PATCO to use train ferry service over summer while both Ben Franklin Bridge tracks udergo reconstruction

Above: A multi-car passenger train boards a ferry in Puttgarden, Denmark. The Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) will use a similar ferry service over the upcoming summer months while the two busy tracks across the Delaware River on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge are shut down for much-needed repairs. PATCO officials say all the details have not been worked out yet, but multiple modes of transportation could be utilized to complete the river crossing. "Going into Philly, we could possibly bus riders from City Hall Station to a waiting train on the New Jersey side of the [Delaware] river, then load the train onto the ferry. Once on the Philadelphia side, unload the train onto refurbished tracks on Columbus Blvd. From here, put the riders onto a second bus that would take them to the 8th and Market [Street] Station," said one official. The transit agency says it "just wouldn't make sense" to simply bus passengers between City Hall (NJ) and 8th & Market Street (Phila) Stations.