SEPTA officially marked the end of an award-winning renovation project at its Queen Lane Regional Rail station with a ribbon cutting ceremony. SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey, elected officials and community leaders celebrated the improvements made to the historic station, which serves SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill West Line.

“Queen Lane Station has held an important place in its community for more than 125 years,” said Casey. “This renovation project has incorporated modern amenities while restoring the station’s 19th century character.”

Queen Lane Station dates to 1885 and was designed by W. Bleddyn Powell, renowned Pennsylvania Railroad architect and the third architect of Philadelphia’s City Hall. The 15-month improvement project at Queen Lane cost almost $4.1 million and included:

• Restoration of the existing station building’s exterior, pedestrian bridge and passenger shelters
• Refurbishing station building porch
• Renewing platform surfaces
• Constructing new concrete stairs
• Installing new lighting, signage, landscaping, benches and trash receptacles
• Resurfacing the outbound parking lot

The Queen Lane renovations, along with historical reconstruction projects completed at SEPTA’s Allen Lane, Clifton-Aldan, Folcroft, Morton and North Wales Regional Rail stations, earned SEPTA a 2011 Preservation Achievement Award from the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia.

“In these improvement and modernization projects we worked hard to preserve the stations’ historical integrity while updating the facilities’ technology and passenger amenities,” said Casey. “The recognition received from the Preservation Alliance is a tribute to the dedication of SEPTA’s Capital Construction Department and our contractors to ensure that, once the projects were completed, we would offer our passengers the best of the past and the future.”