agency had agreed to pay. Amazon built a warehouse there.

SEPTA had to scramble to find another property that was on a trolley line, big enough for the facility and not subject to flooding, a persistent problem in that area of Southwest Philadelphia.

Eventually it came together. The lots, which add up to a little over 5 acres, are in the 5200 and 5300 blocks of Lindbergh Boulevard, owned by the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development and the Hicks Family Partnership, respectively.

They adjoin a former steel fabricating plant at 5100 Grays Avenue that SEPTA bought in June for $21.8 million, and the properties are on the Route 36 trolley line, which runs from Center City to Eastwick.

In February, SEPTA ordered 130 new vehicles for $714 million to replace its main trolley fleet, which was delivered in the early 1980s. The replacements are to be built by Alstom Transportation Inc. at its plant in Hornell, N.Y.

They’re designed with 44 seats and able to hold as many as 120 people, counting those who stand, and will be accessible to people with disabilities, unlike the boxier Kawasaki LVR trolleys that accommodate half as many passengers. The new vehicles will be 80 feet long and comprised of several sections linked by joints that are covered with accordion-like weatherproofing.

A construction timeline has not been set, but the first test models of the new Alstom trolleys are due to arrive in Philadelphia in 2027, SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said.