View source for Center City Commuter Connection

{{Short description|Railway tunnel in Center City Philadelphia}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2010}}
{{Infobox tunnel
|name         = Center City Commuter Connection
|image        =  Train emerging from the Center City Commuter Connection at the Market East Station, Philadelphia PA.jpg
|image_size=300px
|caption      = Train emerging from the Center City Commuter Connection at [[Jefferson Station (SEPTA)|Jefferson Station]] 
|location     = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
|coordinates  =
|system       = [[SEPTA Regional Rail]]
|start        = [[Suburban Station]], [[Walnut–Locust station]]
|end          = Portal near 8th and Spring Garden Streets
|stations     = 2
|startwork    = June 22, 1978
|opened = {{start date|1984|11|12}}
|owner        =
|operator     = [[SEPTA]]
|traffic      = Rail
|character    = Passenger
|construction = 1978–1984
|length       = {{convert|1.8|mi|abbr=on}}
|linelength   =
|tracklength  =
|notrack      = 4
|gauge        = {{RailGauge|ussg|allk=on}}
|speed        = {{convert|40|mph|abbr=on}}
|el           = [[Overhead line]], [[SEPTA's 25 Hz traction power system|12 kV 25 Hz AC]]
|hielevation  =
|lowelevation =
|height       =
|grade        =
|map = {{Center City Commuter Connection}}
}}
[[file:CC Commuter Tunnel.jpg|thumb|alt=Plaque from the American Society of Civil Engineers in Jefferson Station|The [[ASCE]] plaque in [[Jefferson Station (SEPTA)|Jefferson Station]]]]
[[file:CC Commuter Tunnel 2.jpg|thumb|alt=Plaque from the city government of Philadelphia in Jefferson Station|City plaque in Jefferson Station]]
The '''Center City Commuter Connection''' (CCCC), commonly referred to as "the commuter tunnel", is a passenger railroad [[tunnel]] in [[Center City, Philadelphia|Center City Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, The tunnel was built to connect the stub ends of the two separate regional commuter rail systems, which were originally operated by [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] and the [[Reading Company]], two rival rail companies.

All of the [[SEPTA Regional Rail]] lines except for the [[Cynwyd Line]] pass completely through the four-track tunnel, which contains two underground stations, [[Suburban Station (Philadelphia)|Suburban Station]] and [[Jefferson Station (Philadelphia)|Jefferson Station]], and the above-ground upper-level concourse for the east–west commuter lines serving [[30th Street Station]].

==Planning and development==
[[Suburban Station]], located at 16th Street and JFK Boulevard, was the underground terminus of the [[commuter rail]] lines of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] (PRR). The [[Reading Company]] (RDG) ran trains on an elevated approach above city streets into the [[Reading Terminal]], located at 12th and Market Streets (one block west of where [[Market East Station (Philadelphia)|Jefferson Station]] was built). The connection, the first of its kind in the United States, was built to allow trains to run through Philadelphia's downtown central business district, by uniting the commuter lines of the two rail systems.

R. Damon Childs was a junior land planner with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission when he proposed the CCCC to permit through-routing of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the [[Reading Railroad]] suburban lines. There already was a {{convert|0.8|mi|adj=mid}} subway from 16th Street to 20th Street, a portion of the trackage connecting Suburban Station with 30th Street Station to the west. The tunnel project extended four of Suburban Station's eight tracks {{convert|1.7|mi}} eastward. The proposed tunnel addition would pass just north of City Hall and then pass over the [[Broad Street Line|Broad Street Subway]]. The tracks would run under Filbert Street, would then curve to the north after 11th Street, pass under the Ridge Avenue Subway spur line, and run northward under 9th Street, ascending to join the Reading embankment near Spring Garden Street. Underground replacement for Reading Terminal—originally to be called 11th Street Station—was part of the Market East redevelopment project. At first the idea seemed preposterous because it required excavation under [[Philadelphia City Hall]], one of the most massive buildings in the world, but it was nevertheless incorporated by [[Edmund N. Bacon]] into the city's 1960 Comprehensive Plan.

