Add service to Cornwells Heights, PA

Living in Bensalem, I'd love to see Amtrak allow more trains to stop at Cornwells Heights on the Northeast Regional route. I wonder, why does Amtrak bother to call it an Amtrak station when only two or so trains between Washington and New York stop there daily. I think it'd serve as a much easier way for people in Burlington and Bucks Counties to access the corridor as opposed to going all the way to 30th Street. Any thoughts?

Hi PRSL , I too live in Bensalem, right next to the tracks at Torresdale Station and Cornwells is a convient stop for me but useless because 2 trains in the morning stop going to NYC, and 2 in the evening and none weekends. From what I was told by a conductor I worked with a few days ago that a Bucks County big shot has been questioning Amtrak about it and battling back and forth about how much money is sunk into Amtrak and the Keystone service and from What I understand , that starting this fall they will begin to stop more trains there. I hope they do. I was recently hired by Amtrak to work out of NYC and so the commute gets alittle to much, but if they decide to stop more trains here its only 1:04 minutes to NYC and I can deal with that, otherwise Im looking to move up closer to NYC which ultimately may happen eventually anyways because of the many commuting options available. Even if gas prices werent so high, Im not a big fan of driving so much.......

I frequently use Cornwells Heights station when travelling to and from 30th Street Station and always use it when going up to New York/Newark. I would be willing to place a bet that the big-shot from Bucks County that you were told about is most likely Congressman Patrick Murphy (D, 8th District--FYI), who actually campaigned at Cornwells Heights station when he was elected two years ago. Odds are that he will be doing the same this season, so you might want to show up and voice your opinion. I know that I certainly will.

NOTE: I know that politics-related things should not be discussed here, but IMO, they are an obstacle that constricts Amtrak's potential and are necessary to address.

When Amtrak started service to Cornwells Heights, the service was much better since many of the Clockers stopped there in the morning and evening. When Amtrak dropped the Clocker service a few years back they did not compensate the
loss of the Clockers by having additional Regional trains stop there.

this would be excellent! thank you for the good news.

amtrakhogger wrote:When Amtrak started service to Cornwells Heights, the service was much better since many of the Clockers stopped there in the morning and evening. When Amtrak dropped the Clocker service a few years back they did not compensate the
loss of the Clockers by having additional Regional trains stop there.

I think it's part of Amtrak's on again/off again relationship with interstate commuters. I'd also like to see them stop at North Philly more often but I can't see adding all these stops to regional trains which are slow enough. add to that cornwell heights has no center island platforms making it an inconvenient rush hour stop.

It seems like there are a hundred posts or more in this forum where it's been stated that Amtrak should work to better integrate services with regional transportation agencies. Isn't this about the best example where this is already occurring? You can take SEPTA from Cornwells Heights to either 30th Street Station or Trenton and make a connection, depending on whether you're headed toward Washington or New York City. Why is this viewed as a problem that needs to be fixed?

MudLake wrote:It seems like there are a hundred posts or more in this forum where it's been stated that Amtrak should work to better integrate services with regional transportation agencies. Isn't this about the best example where this is already occurring? You can take SEPTA from Cornwells Heights to either 30th Street Station or Trenton and make a connection, depending on whether you're headed toward Washington or New York City. Why is this viewed as a problem that needs to be fixed?

Mudlake, move around here if you dont already live this way, and then travel on Septa to either 1 of the 2 points you mention and then try to catch the Amtrak train and see how much its a waste of time and tell me why it should be fixed. Too many people from the Bucks area has been putting pressure on there political leaders to make the trains stop at Cornwells. Amtrak claims that they dont have enough seats which is a ridiculous statement considering that even if I ride Septa up to Trenton and catch the Amtrak train, those same seats that wouldve been taken at Cornwells by me and others will more then likely be taken up by the 1s who wanted to get on at Cornwells when we get on at Trenton. Pa contributes very heavily towards Amtrak and the Keystone trains in general so why not have them stop at Cornwell where the people want it and pay money for it. Let me put it to you this way. Train 640 stops at Cornwells at 7:22am and it gets to NYC at 8:28. Its 1hour and 6 minutes. If I took Septa to Trenton its a 25 minute ride from Cornwells. Then I have to wait for Amtrak and once it shows up its another 55 minutes to Penn station or an hour and a half on an NJT train. You do the math and you tell me why if this is a problem that should be fixed.

