It became the West Chester Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR).

The West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1848, and the company was organized in 1851.

Financial difficulties followed, and work was suspended until 1856, when the line opened to Grubb's Bridge (now Wawa).

The first was the West Chester Railroad, built in 1832 and running northeast to a PRR connection at Malvern.

The West Chester line was sold to SEPTA 1978, though Conrail provided operations until 1983, when SEPTA assumed passenger operations until September 1986 when service was suspended.