30th Street Station

The station is located at 2955 Market Street.[1] It is located in Philadelphia's University City neighborhood, just across the Schuylkill River from Center City. The building, which first opened in 1933, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Amtrak's code for the station is PHL.[1] Its IATA Airport Code is ZFV on United because Amtrak's service to Newark Liberty International Airport is codeshared with United Airlines.

30th Street Station is Amtrak's third-busiest station, and by far the busiest of the 24 stations served in Pennsylvania, serving 4,411,662 passengers in fiscal year 2017. On an average day in fiscal 2013, about 12,000 people boarded or left trains in Philadelphia, nearly twice as many as in the rest of the Pennsylvania stations combined.[9]

The former West Philadelphia station being removed in 1931 during construction of 30th Street Station

PRR heralds at 30th Street Station

The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), which was headquartered in Philadelphia, acquired tunnel rights from the Schuylkill River to 15th Street from the city of Philadelphia in return for land that the city needed to construct the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. This allowed the company to build both Suburban Station and the 30th Street Station,[10] which replaced Broad Street station as the latter was too small. Broad Street Station was a stub-end terminal in Center City and through trains had to back in and out, and the company wanted a location which would accommodate trains between New York City and Washington. D.C. Broad St. station also handled a large commuter operation, which the new underground Suburban Station was built to handle. (Because of the Depression and World War II, Broad St. station didn't close until 1952.)[11]

The Chicago architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, the successor to D.H. Burnham & Company,[10] designed the structure, originally known as Pennsylvania Station–30th Street in accord with the naming style of other Pennsylvania Stations. Its design was influenced by the Northeast Corridor electrification that allowed trains to pass beneath the station without exposing passengers to soot as steam engines of earlier times had. The station had a number of innovative features, including a pneumatic tube system, an electronic intercom, and a reinforced roof with space for small aircraft to land,[12] and contained a mortuary, a chapel and more than 3,000 square feet of hospital space.[10]

Construction began in 1927 and the station opened in 1933, starting with two platform tracks.[5] The vast waiting room is faced with travertine and the coffered ceiling is painted gold, red and cream. The building's exterior has columned porte-cocheres on the west and east facade, and shows a balance between classical and modern architectural styles.[10]

Until 1958, 30th Street Station was one of two major intercity stations in Philadelphia, the other being the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's station on Chestnut Street. However, when the B&O ended all service north of Baltimore in 1958, 30th Street became the major intercity terminal in the Delaware Valley.

In the 1970s, Amtrak installed a Solari board (by Solari di Udine) in the main waiting room to display train departure information. On November 30, 2018, officials announced that the board — by then, the railroad's last remaining Solari device — would be replaced with a digital board.[13][14] A minor public outcry followed, and within days, Rep. Brendan Boyle urged Amtrak CEO Richard H. Anderson to reconsider.[14][15][16] In January 2019, Amtrak sent the board to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, reserving the right to reclaim it if it could be worked into the station's planned renovation.[17] On February 28, 2019, the new digital board began operation.[18] The Museum placed the Solari board on static display in July 2019; its ultimate fate remains undecided.[19]

The building is owned by Amtrak and houses many Amtrak corporate offices, although Amtrak is officially headquartered near Union Station in Washington, D.C. The 562,000 ft² (52,000 m²) facility features a cavernous main passenger concourse with ornate Art Deco decor.

The Angel of the Resurrection (1952) by Walker Hancock

Prominently displayed is the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial, which honors Pennsylvania Railroad employees killed in World War II. It consists of a bronze statue of the archangel Michael lifting the body of a dead soldier out of the flames of war, and was sculpted by Walker Hancock in 1950. On the four sides of the base of that sculpture are the 1,307 names of those employees in alphabetical order.

The building was restored in 1991 by Dan Peter Kopple & Associates.[10] When the station was renovated, updated retail amenities were added. They include several shops, a large food court, car rental facilities, Saxbys Coffee, Dunkin' Donuts, and others.

The Amtrak 30th Street Parking Garage was designed by BLT Architects and completed in 2004. This nine-level, double helix garage provides 2,100 parking spaces and glass-enclosed stair tower and elevator to offer views of Philadelphia.[26] The following year (2005) the Arch Street Pedestrian Bridge was completed and designed with contribution from BLT Architects. The Arch Street Pedestrian Bridge provides direct access for pedestrians from 30th Street Station to the parking garage and Cira Centre; this prevents pedestrians from interacting with heavy traffic from PA 3 and I-76.[27]

Street access

Overview of the lines serving 30th Street

Many important highways and streets pass next to or near the station. Vehicles and taxicabs can reach the station from various major routes, including Market Street (PA 3), Interstate 76 (Schuylkill Expressway), and Interstate 676 (Vine Street Expressway).[12] The John F. Kennedy Boulevard Bridge is just east of the station.

Cira Centre

Cira Centre and the west entrance of the station

Cira Centre, a 28-story glass-and-steel office tower opened in October 2005, is across Arch Street to the north and is connected by a skyway at the station's mezzanine level next to the upper-level SEPTA Regional Rail platforms. The tower is owned by Philadelphia-based Brandywine Realty Trust, was designed by architect César Pelli and BLT Architects,[26][27] and sits on land leased from Amtrak.

A collection of equipment at Race Street in 2000

• 
  East entrance during the daytime
• 
  Skylight above SEPTA tracks 5 & 6
• 
  The station's grand concourse, in Art Deco style
• 
  Interior in August 1976
• 
  A bird's eye view (April 1977)
• 
  Corinthian columns of the portico
• 
  Spirit of Transportation (1895) by Karl Bitter
• 
  Entrance to SEPTA Regional Rail concourse
• 
  Lower level platforms serving Amtrak and NJ Transit
• 
  Upper level platforms serving SEPTA

The station was featured in the 1981 film Blow Out, the 1957 film " The Burglar",the 1983 film Trading Places, the 1985 film Witness, the 2000 film Unbreakable, the 2008 film The Happening, the 2010 video game Heavy Rain, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (season 2, episode 7), 2015 film The Visit, and the 2019 film Glass. The station also features in the opening credits of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

30th Street Station was used as a filming location in the Alfred Hitchcock film Marnie. In the scene, Tippi Hedren can be seen carrying a copy of The Philadelphia Inquirer as she exits the station.[31]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 30th Street Station.

• 30th Street Station – Amtrak
• New Jersey Transit information for 30th Street Station
• Philadelphia, PA (PHL) - Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Philadelphia (30th Street) Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- TrainWeb)
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. PA-404-A, "Thirtieth Street Station, Power Director Center"
• HAER No. PA-404-B, "Thirtieth Street Station, Load Dispatch Center"
• Google Maps Street View: Schyulkill Avenue (eastern entrance), 30th Street (western entrance), Market Street (southern entrance)