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New SEPTA Regional Rail schedules begin Sunday

The changes aim to "improve on-time performance and service reliability," according to SEPTA.

Commuters await their ride at the East Falls Regional Rail SEPTA Station.
Commuters await their ride at the East Falls Regional Rail SEPTA Station.Read moreJESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

SEPTA’s new Regional Rail schedules are coming to town.

Regional Rail riders will want to check their timetables twice after adjustments begin Sunday, affecting departure times on certain trains along the majority of SEPTA’s rail lines. The agency hopes to “improve on-time performance and service reliability,” according to SEPTA.

Some of the adjustments will make way for overhead wire work on the Manayunk/Norristown Line and track repairs along the Media/Elwyn Line, as well as Amtrak’s continuing tie and rail replacement project between the Paoli/Thorndale Line’s Malvern and Thorndale stations.

The new schedules impact the following lines, and can be found on SEPTA’s app and website:

In announcing the schedule changes, SEPTA touted its work to boost options for I-95 drivers stuck in traffic. In September, SEPTA began using five leased Maryland Area Regional Commuter cars along the West Trenton and Trenton Lines to add capacity. The one-year lease cost $830,376.

“Over these eight to nine years that are coming up, there will be a lot more mainline construction,” Elaine Elbich, I-95′s portfolio manager for the state Department of Transportation, told The Inquirer in September.

SEPTA will watch to see whether its plan helps ease congestion, with an analysis expected to wrap up next month.

Also new in the new year: The rollout of SEPTA’s Key card onto Regional Rail, according to the transportation agency’s timeline.