B (SEPTA Metro)
The B, formerly known as the Broad Street Line , is a rapid transit line in the SEPTA Metro network in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The line runs primarily north-south from the Fern Rock Transit Center in North Philadelphia through Center City Philadelphia to NRG Station at Pattison Avenue in South Philadelphia; the latter station provides access to the stadiums and arenas for the city's major professional sports teams at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, about a quarter mile away. The trains of the B run underneath Broad Street for almost its entire length.
The line, which is entirely underground except for the northern terminus at Fern Rock, has four tracks in a local/express configuration from Fern Rock to Walnut–Locust and two tracks from Lombard-South to the southern terminus at NRG Station. It is one of only two rapid transit lines in the SEPTA Metro system overall alongside the L, though Center City Philadelphia is also served by five stations of the PATCO Speedline rapid transit line which runs from Center City Philadelphia through Camden, New Jersey to Lindenwold, New Jersey. With about 115,000 boardings on an average weekday in 2019, it is the second busiest route in the SEPTA system.
The line and its trains were leased to SEPTA in 1968 after it assumed operation of the city transit systems from the former Philadelphia Transportation Company. B cars bear both the SEPTA logo and the seal of the City of Philadelphia to reflect the split ownership-operation arrangement.
History
Service on the northern half of the B, between City Hall and Olney Avenue, opened on September1, 1928. While the original subway tunnel had been finished to just north of the present-day Lombard-South station, service to the Walnut–Locust station did not begin until 1930, and the Lombard-South station entered service in 1932. Service from that point south to Snyder Avenue began on September18, 1938. Service to a new park-and-ride station built next to the Fern Rock shops began in 1956, and the line was extended further south to Pattison Avenue in 1973 to serve the recently completed Sports Complex.The total cost of the original segment, "Olney Avenue to South Street," was stated at $102 million.
Although the Broad Street subway was originally planned in the 1920s to be a 4-track facility for its entire length, the tunnel was built with provision for 4 tracks only from the portal to just north of Lombard-South. At the time of opening, the outer 2 tracks were built along this length, whereas the inner 2 express tracks were built only in two sections, from the Fern Rock portal/shops to just south of Olney, and from Girard to their terminus just north of Lombard South. To close the gaps, the two inner express tracks were laid from Erie to Girard in 1959, and again from Olney to Erie in 1991.
From Lombard-South station south to Snyder, the tunnel was constructed differently – only the eastern half of the line was built. The track currently used for southbound trains is actually the northbound express track. The extension in 1973 to Pattison station continued this arrangement. Space exists under the western half of Broad Street for the construction of the western half of the tunnel, which would include the remaining 2 tracks and additional island platforms for southbound local and express trains. The resulting infrastructure would match the configuration built in the northern half of the line.
Provisions for flying junctions exist in the tunnels at three locations: north of Olney station, north of Erie station, and between Tasker-Morris and Snyder stations. These were to connect to planned but never built extensions to the north, northeast, northwest and southwest. Tracks were laid in the upper levels of the flying junctions north of Olney and Erie; these have been used over the years to store out-of-service trains and as layover points for express and Ridge Spur trains.
The NRG Station contains a lower level platform, built to accommodate additional trains for large crowds at sporting events. Seldom used for passenger service in recent years, these tracks are most often used to store rolling stock and work trains.
The Spring Garden station on the Ridge Avenue spur line was closed in 1989. The Franklin Square station on the PATCO route was closed in 1953, reopened in 1976 for the US Bicentennial, then closed again in 1979. It reopened after a major renovation in April 2025.
The B is one of only two rapid transit lines in the United States outside of New York City to use separate local and express tracks for a significant length, the other being Chicago's North Side Main Line from Armitage north, used by Purple Line express trains.
During early 2020, the line operated "Lifeline Service" due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania. From April 2020, trains bypassed the,,,,,,, and stations. All stations were reopened by July 2020.
In September 2021, SEPTA proposed updating wayfinding across the SEPTA Rail Transit network, rebranding their rail transit service as "SEPTA Metro". Under the proposal, services along the Broad Street line would be rebranded as the "B" lines with an orange color. Each service utilizing the trunk would receive a numeric suffix. Local service would be known as the B1 Broad Street Local, the express and special service as the B2 Broad Street Express and B2 Express Sport Special, and the Broad–Ridge Spur as the B3 Broad–Ridge Express.
