User:Mackensen/Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line

The Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line was a rapid transit rail service in southeastern Pennsylvania. It was an extension of the Fox Chase Line regional rail service, using self-propelled Budd Rail Diesel Cars, and operated by SEPTA's City Transit Division instead of by Conrail, then the contracted operator of SEPTA's regional rail system. The service operated from 1981 and 1983. SEPTA instituted the service during a transitional period where the future of commuter rail in the Northeast United States was uncertain, and the Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line was an early example of direct agency operation of commuter rail.

The use of non-railroad employees from SEPTA's subway services was provoked protests, picketing, and legal action. A grade crossing accident in early 1982 called into question the safety of the trains, while the aging Budd cars proved mechanically unreliable. SEPTA suspended operation in January 1983 after harsh weather sidelined the cars and never restored service. The line north of has seen no regular service since then, and much of it has been converted to rail trails.

Background
The Reading Company's Newtown Branch diverged from the New York Short Line at and ran northeast to  via. In 1966, the Reading had electrified the branch as far as Fox Chase, the last station within the Philadelphia city limits, with financial assistance from the city through the Passenger Service Improvement Corporation (PSIC). Thereafter there was regular service from Fox Chase to Reading Terminal, while Newtown had more limited service from Reading diesel trains. With the Reading's final bankruptcy in 1976, Conrail took over the operation of the trains, while the Newtown Branch itself was conveyed to SEPTA.

The Northeast Rail Service Act, passed in 1981, set January 1, 1983, as the end date for Conrail operating commuter rail services. SEPTA saw the diesel shuttle services between Fox Chase and Newtown as a test case for direct SEPTA operation of a rail service. SEPTA invited outside bids to operate the service; uncertainty over labor agreements proved a major problem and in the end SEPTA rejected the only two bids it received. SEPTA suspended the shuttle services on July 1, 1981, to allow rehabilitation of the line and to train subway operators from the City Transit Division to operate the self-propelled Budd Rail Diesel Cars used on the shuttle.

The cost of operating services was a major point of contention between Conrail and SEPTA. Under existing work rules Conrail employed a crew of four: an engineer, fireman, conductor, and trainman. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers represented the engineers, the United Transportation Union represented the other three trades. SEPTA proposed to reduce the crew size to two, drawn from drivers in its existing City Division who worked the Broad Street Line. The subway drivers were also unionized, but represented by the Transport Workers Union of America.

Service
Service resumed on October 5, 1981, as the "Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line" or HS-1. Conrail employees picketed the trains and accused SEPTA of planning to eventually replace all railroad employees with City Transit employees when SEPTA took over operation of all its routes. Although the picketing soon ceased, relations between the SEPTA employees operating the rapid transit line and the Conrail employees operating the connecting Fox Chase Line remained poor. The president of the local chapter of the TWU, although initially supportive of the change, indicated that the union "would not be part of any future negotiations of any lines currently being operated by Conrail employees."

Conrail had operated the service with two cars.

A major point of contention between the railroad unions and SEPTA was the safety of using transit employees to operate the service. To reduce labor costs, SEPTA operated the trains with two crewmembers instead of three. A major grade crossing accident occurred on January 2, 1982 when a Newtown-bound RDC collided with an ARCO gasoline tanker in Southampton, Pennsylvania. The resulting fire badly burned the operator of the SEPTA train, who subsequently died from his injuries.

SEPTA suspended service permanently on January 18, 1983, citing reliability problems with the equipment.