BuddSilverliner269 wrote:

MudLake wrote:It seems like there are a hundred posts or more in this forum where it's been stated that Amtrak should work to better integrate services with regional transportation agencies. Isn't this about the best example where this is already occurring? You can take SEPTA from Cornwells Heights to either 30th Street Station or Trenton and make a connection, depending on whether you're headed toward Washington or New York City. Why is this viewed as a problem that needs to be fixed?

Mudlake, move around here if you dont already live this way, and then travel on Septa to either 1 of the 2 points you mention and then try to catch the Amtrak train and see how much its a waste of time and tell me why it should be fixed. Too many people from the Bucks area has been putting pressure on there political leaders to make the trains stop at Cornwells. Amtrak claims that they dont have enough seats which is a ridiculous statement considering that even if I ride Septa up to Trenton and catch the Amtrak train, those same seats that wouldve been taken at Cornwells by me and others will more then likely be taken up by the 1s who wanted to get on at Cornwells when we get on at Trenton. Pa contributes very heavily towards Amtrak and the Keystone trains in general so why not have them stop at Cornwell where the people want it and pay money for it. Let me put it to you this way. Train 640 stops at Cornwells at 7:22am and it gets to NYC at 8:28. Its 1hour and 6 minutes. If I took Septa to Trenton its a 25 minute ride from Cornwells. Then I have to wait for Amtrak and once it shows up its another 55 minutes to Penn station or an hour and a half on an NJT train. You do the math and you tell me why if this is a problem that should be fixed.

What you're saying is no different than what people who live near New Carrolton, BWI, Aberdeen, Perryville, Newark, Chester, N. Philadelphia, Princeton, and New Brunswick would also say. Oh, I forgot Elkton, MD and Iselin, NJ. So do you have Washington to New York trains stop nearly 15 times to make the run in a smooth four hours? Especially where there is already frequent commuter service, Amtrak should focus on being an intercity service. But that's just my opinion. By the way, I used to live in SEPTA territory for whatever that is worth.

With a 10-minute connection at Trenton, my math tells me it's about a 90 minute trip to New York, according to what I just read. That's about the same time it takes to get from Poughkeepsie to GCT. Hundreds of people spend that amount of time commuting from there every day. True, it's a one-seat ride for them, but the elapsed time was the issue being addressed.

MudLake wrote:

BuddSilverliner269 wrote:

MudLake wrote:It seems like there are a hundred posts or more in this forum where it's been stated that Amtrak should work to better integrate services with regional transportation agencies. Isn't this about the best example where this is already occurring? You can take SEPTA from Cornwells Heights to either 30th Street Station or Trenton and make a connection, depending on whether you're headed toward Washington or New York City. Why is this viewed as a problem that needs to be fixed?

Mudlake, move around here if you dont already live this way, and then travel on Septa to either 1 of the 2 points you mention and then try to catch the Amtrak train and see how much its a waste of time and tell me why it should be fixed. Too many people from the Bucks area has been putting pressure on there political leaders to make the trains stop at Cornwells. Amtrak claims that they dont have enough seats which is a ridiculous statement considering that even if I ride Septa up to Trenton and catch the Amtrak train, those same seats that wouldve been taken at Cornwells by me and others will more then likely be taken up by the 1s who wanted to get on at Cornwells when we get on at Trenton. Pa contributes very heavily towards Amtrak and the Keystone trains in general so why not have them stop at Cornwell where the people want it and pay money for it. Let me put it to you this way. Train 640 stops at Cornwells at 7:22am and it gets to NYC at 8:28. Its 1hour and 6 minutes. If I took Septa to Trenton its a 25 minute ride from Cornwells. Then I have to wait for Amtrak and once it shows up its another 55 minutes to Penn station or an hour and a half on an NJT train. You do the math and you tell me why if this is a problem that should be fixed.

