West Chester Railroad
The West Chester Railroad is a privately owned and operated tourist railroad that runs between Market Street in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in Chester County, and the village of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, in Delaware County.
The West Chester Railroad operates 90-minute round-trip excursions over of former Pennsylvania Railroad track on the West Chester Branch. Trains operate Sundays, June through December. Besides the regular trains, the schedule expands with Saturday rides for a number of special events including Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day, Halloween, and Christmas. The railroad is owned by the for-profit 4 States Railway Service, Inc. and operated by the West Chester Railroad Heritage Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the railroad. All employees of the railroad are volunteers.
Proposed commuter rail reactivation
In 2018, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation commissioned a feasibility study for rebuilding the line and restoring direct commuter rail service from West Chester to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. SEPTA service below the Elwyn station was terminated in 1986 due to low ridership and unsafe track conditions but the area has since grown in population and has few transportation alternatives. The study concluded that restoration was feasible but the projected ridership was not high enough to qualify for capital funding.In September 2021, local officials proposed a short-term plan to upgrade the trackage in order to provide a shuttle service between the line's Market Street station in West Chester and SEPTA's new Wawa Station. The proposed shuttle would use battery-powered cars rebuilt from retired London transit cars. These cars however do not meet US Federal Railroad Administration collision standards and WCRR could not operate their standard heavy weight trains while the shuttle is running. Further, a physical barrier between the shuttle cars and SEPTA cars would have to be built at the proposed Wawa transfer point.