PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA's trolley tunnel has been closed for more than a month as crews work to repair damage to the overhead wires in it — and there's no firm date for the tunnel to reopen.
Since Nov. 13, when the tunnel between 40th and 13th streets closed, 80,000 riders a day have been detoured onto shuttle buses and the L. The closure followed two October incidents in which riders in the tunnel had to be evacuated.
Since then, SEPTA has been repairing damage to the overhead catenary wires that supply power through the tunnel — damage caused by a switch to longer sliders that caused carbon inserts to wear down faster than expected. Crews have replaced some sections of wire but not all five miles of it, because SEPTA can't acquire the clips and section insulators quickly enough.
During a media tour of the tunnel on Wednesday, Assistant General Manager Kate O'Connor said test trolleys have been running, but no reopening date has been set.
“We want to make sure that we don't reopen before we feel that the risk has been reduced as low as possible that we could have another event in the tunnel,” she said.
Why wasn't the wire outside the tunnel damaged? Jason Tarlecki, acting chief deputy engineer for power, said the catenary in the tunnel is held by more rigid attachments.
“There's no shock absorption,” he explained. “Essentially, the wire flexes out in the street a lot better and that's why we've been able to maintain service out on the street. But in there, it's just much more harder wearing."
For now, SEPTA said the trolley tunnel will remain closed through the end of December.
“We do have a goal that we would like to reopen after December,” O’Connor said, “but we have to get through this full safety risk assessment that we're doing right now to make sure that we are in a safe position to do so.”