The Chestnut Hill East Line (formerly called R7 Chestnut Hill East), is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail

SEPTA Regional Rail

The SEPTA Regional Rail system consists of commuter rail service on thirteen branches to over 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States and its suburbs. Service on most lines runs from 5:30 AM to midnight...

 (commuter rail) system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown

Germantown (SEPTA station)

Germantown Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at Chelten Avenue and Baynton Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The station is in zone 1 on the Chestnut Hill East Line, on former Reading Railroad tracks, and is 6.8 track miles from Suburban Station...

, Mount Airy

Mount Airy (SEPTA station)

Mount Airy Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 119 East Gowen Avenue between Devon and Sprague Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station building is in the National Register of Historic Places and was built in 1875 with Frank Furness as the architect, according to the Philadelphia...

, and Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill East (SEPTA station)

Chestnut Hill East Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 102–04 Bethlehem Pike at Chestnut Hill Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current station building was built in 1931 by the Reading Railroad....

. It is one of two lines that serve Chestnut Hill, the other one being the Chestnut Hill West Line

Chestnut Hill West Line

The Chestnut Hill West Line , is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill...

.

History

The Chestnut Hill East Line uses the Reading Company

Reading Company

The Reading Company , usually called the Reading Railroad, officially the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road and then the Philadelphia and Reading Railway until 1924, operated in southeast Pennsylvania and neighboring states...

 right-of-way, which was originally constructed by the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown (PG&N) railroad before the American Civil War. The PG&N intended to build a railroad from Philadelphia to Norristown but stopped when construction reached Germantown due to the hilly nature of the terrain west of Germantown and along the Wissahickon Creek

Wissahickon Creek

Wissahickon Creek is a stream in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, it runs about 23 miles passing through and dividing Northwest Philadelphia before emptying into the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia...

, which they would have had to cross to reach Norristown. The PG&N decided to change course and build another railroad line close to the Schuylkill River. This line would become SEPTA's Manayunk/Norristown Line

Manayunk/Norristown Line

The Manayunk/Norristown Line is a SEPTA Regional Rail line running from Center City Philadelphia to the Elm Street station in Norristown, Montgomery County.-Route:...

. The original railroad line that ended in Germantown was then extended north with a sharp right hand turn and then northwest to its present terminus in Chestnut Hill (where the Chestnut Hill West Line also has a terminus only a few hundred yards away).

The line was elevated in 1930. Electrified service to Chestnut Hill (and to Norristown) was opened on February 5, 1933.

Name change

On July 25, 2010 SEPTA renamed the service from the R7 Chestnut Hill East to simply the Chestnut Hill East Line as part of system-wide service change that drops the R-number naming and makes the Center City stations the terminus for all lines. This also ended the combined R7 Trenton/R7 Chestnut Hill East service.

List of stations

All of the stations on this line are within the City of Philadelphia. Boarding data is from FY2010, and includes all lines that serve that station. Stations on this line include:

