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Released:8/18/2014

New Schedule Begins Friday 8/22

NEW PATCO SCHEDULE BEGINS FRIDAY
More Trains, Fewer and Shorter Gaps During Second Continuous Track Outage

Beginning Friday, August 22nd PATCO will operate on a new track construction schedule. This schedule coincides with the second continuous PATCO track outage and will remain in effect until approximately Tuesday, October 21st.

During this upcoming north track outage, PATCO will run trains both ways across the Ben Franklin Bridge on a single track 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Customers are encouraged to consult updated timetables that will be available at the stations this week and visit www.ridepatco.org for information on the schedule and the project.

The new schedule will offer enhanced service compared to the previous continuous track outage schedule, providing more trains that will run more often.

Additionally, there will be fewer and shorter schedule gaps in both directions. This is possible because the configuration of the track east of 8th & Market Street Station provides us with more flexibility to operate trains, which was not possible during the first continuous track outage.

Improvements made to the AM rush hour service Monday through Friday:

Westbound service to Philadelphia:
- Reduced the number of gaps from 4 to 3
- Reduced the total gap time by 40 minutes (from 106 to 66 minutes)
- 3 trains will originate at Haddonfield Station (7:18AM, 7:56AM & 8:47AM.)
- Please note: The 8:06AM departure from Lindenwold Station will wait approximately 5 minutes at City Hall Station every day for the passage of the 8:22AM departure from 16^th and Locust Station
Eastbound service to Lindenwold:
- Reduced the number of gaps from 4 to 3
- Reduced the total gap time by 44 minutes (from 164 to 120 minutes)
- Reduced the average gap time by approximately 10 minutes
- Added 2 more trains

Improvements made during off-peak service in both directions Monday through Friday

o Between 9:45 AM to 2:30 PM reduced headways from 26 minutes to 15 minutes

Improvements made to the PM rush hour service Monday through Friday:

Eastbound service to Lindenwold:
- Reduced the number of gaps from 4 to 2
- Reduced the total gap time by 62 minutes (from 99 to 37 minutes)
- Reduced the average gap time by approximately 7 minutes
- Added an additional train
- Increased the number trains departing from 16^th and Locust Station between 5:08PM and 5:44PM from 6 to 9
- 3 trains will originate at 8^th & Market Station (4:45PM, 5:17PM & 6:07PM)
Westbound service to Philadelphia:
- No significant improvements were able to be made

Improvements made to weekend service

· Saturdays reduced headways from 26 minutes to 20 minutes

· Sundays no significant changes were able to be made

The second continuous track outage was originally scheduled to begin after Labor Day. However, it will now begin five days earlier to minimize any potential impact of possible weather-related problems or delays that may interfere with our ability to complete the north track work by October 21, 2014

PATCO personnel along with Chief Executive Officer John T. Hanson and staff volunteers from DRPA will again be at the stations and platforms to provide assistance to our customers and continuously monitor the schedule, and we will make improvements if possible to further enhance service for the benefit of our customers.

While on the platforms Hanson received plenty of feedback from the public.

“I am sorry for the inconvenience to our riders. We appreciate your patience as we work to replace the tracks and look forward to the completion of the project”

The PATCO Rail Rehabilitation Project over the Ben Franklin Bridge is a two-year, $103 million project that involves replacing the entire PATCO track system across the bridge, including all related signal, power and communications cables that are part of the system. Work on this project is expected to be completed in early 2016.

While the majority of the track rehabilitation will be completed during the continuous outages this summer and fall, the supporting signal, power and communication systems must be replaced in stages, separate from the two continuous outages.

Commuters are advised to visit our website for travel updates. To learn more about the Ben Franklin Bridge Track Rehabilitation Project, click here.

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The Delaware River Port Authority is a regional transportation agency that serves as steward of the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry and Betsy Ross Bridges, PATCO and the RiverLink Ferry on behalf of the community.
Follow us on Twitter: @RidePATCO

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