Chestnut Hill West Branch
Overview
Owner	SEPTA
Service
Services	Chestnut Hill West Line
History
Opened	June 11, 1884 (1884-06-11)
Technical
Line length	6.9 mi (11.1 km)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge
Electrification	12kv 25hz overhead catenary
Route map Legend mi 6.9 Chestnut Hill West 6.1 Highland 5.6 St. Martins 5.4 Cresheim Creek Fort Washington Branch 4.8 Richard Allen Lane 4.4 Carpenter 3.8 Upsal 3.3 Tulpehocken 2.8 Chelten Avenue 2.2 Queen Lane Midvale Branch Trenton Subdivision SEPTA Main Line Norristown Branch 0.7 North Philadelphia Northeast Corridor Delair Branch SEPTA Main Line This diagram: view talk edit

TheChestnut Hill West Branch is a railway line inPennsylvania. It runs 6.9 miles (11.1 km) from a junction with theNortheast Corridor atNorth Philadelphia toChestnut Hill,Philadelphia. It was built between 1883 and 1884 by thePhiladelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad, a subsidiary of thePennsylvania Railroad. It was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system (and laterPenn Central) until 1976. Today it is owned bySEPTA and hosts theChestnut Hill West Line commuter rail service. The line runs roughly parallel to theChestnut Hill East Branch, formerly of theReading Company.

ThePhiladelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad reached theChestnut Hill neighborhood inPhiladelphia in 1854.^[1][2] As the west side of Chestnut Hill attracted investment, developers sought to promote growth through a new railway line. This project attracted the interest of thePennsylvania Railroad, and thePhiladelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad was incorporated on January 2, 1883.^[3][4] Construction began that May, and the new line, double-tracked from the outset, opened on June 11, 1884. The new line branched off from theConnecting Railway's main line atNorth Philadelphia, and ran north toChestnut Hill West, approximately 1,600 feet (490 m) south ofChestnut Hill East.^[5]

Under the Pennsylvania Railroad the line was known as theGermantown and Chestnut Hill Branch or simply theChestnut Hill Branch.^[6][7] In 1913 the Pennsylvania decided to electrify the branch, along with themain line betweenBroad Street Station andPaoli and theNew York division between Broad Street and North Philadelphia.^[8] Electrified service to Chestnut Hill began in April 1918.^[9]

The Philadelphia, Germantown and Chestnut Hill Railroad was merged into the Connecting Railway in 1902.^[10] The Connecting Railway remained the owner of the line through thePenn Central merger in 1968. With the Penn Central's final bankruptcy in 1976, the Chestnut Hill Branch was conveyed toConrail and thenSEPTA.^[11] Between June 26 and December 17, 1989, service terminated at Allen Lane with shuttle buses serving St. Martin's, Highland and Chestnut Hill West because of unsafe conditions on the Cresheim Valley bridge. The original iron bridge dated to 1884 and was replaced with a $7.6 million steel structure financed by theUrban Mass Transportation Administration.^[12] SEPTA activatedpositive train control on the Chestnut Hill West Line on August 22, 2016.^[13]

• Bezilla, Michael (1980).Electric Traction on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1895–1968.University Park:Penn State University Press.ISBN 978-0271002415.OCLC 5336721.
• Contosta, David R. (1992).A Philadelphia Family: The Houstons and Woodwards of Chestnut Hill. University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN 978-0-8122-1406-2.
• Coverdale & Colpitts (1946).The Pennsylvania Railroad Company: The Corporate, Financial and Construction History of Lines Owned, Operated and Controlled To December 31, 1945. Volume II: Lines East of Pittsburgh. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott.OCLC 13172415.
• Holton, James L. (1989).The Reading Railroad: History of a Coal Age Empire : The Nineteenth Century. Vol. 1. Laury's Station, PA: Garrigues House.ISBN 0-9620844-1-7.
• Interstate Commerce Commission (1931)."Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States. Valuation reports". U.S. Government Printing Office.
• United States Railway Association (1975).Final system plan for restructuring railroads in the Northeast and Midwest region pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973(PDF). Vol. 1. Washington, DC.OCLC 2889148.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• SEPTA Regional Rail lines
• Railway lines opened in 1884
• Rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania Railroad lines

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2025
• CS1 maint: location missing publisher