The Silver Line is a Pittsburgh Light Rail line that operates between Pittsburgh's North Shore and Library, Pennsylvania via Downtown and the neighborhoods of Knoxville and Overbrook, as well as Castle Shannon and Bethel Park. The line is owned and operated by Pittsburgh Regional Transit.
History The line from South Hills Junction to Castle Shannon (now called the Overbrook Line) was first constructed by the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad (P&CSRR) between 1872 and 1874. In 1905 Pittsburgh Railways leased the route and between 1909 and 1910 converted it from narrow gauge to dual gauge and installed overhead power for trolleys. South of Washington Junction the line split into two branches, one going southwest towards Washington, Pennsylvania (a portion of which remains as part of the current Red Line), and the other south towards Finleyville, Pennsylvania, later extended to Monongahela with two further branches to Donora and Charleroi, respectively, the latter would be later extended to Roscoe.
In 1953, the Roscoe and Donora branches were eliminated, and the trunk line to Monongahela was cut back to the current terminus in Library. This route was designated as 35 Shannon-Library by Pittsburgh Railways Company, and redesignated as 47L Library via Overbrook by successor Port Authority in the 1980s during the Stage I reconstruction of the streetcar system into light rail. In 1988, a derailment forced the Port Authority to retire all of the PCC cars that had not been rebuilt into the 4000-series, leaving only the twelve 4000 PCC's and four "Super 17's" available to serve the Overbrook, Library, and Drake lines, thus necessitating the use of LRV's on at least one of these lines to maintain service. Of the three, the Library line was found to be the best suited to accommodate the larger LRV's with only minor modifications, and the route was modified and redesignated in December, 1988 as the "42L Library via Beechview", which, as the name states, originates on the Library branch, but transverses the Beechview corridor between Castle Shannon and South Hills Junction, as the Overbrook corridor could not accommodate the LRV's.
Between 1999 and 2004, Port Authority undertook a complete reconstruction of the deteriorated Overbrook corridor. During this time, the Lytle stop along the Library branch was rebuilt into a high level platform station, and the terminal of the branch was rebuilt. South of West Library, the stops at Hicks and Pleasant Street were eliminated, and Simmons was replaced with the current Library Station.
The Overbrook corridor was reopened on June 2, 2004, following major work which included doubling of the track and elimination of 22 traditional street level trolley stops in favor of eight new LRV style stations with platforms. At this time, the 42L route was reverted to the 47L to serve the rebuilt line.
The Port Authority closed five stations along the Library branch on June 25, 2012: Martin Villa, Mine 3, Lindermer, Center and Latimer. Other former Library branch stops that were closed include Latimer, Logan, and Leonard. As part of the Authority's new color-coding route system, the 47L was redesignated as Blue Line - Library.
On March 15, 2020, the Library branch of the Blue Line was renamed the Silver Line.
Route From north to south, the line begins at the elevated station on the North Shore, before heading underground to and proceeding beneath the Allegheny River. It continues through Downtown Pittsburgh, stopping at , , and , before surfacing at .
Leaving downtown, the line crosses the Monongahela River via the Panhandle Bridge, stopping at , and then passes through the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel to , where the Red Line diverges and the former Brown Line once branched off to serve the Allentown neighborhood. The Blue and Silver Line then continue south along a modern light rail alignment through the Beltzhoover, Bon Air, Carrick, Brookline, and Overbrook neighborhoods, serving , , , , , , and , all of which are accessible stations.
At station in Bethel Park, the Red Line rejoins, having reached the area via the Beechview neighborhood. The three lines continue through stops at and before reaching , where the Red and Blue lines diverges toward . The Silver Line continues to , with intermediate stops at , , , , , , , , , , and .
Station list The Pittsburgh Light Rail has three types of stations. They are low platform, high platform, and underground. High platform and underground stations are wheelchair accessible as the train doors are level with the platform. Low platform stations are not wheelchair accessible as they require passengers to climb stairs to board the light rail vehicle. Name Miles Type Other services City (Neighborhood)Allegheny 0.00 high platform Pittsburgh (Chateau)North Side 0.51 underground Pittsburgh (North Shore)Gateway 1.00 Pittsburgh (Downtown)Wood Street 1.26 Steel Plaza 1.55 First Avenue 1.88 high platform Station Square 2.41 Pittsburgh (South Shore)South Hills Junction 3.25 Pittsburgh (Mt. Washington)Boggs 3.66 Pittsburgh (Beltzhoover)Bon Air 4.30 Pittsburgh (Bon Air)Denise 5.09 Pittsburgh (Carrick)South Bank 5.49 Pittsburgh (Overbrook)McNeilly 6.73 Baldwin TownshipKillarney 7.06 Castle ShannonMemorial Hall 7.76 Willow 8.31 St. Anne's 8.69 low platform Smith Road 8.97 Washington Junction 9.21 high platform Bethel ParkHillcrest 9.77 low platform Lytle 10.64 high platform Mesta 10.82 low platform South Park 11.03 Munroe 11.38 Sarah 11.90 Logan 12.23 King's School 12.46 Beagle 12.99 Sandy Creek 13.26 West Library 13.45 high platform Library 14.13 South Park
References
External links
Silver Line schedule