Holland station (SEPTA)

Holland station is a defunct railroad station in Holland, Pennsylvania. Located on Holland Road, it served the Reading Railroad and later SEPTA Regional Rail's Fox Chase/Newtown Line. SEPTA cancelled railroad service in 1983; buses continued to stop at the station in 1999, and the facility was subsequently demolished.

Holland
Former railroad station
Location	830 Holland Road Holland, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40.1935°N 74.9851°W
Owned by	SEPTA
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	1
Construction
Structure type	station shed (demolished)
History
Closed	January 18, 1983[1]
Electrified	no
Former services
Preceding station SEPTA Following station Churchville toward Reading Terminal Newtown Line George School toward Newtown Preceding station Reading Railroad Following station Churchville toward Cheltenham Newtown Branch George School toward Newtown

History

Holland station was a stop on the Reading Railroad's Newtown Line. It later became a part of SEPTA's Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line. The station, and all of those north of Fox Chase station, was closed on January 18, 1983 due to failing diesel train equipment.[1]

In addition, a labor dispute began within the SEPTA organization when the transit operator inherited 1,700 displaced employees from Conrail. SEPTA insisted on utilizing transit operators from the Broad Street Subway to operate Fox Chase-Newtown diesel trains, while Conrail requested that railroad motormen run the service. When a federal court ruled that SEPTA had to use Conrail employees in order to offer job assurance, SEPTA cancelled Fox Chase-Newtown trains.[2] Service in the diesel-only territory north of Fox Chase was cancelled at that time, and Holland station still appears in publicly posted tariffs.[3]

Although rail service was initially replaced with a Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus, patronage remained light, and the Fox Chase-Newtown shuttle bus service ended in 1999. SEPTA constructed a metal shelter in the early 1980s shortly before train service ended. The shelter was demolished in the summer of 2000, shortly after bus service was terminated.

References

1. Kennedy, Sara (October 21, 1983). "SEPTA to Boost Rail Service 13%". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 1–2. Retrieved July 14, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Tulsky, Fredric N. (January 29, 1982). "Conrail Staff Must Run Trains: court ruling bars SEPTA takeover". Philadelphia Inquirer. SEPTA must use Conrail workers rather than its own personnel to run trains over the region's 13 commuter lines, a special federal court has ruled in a decision that offers some job assurance for 1,700 Conrail employees next year. The special court, in an opinion issued Wednesday, ruled that SEPTA had acted legally in October when it replaced Conrail workers with its former subway operators on the line.
3. SEPTA Tariff No. 154; effective July 1, 2009 Archived May 31, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Newtown Line.pa-tec.org – PA-TEC study on resuming SEPTA commuter service between Fox Chase and Newtown