January 05, 2026
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
SEPTA is preparing to reopen its trolley tunnel under Market Street, which has been closed since November for overhead wire repairs. The work was spurred by slider maintenance, which ultimately damaged the infrastructure.
SEPTA says it will soon reopen its Center City trolley tunnel, which has been closed since November for overhead wire repairs.
The transit authority completed the necessary work Friday, officials shared in an update. Test runs commenced the following day and will continue into the week to ensure service can resume safely. SEPTA said it was aiming to reopen the five-mile tunnel, which runs under Market Street, in mid-January.
"We have seen some progress with the testing that is ongoing in the tunnel, and we will work to build on that in the coming days," Andrew Busch, media relations director for SEPTA, said in an email. "As of now, we don’t have a specific target date, but we are still looking at mid-month. I expect we will have more in the way of a status update as we get into next week."
SEPTA has been running shuttle bus service along Market Street between 15th and 40th streets to connect trolley riders during the tunnel repairs. The monthslong closure resulted from a bit of maintenance last fall, involving the sliders that connect most trolley cars to the overhead wire. SEPTA workers had replaced the three-inch sliders with four-inch pieces in an attempt to reduce wear and tear and lessen future maintenance costs. But the new sliders damaged the overhead infrastructure, resulting in two mass train evacuations in October.
SEPTA reinstalled the original sliders and closed the tunnel on Nov. 7 to make repairs. But after reopening on Nov. 13, workers identified more issues and shut down the tunnel again.
The ongoing repairs and closure are unrelated to the transit authority's annual cleaning and maintenance blitz, which blocks off the tunnel for roughly a month each summer, officials said. SEPTA has also been running shuttle buses to supplement two Delaware County trolley lines since December after a series of inclement weather events caused a tree to fall and other hazards.
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