52nd Street Bridge to Cynwyd to be Retired

I pass it weekly and no work in about a year.
I believe the new ROW ownership issue was resolved.
SEPTA may be diverting their money to lines that will continue to operate under the doomsday scenario.

After seeing Jeff Knueppel's presentation on the realignment plan, that is exactly why the project is on hold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... _9T08xciic" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The state needs to watch that SEPTA Meeting. They basically said what is the truth . SEPTA is consecutively breaking ridership levels within the past 5-8 years. The DEMAND IS HERE And the REGION Is using it. And that welfare comment that has been made. I'd like to see how that man would feel if the ppl that make close to his salary would respond to that comment. J just hope we can get funding.

sammy2009 wrote:The state needs to watch that SEPTA Meeting. They basically said what is the truth . SEPTA is consecutively breaking ridership levels within the past 5-8 years. The DEMAND IS HERE And the REGION Is using it. And that welfare comment that has been made. I'd like to see how that man would feel if the ppl that make close to his salary would respond to that comment. J just hope we can get funding.

The State legislators know and understand the truth but continue to spread lies. The true facts don't play well in their home districts where there is no train or trolley or subway service. They might have one or two buses.

I'm not from town. Are we talking about the bridge at Lansdowne and 52nd? Is this a low-traffic branch? It looks like it was once double track, and there's a bit of OOS second track at the very stem of the branch.

Tadman wrote:I'm not from town. Are we talking about the bridge at Lansdowne and 52nd? Is this a low-traffic branch? It looks like it was once double track, and there's a bit of OOS second track at the very stem of the branch.

You are correct.

That is where the PRT's Schuyllkill branch left the main line for Reading to compete with the Reading RR. It's now used for single-car MU's only going as far as Cynwyd.

Surely there is a workaround for this? I see where a bridge used to be to the west, couldn't they build another before pulling the existing one out of service, then re-connect it to the live tracks at either end?

25Hz wrote:Surely there is a workaround for this? I see where a bridge used to be to the west, couldn't they build another before pulling the existing one out of service, then re-connect it to the live tracks at either end?

The plan is to reactivate an at-grade track parallel to the bridge and simply stop using the bridge. Still takes capital dollars to do that. SEPTA service on an AMTRAK line with a short segment actually owned by NS cause it used to be a freight ROW.

I think the idea is to avoid building and maintaining another giant bridge, given that the only thing using it is a dinky-like operation. I assume this means they'll put in (or start using an existing) crossover on the main line and a ramp track, as others have mentioned, up the existing ramp serving as a dirt road.

I followed this line on google maps last weekend, it just keeps going. Once I saw the bridge I recalled the history of the line, that it was truncated after SEPTA merged the two legacy operations. It always amazes me that there's this giant bridge, totally unused, along with a few miles of approach ramp on the north end.

(Actually, it's not dinky-like, it is dinky. It's the only line of SEPTA Regional Rail that regularly runs one-car trains, and not many of those.) The bridge really became unnecessary once the freight yard operations at 52nd St. were transferred to other locations. In keeping with PRR practice of running freight trains on the 2 inside tracks and passenger trains on the outside, it was expedient to route westbound passenger trains (from Bryn Mawr locals to the Broadway) over the bridge, making a sharp left coming off the west end of the bridge, and gradually descending to become the westbound outside track (4); at Overbrook, expresses would cross over to 3, the nominal freight track. Once it was no longer necessary to avoid conflict with freights (and I forget what year this occurred), the trackage was reconfigured to get trains in the Paoli direction off the bridge altogether, leaving it to the Manayunk (later Cynwyd) locals, which, as you say, will cross over on the flat in the outbound direction. I don't know whether it can be seen on the map, but there is a duckunder, used by inbound trains, which disappears under the main line just west of the bridge and reappears on the south side, then curves eastward to merge with the inbounds from Paoli. As far as I know the duckunder will continue to be used, as conflicts between inbounds from Cynwyd and outbounds to Paoli would be unacceptable. As soon as the money can be found, the necessary trackwork to get outbound Cynwyds off the bridge and up the ramp should be completed.

ExCon90 wrote:As soon as the money can be found, the necessary trackwork to get outbound Cynwyds off the bridge and up the ramp should be completed.

As soon as money can be found, let's use it to keep SEPTA's doors open.

The low ridership numbers make the Cynwyd line a target in a cash-poor environment. Just like the BSL Ridge spur.

I was thinking of this as a capital project to be progressed in reasonable relationship to other projects, i.e., those seeing more than occasional single-car trains 5 days a week; money to keep SEPTA's doors open would take precedence. Something I've been wondering about is whether the existing bridge is sound enough to be left in place as long as it's not in use, or is it at the point where it will have to be demolished even without traffic moving over it?

I would like to see this completed if only to leave open the possibility of resumption to Manayunk West and Ivy Ridge. This seems to be extremely low on SEPTA's expansion priorities however, even through the viaduct has been repaired and necessary work would be relatively straightforward.

It appears the 52nd St bridge's days are numbered. The new track bypassing the bridge has been placed.

Now that the 52nd Street Bridge is being talked about, does anyone know the story of the ROW that extends from the eastern portion of the 52nd Street Bridge onto the ex-PRR Schuylkill Division? If that used to be used to access the Schuylkill Division, then why was the 52nd Street Bridge constructed?