The Trolley Lines Still Running Underground

Philadelphia still operates trolley lines — real electric streetcars on rails — that run through tunnels beneath Center City before emerging in West Philadelphia neighborhoods. Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36 — renamed T1 through T5 in SEPTA's 2025 Metro rebranding — use Kawasaki light-rail cars dating from the early 1980s to connect University City, Overbrook, Darby, and Angora to the subway system. The underground trolley stations, among them 13th, 15th, 19th, 22nd, and 30th Streets, are a transit time capsule. Philadelphia is one of the few American cities that kept part of its old streetcar network running.