Ardmore station (Pennsylvania)

Ardmore station is a train station in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, located on the Pennsylvania Main Line. The station serves several Amtrak Keystone Service trains daily, as well as all SEPTA Paoli/Thorndale Line local regional rail trains. The station is 8.5 miles (13.7 km) from Suburban Station in Center City Philadelphia, and travel time to Suburban Station is 22 minutes on SEPTA local trains.

This article is about the station serving Amtrak and SEPTA. For other uses, see Ardmore#Transportation.

Ardmore, PA
Amtrak and SEPTA station
The low-level platform at the renovated Ardmore station in April 2022.
General information
Location39 Station Avenue
Ardmore, Pennsylvania
United States
Coordinates40.0083°N 75.2903°W / 40.0083; -75.2903
Owned byAmtrak[1]
Line(s)Amtrak Keystone Corridor
(Philadelphia to Harrisburg Main Line)
Platforms2 side platforms
Tracks4
Connections
Construction
Parking196 spaces (109 permit, 87 public daily)
Bicycle facilities3 racks (12 spaces)
Other information
Station codeAmtrak: ARD
Fare zone2 (SEPTA)
History
Opened1870[2]
Rebuilt1957
ElectrifiedSeptember 11, 1915[3]
Passengers
FY 202238,570 annually[4] (Amtrak)
2017821 boardings, 749 alightings (weekday average)[5] (SEPTA)
Rank22 of 146 (SEPTA)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Paoli
toward Harrisburg
 Keystone Service Philadelphia
toward New York
     Pennsylvanian does not stop here
Preceding station SEPTA Following station
Haverford
toward Thorndale
 Paoli/​Thorndale Line Wynnewood
toward Temple University
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station
Bryn Mawr
toward Harrisburg
 Keystone Service
Before 1988
 Narberth
toward Philadelphia–Suburban
Paoli
toward Pittsburgh
 Pennsylvanian Philadelphia
toward New York
Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station
Haverford
toward Chicago
 Main Line Narberth
toward New York or Exchange Place
Haverford
toward Paoli
 Paoli Line Wynnewood
toward Suburban Station
Location

The station is situated in a large residential population and sees its fair share of reverse commuters.

In 2017, the average total weekday SEPTA boardings at this station was 821, and the average total weekday SEPTA alightings was 749.[6]

History

Original station
Ardmore station c. 1875

The original station at Ardmore was designed by the firm of Wilson Brothers and Company of Philadelphia as a two-story stone structure with a slate roof.[7]

The walls were built of gneiss stone laid irregularly with sandstone lintels. It had a daylight basement by virtue of the land sloping to the rear, which served as housing for the agent, containing a bedroom, dining room, kitchen, and living room. The ground floor waiting room measured 20x35 feet, a ladies' room measuring 14x18 feet, a gentleman's smoking room 11x12 feet, a baggage room 8x12 feet, a telegraph office and ticket office of 9x18 feet, and a bedroom. The second story had three bedrooms and the signal tower.[7]

Pennsylvania Railroad

The Pennsylvania Railroad operated commuter rail services at Ardmore until merging with the New York Central in 1968 becoming the Penn Central which then filed for bankruptcy in 1970. Conrail was then responsible for operating all the former PRR commuter rail services including over the Main Line to Paoli/Thorndale Line until 1983 when SEPTA took over all regional rail operations in South Eastern Pennsylvania.

Old Ardmore station on Amtrak's Keystone Corridor Philadelphia-Harrisburg "Main Line", demolished April 2022

Transit-oriented development

Lower Merion Township has considered plans to replace the station as part of a larger economic revitalization "transit oriented development" (TOD) project for the neighborhood. Parts of the plan, however, relied on using eminent domain to force the purchase of private property, which would then be transferred to a private developer. For this reason, it met significant opposition among some members of community.[8]

In 2008 the plan of developer Dranoff Properties[9] for the TOD project was accepted and the Philadelphia-based company was named to develop a $180 million mixed use project for the station area with ground breaking anticipated in 2012.[10] In August, 2010, the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program of the State of Pennsylvania made a $9 million grant to the project following an earlier $6 million grant made in 2008.[11]

Future
PRR commuter rail time table between Ardmore and Philadelphia, 1966

While Ardmore is the busiest station on the line, it is currently very underdeveloped, consisting of only low-level platforms and small canopies. However, the station is currently undergoing a major upgrade, that will bring high-level platforms, a full canopy, footbridge, and covered parking deck. The project started in January 2022 and is expected to take around 18 months to complete.[12][13]

Station layout

An Amtrak QuikTrak machine is available in the station. SEPTA permit parking is available at the station, and the township provides additional metered parking in nearby lots. The station has two low-level side platforms with pathways connecting the platforms to the inner tracks.

Side platform, doors will open on the right
Track 4 ←      Paoli/​Thorndale Line toward Paoli, Malvern or Thorndale (Haverford)
←      Keystone Service toward Harrisburg (Paoli)
Track 3 ←      Paoli/​Thorndale Line toward Paoli, Malvern or Thorndale (Haverford)
←      Pennsylvanian does not stop here
Track 2 ←      Pennsylvanian does not stop here →
←      Paoli/​Thorndale Line toward Suburban Station or Temple University (Wynnewood) →
Track 1 ←      Keystone Service toward Philadelphia or New York (Philadelphia) →
←      Paoli/​Thorndale Line toward Suburban Station or Temple University (Wynnewood) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right

References
  1. "Transportation Planning for the Philadelphia–Harrisburg "Keystone" Railroad Corridor" (PDF). Federal Railroad Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  2. Existing Stations in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
  3. "Electric Service Begins on the P.R.R." The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 12, 1915. p. 4. Retrieved August 22, 2020 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  4. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2022: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" (PDF). Amtrak. June 2023. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  5. "Fiscal Year 2021 Service Plan Update". SEPTA. June 2020. p. 24. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
  6. "Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Service Plan" (PDF). SEPTA. pp. 43–46.
  7. Berg, Walter G. (1893). Buildings and Structures of American Railroads. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 315–316.
  8. Why the fuss about this block?, The Save Ardmore Coalition, retrieved 19 Feb 2008
  9. "Can Do Carl" Archived 2015-07-02 at the Wayback Machine MainLine Today. February, 2009
  10. "Ardmore Station" (The Ardmore Transit Oriented Development Project) ArdmoreStation.com
  11. "Pennsylvania invests $9M more into Dranoff’s Ardmore Station project" Philadelphia Business Journal, August 9, 2010
  12. "Work On Ardmore SEPTA Station To Last 18 Months". Ardmore-Merion-Wynnewood, PA Patch. January 10, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  13. Laughlin, Jason (June 28, 2019). "SEPTA commits $34 million to build new Ardmore train station". The Inquirer. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
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