What you're saying is no different than what people who live near New Carrolton, BWI, Aberdeen, Perryville, Newark, Chester, N. Philadelphia, Princeton, and New Brunswick would also say. Oh, I forgot Elkton, MD and Iselin, NJ. So do you have Washington to New York trains stop nearly 15 times to make the run in a smooth four hours? Especially where there is already frequent commuter service, Amtrak should focus on being an intercity service. But that's just my opinion. By the way, I used to live in SEPTA territory for whatever that is worth.

I hate to tell you mudlake, but the examples you gave are very very poor as New Carrolton, BWI, Aberdeen and Iselin(Metro Park) have excellent service provided by AMtrak compared to other stops.. Still much better then the 2 a day at Cornwells Heights. Also Princeton JCT and New Brunswick have a far better service provided by NJT then the passengers at Cornwells Heights. The trip may be a bit longer from those stops as opposed to if they could get an Amtrak train at those stops, but like I said those trains run very often throughout the day, unlike Septa, with there hourly off peak and weekend service and not all that great rush hour service on the R7 so you have to wait for a Septa train then transfer to another train but you will have to wait for Amtrak and NJT whatever the choice. All Im saying is why cant all the keystone trains make the stop at Cornwells? A stop would only add what an extra 3-4 minutes?

Rockingham Racer wrote:With a 10-minute connection at Trenton, my math tells me it's about a 90 minute trip to New York, according to what I just read. That's about the same time it takes to get from Poughkeepsie to GCT. Hundreds of people spend that amount of time commuting from there every day. True, it's a one-seat ride for them, but the elapsed time was the issue being addressed.

10 minute connection at Trenton????????With who to who? Maybe between Septa and NJT but not the case most of the time between Septa and say Amtrak at Trenton. Besides if you meant Septa to NJT connection at Trenton, the NJT trip from Trenton to NYC alone is 1:30 with some of the late night trips being 1:40. There is no guaranteed connection at Trenton between Septa and Amtrak so you basically sit and wait and hope one comes soon.

BuddSilverliner269 wrote: I hate to tell you mudlake, but the examples you gave are very very poor as New Carrolton, BWI, Aberdeen and Iselin(Metro Park) have excellent service provided by AMtrak compared to other stops.. Still much better then the 2 a day at Cornwells Heights. Also Princeton JCT and New Brunswick have a far better service provided by NJT then the passengers at Cornwells Heights. The trip may be a bit longer from those stops as opposed to if they could get an Amtrak train at those stops, but like I said those trains run very often throughout the day, unlike Septa, with there hourly off peak and weekend service and not all that great rush hour service on the R7 so you have to wait for a Septa train then transfer to another train but you will have to wait for Amtrak and NJT whatever the choice. All Im saying is why cant all the keystone trains make the stop at Cornwells? A stop would only add what an extra 3-4 minutes?

You must have missed my point. Places like Perryville, Elkton, and Chester don't have any Amtrak service. What makes them any different than Cornwells Heights (a place 99.5% of the population has probably never heard of) for desirability of Amtrak service? The other places I mentioned have infrequent service at best.

The two stops each way at Cornwells Heights achieve exactly what they are there for... to allow commuters to get to New York City and back without changing trains. Aren't they timed appropriately for that purpose? Further, adding more stops might not be so easy since it requires additional switching between tracks.

Are the other points you brought up more directed at SEPTA than Amtrak?

I was merely suggesting that they maybe expand it to a couple of more trains daily. Allowing two Northeast Regionals daily bound for Boston/Newport News as well as the Washington/New York ones to stop there wouldn't hurt. And a good point was brought up that Keystone trains should also stop there. And by the way (where Cornwells Heights is located) has a higher population than Chester and Elkton so doesn't that make it a little more deserving of Amtrak service?

Why would Amtrak even consider stopping at Cornwelis Heights???? Amtrak is a long distance passenger rail entity. Septa the local commuter agency makes daily routine station stops here. Making additional stops in CH would only add time to regional travelers commute,plus delays to other trains.The Keystone Service makes a stop in Philly and Trenton I dont see what benefit Amtrak would get out of additional stops at Cornwelis Heights. If the travel from Cornwelis Heights is so tremendous than Septa should add additional trains. Maybe Amtrak should also make stops at Tacony,Bridesburg, Wissinoming,Bristol andLevittown-Tullytown. Lets write our congressman.