Groundbreaking for the tunnel project was on June{{nbsp}}22, 1978.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hine |first1=Thomas |title=Today, light at the start of the tunnel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer/129015962/ |access-date=28 July 2023 |newspaper=Philadelphia Inquirer |via=Newspapers.com |date=June 22, 1978 |pages=1–2}}</ref> It took six years to complete at a cost of $330{{nbsp}}million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.330|1978|r=1}} billion in {{Inflation/year|US}}).<ref name=Snags /> Federal funds, through the [[Federal Transit Administration]] (then called the Urban Mass Transportation Administration), paid for 80{{nbsp}}percent of the project, state funds accounted for 16.66{{nbsp}}percent, and city funds covered the remaining 3.33{{nbsp}}percent. On April{{nbsp}}28, 1984, a free shuttle service began operating between [[Suburban Station (Philadelphia)|Suburban Station]] and [[Market East Station (Philadelphia)|Market East Station]]. Trains on the former PRR lines began providing service through the connection to and from Market East on September{{nbsp}}3, 1984. The last train from [[Reading Terminal]] departed on November{{nbsp}}6, 1984. After allowing for final track connections to be made, trains from the former Reading Railroad began using the tunnel on November{{nbsp}}10, 1984. The Center City Commuter Connection, the four-track (two tracks in both directions) standard-gauge rail link between Suburban Station and the new [[Market East Station (Philadelphia)|Market East Station]], formally opened for business on November{{nbsp}}12, 1984.<ref name=Snags>{{Cite news|last=Nussbaum|first=Paul|date=1984-11-12|title=Tunnel test a success, SEPTA says|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-tunnel-test-a/165268288/|access-date=2025-02-12|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer/129015451/ 6] |via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}}</ref> The old approach to Reading Terminal was then abandoned. It is still mostly present, and is now known as the [[Reading Viaduct]], being actively converted  to a [[linear park]] (Phase 1 opened in 2018). The new 11th St has two platforms which are {{Convert|850|ft}} long and {{Convert|35|ft}} wide.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKY4AQAAMAAJ&q=philadelphia+city+center+tunnel+platform+length&pg=PA97 | title=Center City Commuter Rail Connection, Philadelphia: Environmental Impact Statement| year=1975}}</ref>

Bernard Goldentyer was the CCCC Project Manager for the City of Philadelphia, making him responsible for coordinating the efforts over a dozen different contracts totaling over $250{{nbsp}}million. The key to the project was supporting and underpinning Reading Terminal which is a historic structure and keeping all the utilities, including phone lines, in Center City intact while the project was done. In a nod to Chinatown for tolerating the construction, artisans and masons were brought in from China to create the Chinatown Arch.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20120106_B__Goldentyer__81__engineer_on_city_rail_tunnel.html|title=B. Goldentyer, 81, engineer on city rail tunnel|first=Walter|last=Naedele|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer|date=January 6, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.philadelphiahistory.org/objects/chinatown-friendship-arch/|title=Chinatown "Friendship Arch" |publisher=Philadelphia History Museum |date=May 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219075801/https://philadelphiahistory.org/objects/chinatown-friendship-arch/ |archive-date=February 19, 2023}}</ref>

Approximately 22 trains per hour run per track {{as of|2014|lc=y}}.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 7, 2014 |title=Analyzing the Potential for Commuter Train Run-Through Service at New York Penn Station |url=http://www.irum.org/20140807_Amtrak_NYP_Thru_Running_Assessment.pdf |access-date=December 29, 2022 |publisher=Amtrak}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Philadelphia}}
*[[North–South Rail Link]], a set of proposals for a similar project in [[Boston]]
*[[Oslo Tunnel]], a similar project in [[Oslo]], [[Norway]]
*[[Regional Connector]], a similar project for a light rail tunnel in [[Los Angeles]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{coord|39.953655|-75.166566|type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-PA|display=title}}
{{SEPTA |state=autocollapse}}
{{Crossings navbox
|structure       = Crossings
|place           = [[Schuylkill River]]
|bridge          = 30th Street-Suburban Station connector
|bridge signs    = 
|upstream        = [[Vine Street Expressway Bridge]]
|upstream signs  = 
|downstream      = [[John F. Kennedy Boulevard Bridge]]
|downstream signs = 
}}

[[Category:Railroad tunnels in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Transportation buildings and structures in Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Tunnels completed in 1984]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Underground commuter rail]]
[[Category:Tunnels in Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Rail transportation in Philadelphia]]