"A group joke." That's what the long renovation of Ardmore's train station had become among downtown Ardmore businesses, a manager at a bakery on Station Road told The Philadelphia Inquirer this past March. The station reopened that month after six years of work.
Villanova is up next on the Paoli/Thorndale line. SEPTA's project page for Villanova Station says design is underway and construction runs from early 2027 to fall 2030. The money and the scope are already on paper. Where riders will board, where they'll park and how long the work will really take are not. Those are the parts that shape a weekday commute, and Ardmore shows how far they can drift from the first plan.
The scope is bigger than new platforms
SEPTA's public summary is short. Villanova gets ramp access to new high-level platforms, new shelters, renovated canopies and a rebuild of the historic platforms, which SEPTA says will be preserved.
The agency's proposed FY2027 budget lists much more. The capital profile for Villanova covers:
- Rebuilding the historic brick low platforms and their canopies
- ADA work inside the station building, with new restrooms, HVAC, plumbing and electrical
- New high-level platforms and canopies, with ramps and stairs up to them
- Ramps down to the low-level platform and new drainage pipes under the platforms
- New ADA signage, platform lighting and landscaping
- Stronger foundations for the overhead catenary structures, for a future Amtrak project
Villanova sits on Amtrak's Keystone Corridor as well as SEPTA's Paoli/Thorndale Line, so the work is partly shaped by plans on someone else's railroad.
This is also the second round of work here. Phase 1 added the new tunnel and the ADA ramps and stairs to both platforms, and the budget document says it was finished in 2019. The tunnel solved how riders reach the platforms. Boarding from the platforms is what's left, and SEPTA's station page still lists Villanova's Regional Rail stop as not ADA accessible.
The spending curve shows when the heavy work hits
SEPTA's budget profile gives the project a $48.65 million budget. About $3.08 million had already been funded before this cycle, and the yearly amounts break down like this:
| SEPTA fiscal year | Planned funding |
|---|---|
| Prior funding | $3.08 million |
| FY2027 | $5.24 million |
| FY2028 | $13.02 million |
| FY2029 | $11.87 million |
| FY2030 | $12.59 million |
| FY2031 | $2.86 million |
| 12-year total | $45.58 million |
Fiscal 2028, 2029 and 2030 together come to $37.48 million, or about three-quarters of the whole budget. However the calendar shifts, those three years are when the money is planned to flow and when the station will look most like a work site.
The two SEPTA documents don't give the same dates. The project page says early 2027 to fall 2030. The budget profile lists Phase 2 design from 2021 to 2026 and construction from 2026 to 2031. Neither document shows which date came later. The gap is a reminder that schedules for a station like this are estimates. The phase labels have changed too. A.D. Marble's 2021 project page describes an earlier Phase 2 plan, which included raising the platforms, as completed. SEPTA's FY2027 budget, though, still lists the platform and canopy reconstruction as work to come.
Ardmore shows how a plan can stretch
Ardmore is the closest comparison on this line. It's the same railroad, a similar accessibility rebuild and a station that only just reopened.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, SEPTA approved Ardmore's renovation in 2019 with a 2½-year schedule and a $62 million budget. The work took six years, with delays from supply chain slowdowns and unexpected problems at the 70-year-old site. The paper also reported that contractors could only work in four- to six-hour overnight shifts so they wouldn't disrupt daily train service.
That overnight limit matters for Villanova. Trains keep running through an active corridor every day, so crews get short windows to work. A station that has to stay open while it's rebuilt is built slowly, a few hours at a time.
During construction, boarding moved off the station entirely. Inbound riders used temporary platforms in the Ardmore West Lot, and the temporary outbound platform needed about two dozen steps, with no elevator or ramp.
Not every SEPTA rebuild went that way. SEPTA says Exton's reconstruction was done in phases to limit the impact on riders, and it delivered high-level platforms, ramps, stairs, a new station building and a reworked parking lot.
What hasn't been published yet
The details that matter most to a daily rider are the ones still missing. SEPTA hasn't released:
- Where riders will board during construction, including whether temporary platforms will be used and where they'd go
- What happens to parking. SEPTA lists 179 spaces at Villanova today.
- How the work will be phased, and whether any trains will skip the stop for a while
- Who the contractor is
- How walking routes to campus and to transfers at other nearby SEPTA stops might change
At Ardmore, the first two items shaped daily life for six years. At Villanova there's one more factor. SEPTA's project page says the new station is meant to make it easier to visit Villanova University and to transfer from other nearby SEPTA services. On game days, move-in weekends and commencement, a lot of people pass through those platforms.
Why the historic platforms slow things down
The old platforms and canopies are part of the reason this rebuild isn't simple. A historic survey by the cultural resources firm A.D. Marble found Villanova Station eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The firm also assessed effects on the Villanova University Historic District, which is eligible for listing as well. Eligible isn't the same as listed. Still, it explains why SEPTA promises to preserve and rebuild the historic brick platforms and canopies instead of replacing them.
Saving old brick and canopies while adding high-level platforms, ramps and new drainage underneath, all between trains, is slow, careful work. It's the same kind of job that ran into unexpected site problems at Ardmore.
The commute is already changing this fall
The rebuild hasn't started, and Paoli/Thorndale riders are already working around construction. Under the schedules SEPTA put into effect on Oct. 18, Amtrak work keeps affecting the line until Nov. 21. Inbound trains run five minutes earlier to William H. Gray III 30th Street Station and are rerouted between Overbrook and 30th Street. Riders still board in their usual spots. For anyone reading this on Oct. 29, that adjusted timetable has about three more weeks to run.
It's a short preview of the next few years. On this corridor, Amtrak's work and SEPTA's schedules are tied together, and the Villanova project includes catenary foundation work for a future Amtrak project for exactly that reason.
How to get the details when SEPTA releases them
The boarding and parking plans will be published at some point, and the earliest way to see them is through SEPTA itself. The Villanova Station project page links to a sign-up form for notices about upcoming chances to learn more about SEPTA projects. Live service changes appear on the Paoli/Thorndale schedule page, which is also where a temporary boarding notice would show up once work starts.
A station rebuild changes how a neighborhood works day to day for years, and our team keeps track of projects like this one across the Main Line. If you'd like to talk through what Villanova Station's rebuild means for your plans, Societe Select is happy to help. Book an Appointment.
