SEPTA to Retire Rt 100 Stop Request Signals?

 A unique operating practice on one of the last true Interurban lines may be on the chopping block because as of December 8th, the passenger operated stop request signals are being taken out of service with cars now required to approach every station prepared to stop.  This may simply be a temporary measure due to COVID related ridership declines, but we will have to wait until the crisis ends to see. 

The system works as follows.  Passengers on the platform are prompted to press this button to stop train.

This illuminates a single unit Safetran CRS-20 signal located at the end of the platform with either a white or lunar light.  Trains scheduled to make a station stop will look for this light and will make a station stop if it is lit.

The really clever part of the system is how the light is canceled.  Instead of using the track circuit or some unreliable sensor, a short section of third rail is provided under the platform.  Normally isolated from the traction current, when a train passes through the station the opposite third rail shoe will touch the isolated rail and energize it, tripping a relay and extinguishing the stop request lamp.

With low ridership due to COVID, trains could have been running far ahead of schedule and SEPTA might simply be looking for a way to slow them down.  However, it is more likely that the system was deemed to have outlived its usefulness and presents a significant maintenance item in an age of budget cuts.  The system probably only saved a few minutes over the course of a trip and may have confused new or infrequent riders.  Also, with smartphones giving arrival time info, trains that ran ahead of schedule could have been angering riders when trains arrived before the time indicated on their phones.

Regardless of the reason, its yet another instance of service being degraded from what was achievable during the "analogue era" of yesteryear.