NJ to Philadelphia rail service back on track starting Monday

Delaware River Port Authority officials say a nearly two-year track rehabilitation project on the Ben Franklin Bridge has mostly been completed.

That means that the New Jersey to-Philadelphia rail service is now back to normal schedules.

The $103 million infrastructure upgrade that started in 2013 had been blamed for rush-hour delays and other problems that frustrated riders.

The track project has involved replacing the entire 30-year-old PATCO track system across the bridge, including all related signal, power and communications cables that are part of the system. Structural and site repairs were also completed.

PATCO had recently returned to a regular schedule Monday through Thursday morning. But the agency has been running a modified schedule Thursday afternoon through Sunday during the final stages of the project.

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