The West Philadelphia Elevated was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad to accommodate freight traffic along the Northeast Corridor. Freight trains were routed along the secondary tracks next to the main line itself, the most important of which was the connection to the port at the southern end. This did not change after the merger of the PRR and the New York Central Railroad into Penn Central in 1968, and Conrail's acquisition of the line in 1976 after Penn Central's bankruptcy.
