SEPTA awards contracts for City Hall improvements

The SEPTA Board on Thursday approved a series of three contracts worth $7.5 million to carry out its so-called “early action” plan for the City Hall subway station.

The construction of four elevators and two new fare lines is being done in conjunction with the Center City District’s remake of Dilworth Plaza overhead and will result  in the Market-Frankord El and trolley stops at the station becoming handicapped accessible ― something required by a consent decree signed to end a longstanding civil rights suit concerning the station.

SEPTA had originally hoped to remake the entire station, at a cost of $100 million, but that project has been shelved because of state funding cuts.

Thomas P. Carney Inc. was awarded general contractor status. Mulhern Electric Co. was awarded the electrical construction contract, and Dolan Mechanical Inc. was awarded a mechanical construction contract.

SEPTA and the CCD have also signed a reimbursement agreement covering work done on the elevators at Dilworth, which will be owned by SEPTA but built by CCD at a cost of $4.3 million. The district also agreed to reimburse SEPTA for nearly $1 million in costs related to relocating stairwells and utilities.

The agreement clears the way for the CCD project, which won federal transportation dollars, to move forward.

The board also approved a nearly $7.5 million contract to Gannett Fleming Inc. for design of a new Paoli regional rail station. Long a priority of Tredyffirn Township, the Chester County municipality where the station is located, the current plan would involve building a new station 80 feet west of the current location that better connects with SEPTA and private buses and involves a reworking of a nearby Amtrak interlocking, as well as the installation of high-level platforms.