Summer 1981 SEPTA Regional Rail service cutbacks...

Everyone:

35 years ago this Summer - SEPTA Regional Rail (then operated under contract by Conrail) underwent its most significant service cuts
in its history - until this year in which the Silverliner 5 cars were removed from service as a result of truck defects causing service to
be cut in response to this car shortage and outside equipment leased to provide added capacity as a result.

Back then SEPTA Regional Rail was two separate operations of the former Reading Company commuter routes to Reading Terminal and
the Penn Central formerly PRR routes into Suburban and 30th Street Stations.

These cuts - which were at least partially in response to three fare increases in just over a year (1980) totalling 50 percent and more
were best known for the elimination of all diesel services - of which all four were former RDG routes: Pottstown-Reading-Pottsville;
Quakertown-Bethlehem-Allentown, Fox Chase-Newtown (revived as the ill-fated "Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line") and the two runs to
Newark: Wall Street and Crusader by way of West Trenton and Bound Brook, NJ.

Because of the system ridership loss SEPTA cut train service on all of its routes - I referred to a small timetable archive I have to note
what these cuts were then - schedules showing reduced service levels went into effect on August 2, 1981.

I took notes primarily by numbers of round trips available before and after these cutbacks - the Reading Division first:

Newtown-Fox Chase: 22 to RDG TML; 20 to FXC down to 20 trips and 19 on weekdays - 7 Fox Chase-Newtown round trips were cut.
12 Saturday and 3 Sunday round trips remained the same.
The first "Fox Chase Rapid Transit Line" schedule was effective October 5, 1981.

West Trenton: 25 to RDG TML and 24 to WTR down to 19 and 18 trips weekdays; 13 down to 12 Saturdays; 7 down to 6 trips Sundays.

Warminster: 20 weekday; 16 Saturday and 6 Sunday trips - no change in round trip numbers.

Chestnut Hill East: 37 trips down to 22 trips weekdays; 27 Saturday and 10 Sunday to 18 RDG TML and 17 CHE Saturday and 10 to
RDG TML and 9 to CHE on Sundays.

Norristown: 29 weekday; 20 Saturday and 9 Sunday trips down to 19 weekday; 17 RDG TML and 16 NOR Saturday and 8 trips Sunday.

Lansdale-Doylestown: 33 to RDG TML- 31 to L-D weekdays; 22 to RDG TML and 23 L-D Saturdays and 10 Sundays.
(15 weekday, 10 Saturday and 5 Sunday trains were Doylestown trains; others terminated at Lansdale. One peak round trip
originated/terminated at Link Belt) The Lansdale-Doylestown Line was cut substantially losing its half hourly midday weekday
service to hourly. This became 21 to RDG TML (two peak hour AM trips began at Ambler) and 19 to L-D weekdays; 17 trips Saturday
and 10 Sunday (there were 7 weekday and Saturday Doylestown trips and 5 on Sundays.)

The Reading timetables carried a special schedule operated on only Christmas and New Year's Day which was:
Fox Chase: 4 round trips
West Trenton: 4 round trips
Warminster: 4 round trips
Chestnut Hill East: 4 round trips
Norristown: 5 round trips cut to one in 1981: a midday run to NOR and back.
Lansdale-Doylestown: 4 cut to 2 Doylestown round trips in 1981.

I understood the lack of patronage on Christmas Day but wondered why so few trains were operated on New Years Day with the
Mummers Parade in Center City being a big drawing card - was it to discourage use of RDG commuter trains on NYD?

I will post the PC Philadelphia Division cutbacks in my next post...MACTRAXX

In 1981, the former Reading/PRR commuter lines ceased to be "regional", having been cut off to areas outside the 5 county area, minus Amtrak's routes. The state and feds were major culprits by cutting funding/refusing to fund what should have been maintained. Reading & Bethlehem were by no means underutilized routes. The only way to places like Bethlehem or Allentown without a car today is by Greyhound.

Further insult was the poorly implemented Fox Chase rapid transit line. It was made to fail. To cover up their tracks, SEPTA made sure the line would never return to service.

In the years since, SEPTA has put money everywhere but restoration (expansion) of service. They've been touting a return to Wawa for the past 16 years yet it moves at a snail's pace.