Following public feedback, SEPTA revised the Wayfinding Master Plan. Rather than being referred to as the B Lines, the Broad Street line become the "B". Express and special services became simply "B2", local became "B1" and the Broad–Ridge Spur became "B3", with signage letting riders know whether a train terminates at Walnut–Locust or NRG Station. Additionally, SEPTA stated they would pilot neighborhood maps in stations and prioritize the deployment of real-time information signage and on mobile apps. The Broad Street Line was renamed as the B on February 24, 2025.
Proposed extensions
Roosevelt Boulevard
Both the City of Philadelphia and SEPTA have studied extending the B along Roosevelt Boulevard, in order to serve a growing population in the northeast section of the city. The city government's archives contain a survey report, prepared in 1948, discussing a need for an extension of the B from Erie Avenue to the vicinity of Pennypack Circle. Subway car destination signage even included station and terminus names for major streets along Roosevelt Boulevard such as Rhawn Street, in the newer "South Broad" cars. An expansion into another part of the City could better use the capacity of the four-track trunk line.In 1964, the city proposed a, $94million extension of the then-Broad Street line along Roosevelt Blvd. in conjunction with a new Northeast Expressway to be built by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Development was limited to the building of one subway station by Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1967, at its complex on Roosevelt Boulevard at Adams Avenue, at the cost of $1million, in anticipation of future service. This station was destroyed when the facility was demolished in October 1994. Ultimately the Northeast Expressway was never built, due to lack of funds, and the subway extension remained a paper concept.
On September10, 1999, SEPTA filed a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Northeast Extension with the EPA. In December 2001, the Philadelphia City Planning Commission supported extending the then-Broad Street Line along Roosevelt Blvd. to Bustleton Avenue, where it would be joined by the then-Market–Frankford Line, extended from its Frankford terminal. The estimated cost had ballooned to $3.4billion.
Philadelphia Naval Yard
Currently, the B terminates southbound at NRG Station at Pattison Avenue and three major stadiums. With the redevelopment of the Philadelphia Naval Yard directly to the south, a Health Impact Assessment report was issued in March 2012 to determine if extending the line to the Naval Yard would be a viable option for commuters. It determined that extending the line to the Naval Yard would more than halve the number of private cars commuting back and forth, with the remainder taking the proposed subway line and/or using a bicycle sidepath. The HIA recommends making an extension of the B a priority, and recently, the extension has garnered much support.West and Southwest Philadelphia
In 1916, the director of the Philadelphia department of city transit, William S. Twinning proposed scrapping the initial plan of building an elevated line along Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia that would connect onto the existing Market Street Subway-Elevated at 32nd Street and planned to replace it with a branch of the Broad Street Subway that would have split off at Broad and Federal Streets, continued along Federal Street before merging onto Greys Ferry Avenue until the Schuylkill river. It would then cross the Schuylkill to merge with Woodland Avenue and continue down Woodland and Island Avenues where the line would end. Twinning had an alternate plan which would have split off from the Broad Street subway at Broad and Ridge and continued down Ridge avenue before merging southwards onto 8th Street, then turning west on Walnut Street where it would have continued under the Schuylkill River into West Philadelphia before turning southward on 42nd Street then finally turning onto Woodland Avenue where it would have continued to Island Avenue. This alternate plan would officially be adopted by the city and authorized the construction of the subway-elevated line to southwest Philadelphia in 1922.Ground broke along Ridge, 8th and Locust Streets in 1930 and in 1932 Fairmount, Spring Garden, Vine, and 8th and Market opened. Due to the worsening effects of The Great Depression, construction on Locust Street was paused indefinitely leaving an unfinished tunnel from 8th and Market to 18th and Locust. The city was able to gather limited funds from president Roosevelt's new deal program for other subway projects but none for the Woodland line. In a report from the mid 40s by the Department of city transit started to seriously consider finishing the subway to at least 49th and Woodland knowing that traffic from Camden and North Philadelphia alone couldn't justify service under Locust Street. But in the end nothing came from these reports. By the '50s 9th/10th and Locust, 12th/13th and Locust and 15th/16th and Locust were furnished for passenger service and opened in 1953 servicing trains running on the Bridge line from Camden, New Jersey. Majority of passengers on the bridge line did not continue south of 8th-Market, Transferring the Market-Frankford or Ridge Avenue lines instead. In 1969 the Bridge line was extended to Lindenwold, New Jersey and ownership and operation were handed over to Delaware River Port Authority as the service was renamed to PATCO.