Today, that trip is light-years faster, thanks to the rail line that uses tracks built on a bridge named for Franklin himself. It took more than 40 years before a line was actually in operation. When service started in 1969, it took approximately 24 minutes on the high-speed line to travel the 14.2 miles from Lindenwold, Camden County, to Center City Philadelphia. The system is highly automated, using a single train operator regardless of the number of cars in the train. In addition, tickets are sold entirely by machines under the surveillance of a closed circuit television system.
Train operations are also flexible.
The line originally ran from Lindenwold to Camden City. In February 1969 a month after its inaugural run the line was extended to Philadelphia. At that time, there were 12 stations on the line eight in Camden County and four in Philadelphia. Woodcrest, its 13th station, opened in 1980. Service has consistently grown such that in 1998, its total weekday ridership reached approximately 40,000, with an average 264 weekday train trips, says Diemer.