(Edited -AlexC)

(Edited -AlexC) There has been extensive press reportage that the SEPTA staff recommended at the outset that Rotem's bid not be considered because of lack of experience in building to FRA specifications, or indeed anything for the U. S.; then Rotem promised the politicians to establish an assembly plant in Philadelphia which would employ Philadelphia residents. The politicians, with visions of ribbon-cuttings dancing in their heads, pressured SEPTA to award the contract to Rotem. (Hey, they're going to assemble the cars in Philly with local employees! So what if the employees have no experience in assembling railroad cars and will have to be trained on-the-job by Korean supervisors whose English isn't up to the task? Should be ok, right?) So far I don't see any politicians lining up to take the credit.

But didn't the Silverliner IVs suffered from hollow axles during that period as well?

bikentransit wrote:The only way to places like Bethlehem or Allentown without a car today is by Greyhound.

Unless something changed in the past 24 hours, I'm pretty sure you could take just about any other mode of transportation to get from point a to point b in this state. Mule, pogo stick, kayak, hot air balloon, jet pack, a friend willing to carry you, or the more common bike, bus, or car. I'm sure you read up on the situation on why those lines were discontinued in the early 80's, so unless you have a truckload of cash you're willing to donate towards restoration, what's the deal with flaming again and again? This state isn't exactly Quatar, with throwing subsidy money around, and I don't see the political environment changing soon.

ChrisinAbington wrote: Unless something changed in the past 24 hours, I'm pretty sure you could take just about any other mode of transportation to get from point a to point b in this state. Mule, pogo stick, kayak, hot air balloon, jet pack, a friend willing to carry you, or the more common bike, bus, or car. I'm sure you read up on the situation on why those lines were discontinued in the early 80's, so unless you have a truckload of cash you're willing to donate towards restoration, what's the deal with flaming again and again? This state isn't exactly Quatar, with throwing subsidy money around, and I don't see the political environment changing soon.

Your entire thought was completely unhelpful to the matter. Yes one could take a week and pogo stick to these places, but to insinuate over and over that an individual such as myself should come up with the cash or shut up is completely irrelevant nor realistic. Apparently you're satisfied with the status quo of sub par performance and wasting of existing resources. There seems to be no lack of subsidy for other programs, and there's no reason why it couldn't be done for a world class passenger rail network in the state. The issue is the will nor drive for it is there.

Bike, if you had a creative, positive, or helpful post to this forum, it would be your first. Alex, please feel free to censor me as necessary.

bikentransit wrote: The best thing that could happen would be for a new agency to take over operation and direction of passenger rail in PA

I totally get the dog pile on septa, their history is rife with gafs and vandalism. How many transportation companies, private or public, is headed by a beer distributer? But seriously, if you had a clue about what septa is as an organization and its make up, you would know that the wish of having a new agency takeover is more absurd then calling someone out to personally fund a line expansion.

I looked up the records for pogo sticks. Some dude was able to pogo just over 26 miles in 16 hours.

Having a railroad run a railroad is absurd? What an absurd thought. SEPTA is a failure and it's time that someone else steps in and gives Pennsylvania the passenger rail system it needs.

Everyone: Part Two - CR (former PC) Philadelphia Division service cutbacks - Effective date: August 2, 1981

Ivy Ridge-Manayunk-Cynwyd: 21 weekday and 16 Saturday round trips down to 15 weekday and 6 Saturday round trips - no Sunday service.
An interesting footnote was that a schedule ending Saturday service was issued on 9/25/1981 to be effective October 4.
A revised 10/4/81 timetable shows that Saturday service was retained at that same schedule change time.

Media-West Chester: 38 PHS, 40 MED weekday trips down to 26 PHS, 27 MED; 27 Saturday round trips down to 17; 14 down to 13 round trips Sunday.
Media-West Chester segment: 11 MED, 10 WCH down to 6 trips weekday; 3 Saturday - no Sunday service. MED-WCH service ended in April 1982.

Chestnut Hill West: 37 CHW and 38 PHS trips down to 26 CHW and 25 PHS weekday; 26 Saturday down to 17; 10 Sunday down to 9 round trips.

Paoli-Bryn Mawr: 55 trips PHS, 56 trips BMR-PAO down to 44 round trips weekdays;
One peak hour round trip serving Malvern, Exton, Whitford, Downingtown east AM, west PM was cut.
29 PHS and 28 BMR-PAO trips down to 21 PHS and 20 BMR-PAO trips Saturday;
17 PHS and 19 trips BMR-PAO down to 15 PHS and 17 BMR-PAO trips Sunday.

