Wayne Junction substation gets $12.8 million grant for refurbishing project

With a $30 million overhaul of the historic Wayne Junction SEPTA station already underway, another project will upgrade the 90-year-old substation nearby that powers six regional rail lines and 17.5 million passenger trips into Center City each year.

The work will be funded through a $12.8 million federal Department of Transportation grant, to be formally announced this afternoon by Mayor Michael Nutter and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The substation, in continuous use since the 1920s, has seen outages in severe weather and due to downed wires.

Infrastructure repairs

In a message on the transit agency’s website, SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey said the Wayne Junction substation worsened an outage on June 14 that affected evening rush-hour trains, citing “equipment that should be on display in a museum of transit history.”

Aging equipment will be replaced with money from the TIGER fund (PDF), or Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery.

The grant application also included money for 11 bridges across Southeastern Pennsylvania, according to U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, who said he lobbied LaHood for the money.

According to the Department of Transportation’s website, “the Wayne Junction Power Substation serves a critical role in the Philadelphia region’s commuter network, powering much of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority’s (SEPTA) transit systems.

“This TIGER grant will allow the City of Philadelphia to rebuild the substation … [and] will also replace 25 indoor and outdoor rail breakers, transformers, cut-out switches, relays, and control equipment.”

NewsWorks will have a full report on the funding after the announcement, scheduled for 1 p.m.