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SEPTA Employees Strike in Philadelphia; Authority Reopens Major Artery
More than 4,700 members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 employed in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) City Transit Division went on strike at midnight Nov. 1 in Philadelphia, affecting about 400,000 daily riders.
As Passenger Transport went to press, the strike shut down all SEPTA service within the city limits except for Regional Rail, including other rail services, bus routes and trolley routes.
Regional Rail lines operate between the suburbs and downtown and through downtown, with stops at downtown-located stations. Because of the strike, SEPTA added extra Regional Rail runs to increase frequency and asked customers to be alert to crowding at Center City stations, located in downtown.
All suburban bus routes are scheduled to operate on regular schedules, as is the paratransit service, CCT Connect.
SEPTA Ambassadors were stationed at Center City stations to answer travel questions and help customers.
In a statement released the morning of Nov. 1, SEPTA stated, “SEPTA negotiators stand ready and willing to continue bargaining, and the authority urges Mr. [TWU President Willie] Brown and TWU leadership to return to the bargaining table to negotiate an agreement that will end a severely disruptive work stoppage.”
According to the statement, SEPTA hopes to reach a tentative agreement with the union before Election Day, Nov. 8, adding, “If we foresee an agreement will not come to pass, SEPTA intends to seek to enjoin the strike for November 8th to ensure that the strike does not prevent any voters from getting to the polls and exercising their right to vote.”
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney issued a statement calling for the two sides to continue working to reach a resolution, saying, “Tens of thousands of Philadelphians rely on the buses, trolleys and subways, so it is vital for everyone that this situation be resolved as quickly as possible.” Published reports said the sides were expected to resume negotiations.
SEPTA serves Philadelphia and suburbs in Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks and Chester counties and is the nation’s sixth largest public transit system by ridership.
Authority Reopens Critical Transit Artery
About a week before the strike, SEPTA unveiled the Crum Creek Viaduct, which originally opened in 1895 and became part of SEPTA’s Media/Elwyn rail line in 1983, ensuring that the line would continue to provide service. (Media/Elwyn is a Regional Rail line and so continues to operate during the strike.)
More than three decades after SEPTA acquired the viaduct from Conrail, it required replacement to ensure safe and efficient rail service for the nearly 11,000 daily riders.
SEPTA Board Chairman Pasquale T. Deon Sr. said the agency was only able to complete the work with dedicated funding from state Act 89. The legislation, passed in 2013, provides a stable source of funding for transportation improvements statewide. It has allowed SEPTA to launch dozens of long-needed capital improvement projects throughout the system.
“Less than three years ago, SEPTA was faced with the possibility of discontinuing Media/Elwyn Line service due to a lack of capital funding to address our critical infrastructure needs along this line,” said SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel. “With funding made possible by Act 89, we were able to address critical infrastructure projects on this line, create and support jobs and ensure that this major transportation artery will continue to serve the Delaware County community and the region.”
The accelerated construction design-build project replaced the bridge on the existing rail alignment using outside contractors and innovative contracting and construction processes. SEPTA closed the viaduct, located between two stations, for 11 weeks this summer; during that time, workers constructed the new bridge around the old one, then removed the old bridge and slid the new one into place. The authority operated shuttle buses around the construction site while this was going on.
The new viaduct, designed to last 100 years, is a 735-foot-long steel and concrete structure comprising five long spans, four piers and two abutments that replaced 17 simply supported steel spans.
SEPTA also used Act 89 funds for additional improvements along the rail line.
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PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards and SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel under the newly rebuilt Crum Creek Viaduct holding a lacing bar from the original 1895 structure.
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