SEPTA still unsure about when Center City trolley tunnel will reopen after damage to overhead wires

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SEPTA officials say they’re not sure when the Center City trolley tunnel will reopen after wires were damaged during an attempt to save on maintenance costs.

The damage occurred while crews were changing the carbon sliders that power the trollies and keep the wires lubricated. The thinking was that using a bigger unit would reduce maintenance on the overhead wires that supply trolleys with their power.

Unfortunately, the bigger units damaged the wire and connecting points that were struck by the sliders.

Kate O’Connor, who oversees SEPTA maintenance, admits they made a mistake by implementing that change.

“The underside of the wire is very rough from that interaction with the 4-inch slider, and we’re still seeing issues with the carbon wear because of that,” she said.

The tunnel had to be shut down after the power pole that connects the trolleys to the overhead wires started popping off and stranding the cars.  Nearly a month after that happened, O’Connor says SEPTA has been working to find a solution.

We’ve spent a lot of time since the trolley tunnel’s been closed, doing testing, seeing how often we have to replace the carbons and trying to figure out how do we get ourselves to a point where we aren’t running through the carbon so quickly that we won’t be able to safely reopen the tunnel,” she said.

Repairs are ongoing, but O’Connor says the 5 miles of overhead wire will eventually need to be mostly replaced.

“We did have to order materials, which has somewhat of a long lead time of 6 to 7 weeks from when we put in the order. As that material starts coming in, we’re going to do a phased replacement.”

In the meantime, they are working to open the tunnel in early January. In order to do that, they smooth out the rough wires during the day and then run trolleys through the tunnel at night to check their work and add carbon lubrication to condition the new sections of wire and lubricate and smooth the older sections.

SEPTA is also using shuttle buses to help ease congestion on the Market-Frankford El, which is the only alternative with a similar route to the trolleys. The shuttle buses are making stops at the normal trolley points, which differ from the standard El stops.