SEPTA reopens trolley line

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) brought its historic Route 15 trolleys back into service this week.

The line operates with 18 restored 1947 Presidential Conference Committee (PCC) trolley cars that have been completely rebuilt and equipped with air-conditioning.

Route 15 provides service over an 8.2-mile line, which features repaired tracks, renewed overhead electrical power lines, new passenger platforms and an improved traffic control system.

The total cost of the project, including the restoration of the trolley cars, was about $88 million.

Though the city operated nearly 2,000 trolley cars as recently as the late 1940s, PCC cars were replaced with buses in 1992.