Zone	Milepost	Station	Boardings	City	Notes
C	0.8	Spring Garden Street	0	Philadelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...	station closed
	2.1	Temple University Temple University (SEPTA station) Temple University station is an above-ground SEPTA Regional Rail station located at the eastern edge of the Temple University campus at 915 West Berks Street between 9th and 10th Streets, in North Philadelphia.-Station:...	3,122		moved to its present location in 1992
1	4.0	Tioga	0		station closed
	4.3	Nicetown	0		station closed
	5.1	Wayne Junction Wayne Junction (SEPTA station) Wayne Junction is a SEPTA Regional Rail station located at 4481 Wayne Avenue, extending along Windrim Avenue to Germantown Avenue, bordering the Nicetown and Germantown neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Station:...	628		Warminster Line, West Trenton Line, Lansdale/Doylestown Line, Chestnut Hill East Line and Fox Chase Line
	5.7	Fishers Fishers (SEPTA station) Fishers is an abandoned train station adjacent to Logan Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The station was a stop on the Reading Railroad's Chestnut Hill Line. It later became a part of SEPTA's R7 Chestnut Hill East line. The station was closed in 1992 for the RailWorks project and not reopened...	0		station closed
	6.1	Wister Wister (SEPTA station) Wister Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at Ashmead and Rubicam Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is named after the nearby Wister Street....	65
	6.5	Wingohocking	0		station closed
	6.8	Germantown Germantown (SEPTA station) Germantown Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at Chelten Avenue and Baynton Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The station is in zone 1 on the Chestnut Hill East Line, on former Reading Railroad tracks, and is 6.8 track miles from Suburban Station...	131		Originally called Germantown Junction as original Germantown terminal at Germantown Avenue and Price Street was still in use when opened. Also once called Chelten Avenue (not to be confused with Chelten Avenue Chelten Avenue (SEPTA station) Chelten Avenue Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 315 and 318-20 West Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The concrete station structure, part of a Pennsylvania Railroad grade-separation project completed in 1918 in conjunction with electrification of the line, was designed by...  station on the Chestnut Hill West Line Chestnut Hill West Line The Chestnut Hill West Line , is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill... )
2	7.7	Walnut Lane	0		station closed and replaced by Washington Lane
	7.8	Washington Lane Washington Lane (SEPTA station) Washington Lane Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at Washington Lane and Clearview Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The station is in zone 2 on the Chestnut Hill East Line, on former Reading Railroad tracks, and is 7.8 track miles from Suburban Station. In 2004, this station saw 140...	204
	8.6	Stenton Stenton (SEPTA station) Stenton Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 6725 Vernon Road between Ardleigh and Blakemore Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The station is in zone 2 on the Chestnut Hill East Line, on former Reading Railroad tracks, and is 8.6 track miles from Suburban Station. In 2004, this station saw...	484
	8.7	Gorgas	0		station closed and replaced by Stenton before 1910
	8.9	Sedgwick Sedgwick (SEPTA station) Sedgwick Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 253 East Mount Pleasant Avenue between Sprague and Devon Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The old station building was built in 1882 with Furness & Evans as the architect, according to the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings project but was...	278		Station was originally called Mount Pleasant; renamed for Sedgwick Farms development
	9.3	Mount Airy Mount Airy (SEPTA station) Mount Airy Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 119 East Gowen Avenue between Devon and Sprague Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station building is in the National Register of Historic Places and was built in 1875 with Frank Furness as the architect, according to the Philadelphia...	306
	9.8	Mermaid	0		Station closed for grade separation project on or about April 1, 1930; passengers to use rebuilt Wyndmoor station
	10.0	Wyndmoor Wyndmoor (SEPTA station) Wyndmoor Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 256 East Willow Grove Avenue at Wyndmoor Street, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The present station building was built by the Reading Company in 1930, when the line was elevated....	726
	10.3	Gravers Gravers (SEPTA station) Graver's Lane Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 300 East Gravers Lane at Anderson Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station building is on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and the National Register. It was built in 1872 or 1879 with Furness & Evans as the architect,...	147
	10.8	Chestnut Hill East Chestnut Hill East (SEPTA station) Chestnut Hill East Station is a SEPTA Regional Rail station at 102–04 Bethlehem Pike at Chestnut Hill Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current station building was built in 1931 by the Reading Railroad....	296		Station two blocks from Chestnut Hill West Line Chestnut Hill West Line The Chestnut Hill West Line , is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail system. The route serves the northwestern section of Philadelphia with service to Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill... station

Ridership

Fiscal year	Average weekday	Annual passengers
FY 2010	5,852	1,681,865
FY 2009	5,840	1,679,405
FY 2008	5,770	1,658,300
FY 2005	4,481	1,258,100
FY 2004	3,937	1,105,040
FY 2003	4,027	1,290,700
FY 2001	n/a	1,321,000
FY 2000	n/a	1,373,000
FY 1999	n/a	1,292,000
FY 1997	n/a	1,248,242
FY 1996	n/a	1,329,326
FY 1995	4,388	1,353,094
FY 1994	4,598	932,917
FY 1993	3,547	602,621
Note: n/a = not available