The T3, formerly Route 13, is a light rail line that connects 13th Street station in Center City, Philadelphia, with Yeadon and Darby, Pennsylvania. It is one of the five T services of the SEPTA Metro.
Route description Starting from its eastern end at the 13th Street, the T3 runs in a tunnel under Market Street. It makes stops at underground stations at 15th Street/City Hall, 19th Street, 22nd Street, Drexel Station at 30th Street, and 33rd Street. From 15th to 30th Streets, it runs on the outer tracks of the Market Street subway, beside the L.
Passengers may transfer free of charge to the L at 13th Street, 15th Street/City Hall, and Drexel Station at 30th Street and to the B at 15th Street. Connections to the SEPTA Regional Rail are also available. Underground passageways connect the 13th Street and 15th Street/City Hall Stations to Jefferson Station and Suburban Station.
The T3 surfaces at the 40th Street Portal near 40th Street and Baltimore Avenue (US 13), and then runs southwest along Woodland Avenue shortly before moving to Chester Avenue. An alternate line existing along 42nd Street itself joins the T3 for several blocks. This line is used when tunnels are closed for maintenance or other unforeseen shutdowns. The line runs on a bridge over the Media/Wawa Line at 49th Street, however, it does not serve as an official stop as it is located at the intersection of 49th Street and Chester Avenue just east of the station. A track along 49th Street allows for T3 service cutbacks, and is the pull-in/pull-out route for the T4 to access Baltimore Avenue a few blocks north.
Mount Moriah Cemetery cuts off Chester Avenue at 61st Street, so the line makes a left turn at 60th Street then returns to the southwest at Kingsessing Avenue. At the southwest corner of the cemetery, the line stops at the Mount Moriah station, and some LRVs use the loop since they do not go to either Yeadon or Darby. For those that do, they continue west on Kingsessing Avenue until it reaches 65th Street where it turns northwest. At Chester Avenue, 65th Street is staggered and the line navigates a left hand S-turn to rejoin 65th Street north of Chester Avenue. The line continues northwest along 65th Street and crosses over the Cobbs Creek Parkway, as well as Cobbs Creek which separates Philadelphia and Delaware Counties. It then immediately turns onto another section of Chester Avenue, on its way to Yeadon station. Fernwood–Yeadon station is further north of this terminus and has no connection. However the SEPTA Suburban Bus Routes 68 and 108, which do lead to Fernwood-Yeadon cross the line east of Yeadon Loop at the Church Lane intersection.
West of Yeadon Loop, some LRVs continue along Chester Avenue until it reaches its terminus at Cedar Avenue, where westbound and eastbound tracks split along 10th Street and 9th Street respectively. The tracks on 10th Street run straight, while those on 9th Street briefly run along Summit Street. At Main Street, where 10th Street ends, the westbound tracks turn left and proceed south to the next block at Darby Transit Center, which is primarily served by the T4, as well as numerous Suburban Division buses. Although service ends at Darby Transit Center, the tracks continue east along Main Street to access Elmwood District along the tracks of the T4.
History Trolley service on the T3, then Route 13, originally operated from Yeadon to Front & Chestnut Streets via Chestnut and Walnut Streets. Service was rerouted into the Subway-Surface Tunnel on September 9, 1956.
Service to was extended to Darby following the discontinuation of the Route 62 Darby–Yeadon shuttle trolley on January 24, 1971.
Route 13 was renamed as the T3 on February 24, 2025.
Stations and stops All are in the City of Philadelphia or the boroughs of Yeadon or Darby.
Neighborhood/locationStation or stopConnectionsNotesMarket East: SEPTA City Bus: Closed between 12:30–5:00amPenn Center SEPTA Regional Rail: all lines (at Suburban): SEPTA City Bus: SEPTA Suburban Bus: Late night terminus: SEPTA City Bus: SEPTA Suburban Bus: Center CityWest: SEPTA City Bus: SEPTA Suburban Bus: Replaced 24th Street stationUniversity City Amtrak (at 30th Street) NJ Transit: Atlantic City Line (at 30th Street) SEPTA Regional Rail: all lines (at 30th Street): SEPTA City Bus: No direct passage to 30th Street Station: SEPTA City Bus: Serves Drexel University: SEPTA City Bus: Serves University of Pennsylvania: SEPTA City Bus: Serves University of Pennsylvania, Children's Hospital of PhiladelphiaSpruce Hill: SEPTA City Bus: End of T2 concurrencyChester–WoodlandDiscontinued; end of T4–T5 concurrency41st–Chester ()Discontinued42nd–Chester SEPTA City Bus: 43rd–Chester45th–Chester46th–ChesterSquirrel Hill47th–Chester48th–Chester49th–Chester SEPTA Regional Rail: SEPTA City Bus: Kingsessing51st–Chester52nd–Chester53rd–Chester54th–Chester SEPTA City Bus: 55th–Chester56th–Chester57th–Chester58th–Chester SEPTA City Bus: Mount Moriah59th–ChesterChester–60th60th–Kingsessing61st–Kingsessing62nd–KingsessingMount MoriahElmwood65th–KingsessingChester–65thBelmar–65thWindsor–65thCobbs Creek–65thYeadon65th–ChesterChurch–Chester SEPTA City Bus: SEPTA Suburban Bus: Yeadon–ChesterDuncan–ChesterStetser–ChesterYeadonAlfred–ChesterLimited serviceCedar–ChesterLimited serviceDarbyCedar–9th ()Mulberry–10th ()Limited serviceSummit–9th ()Wycombe–10th ()Limited serviceSummit–10th ()Summit–9th ()Limited serviceRidge–10th ()Ridge–9th ()Limited serviceMain–10th ()Limited serviceDarby Transit Center: SEPTA Suburban Bus: Limited service
References
External links
Official T3 schedule