MIDDLETON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has begun service to its newest Regional Rail Station, at the same time it has introduced new schedules.
The new Wawa Station at 1490 W. Baltimore Pike in Media, Pa., is the southwestern endpoint of what is now the Media/Wawa line (formerly Media/Elwyn), and carries the Wawa name because of a $5.4 million naming-rights agreement announced last month (see “New SEPTA station has new name …,” Trains News Wire, July 28, 2022). The 3.6-mile extension to the Wawa station opened Sunday, Aug. 21, and is the first addition to Regional Rail service since 1985.
Sunday also marked the introduction of new Regional Rail schedules, which include restoration of early-morning Airport Line service on weekends; earlier services to the Center City on the Trenton, Lansdale/Doylestown, and West Trenton lines; and other schedule adjustments. More information and links to the new schedules are available here.
The extension is on the tracks of what used to be service all the way to West Chester. I rode on a special using PRR MP-54 cars painted in SEPTA red, white, and blue.
Great to see this once dormant line come back to life. While it’s true the Wawa Corporation has agreed to the naming rights for the new station, there was a former PRR station named ‘Wawa’ in almost the exact same location for many, many decades. The station was named for the surrounding area which, legend has it, was passed down from local Native Americans and is derived from the call sounds made by Canada geese that inhabit the area on their annual migrations ‘WAWA’! Of course, having Wawa’s corporate headquarters (and the goose logo) just down the road helps too.
WAWA wow