Marcus Hook-Wilmington (and Newark): Delaware was ending subsidy to SEPTA Regional Rail and there would be two
rounds of Delaware cutbacks: March 1, 1981: 26 PHS and 28 WIL trips down to 23 PHS and 22 MHK trips weekdays;
two NRK trips east AM, west PM end. After 3/1/81 cuts: 7 round trips serve Claymont, Edge Moor and Wilmington.
Saturday: 17 PHS and 18 WIL trips down to 14 round trips. Only two round trips serve WIL.
Sunday: 10 PHS and 11 WIL trips down to 8 round trips. Sunday WIL service ends.
Late 1982: All service begins originating and terminating at Marcus Hook and no longer operates into Delaware.

Torresdale-Levittown-Trenton: This is the one SEPTA RRD line in which weekday service held steady and weekend
service increased. With SEPTA and NJT beginning operation in 1983 more emphasis was being placed on the TRE
transfer as more riders began to use this option more often. The fare differential between local and Amtrak trains
which was minimal in the late 70s/early 80s era became even more of a factor as Amtrak fares rose steadily.

20 PHS and 21 TRE weekday trips; 11 round trips to 9 PHS and 10 TRE trips Saturday.
Sunday: At first Sunday service was 4 trips PHS-TRE at 8am,5pm,8:35pm and 9:45pm;
3 trips TRE-PHS at 11:15am, 12:15pm and 7:45 pm. This increased to 6 Sunday round trips on 4/26/1980.

SEPTA RRD ridership would continue to decline and then bottom out to its lowest point in 1984.
1983 was a rough year for Regional Rail with the most significant event being the 108 day RRD strike.

After SEPTA took over direct Regional Rail operation in 1983 they made changes with large scale schedule
and service additions along with the fare decreases introducing the Trailpass beginning in late 1982.

In another post I will note SEPTA RRD's 1983-84 service changes before the Center City Tunnel opened around
the end of 1984 during the final years of the two separate RRD train operations.

MACTRAXX

Everyone:

In this third installment I will note some service increases implemented by SEPTA after its direct takeover of the operation of what was then referred
to as the Regional High Speed Lines. There was an effort to transitise SEPTA RRD which would be turned back in mid 1985.

The years 1983-1984 were very interesting and a unique part of the history of SEPTA's Regional Rail Lines because they were the first two years of the
operation under direct control of SEPTA and the last two years that there were two separate operations of the former RDG and PC service after SEPTA
assumed operation when Conrail exited from passenger rail services at the end of 1982.

I checked my timetable collection and discovered that I have some 1983 timetables missing - but what I do have shows some of what SEPTA was doing
to increase ridership - which would fall to its lowest point in 1984 and then begin a steady climb upward - starting with the system unification near
the end of 1984 with the opening of the "Center City Commuter Connection" which is better known as the "Center City Tunnel" to most of us...

Former PC Philadelphia Division: All schedules are October 30, 1983 unless as noted -

Trenton-Levittown: 24 weekday round trips; 18 Saturday round trips and 8 Sunday round trips.

Bryn Mawr-Paoli: 44 trains E to PHS, 47 trains W to BMR-PAO weekdays; 30 trains E to PHS, 29 trains W to BMR-PAO Saturdays
and 18 Sunday round trips. No SEPTA trains operated W of Paoli...Malvern and west were served by Amtrak Harrisburg trains only.

Marcus Hook: 26 trips to PHS, 24 trips to MHK weekdays; 19 round trips on Saturday and 9 round trips on Sunday.
I have MHK timetables effective 8/14/1983 and a 10/30/1983 edition showing 26 weekday round trips and no change Saturday and Sunday.

Media-West Chester: I have an area mailing timetable effective in October 1983 with the cover title:
"SEPTA's Media-West Chester High Speed Line Is Back - With More Service Then Before!"
Compared with Spring 1982: 21 more weekday trains, 6 more WCH round trips and Peak Express trains.
Half Hourly midday and hourly evening service on Weekdays and Saturdays.
23 more round trips Saturday with 7 more to West Chester; All Sunday trains operate to/from Elwyn.
Crum Creek Bridge work restored and 30 miles of track replaced.
MWC Service in this October 1983 schedule:
37 trips to PHS, 36 trips to MED, 5 trains each way operate through WCH-PHS and 6 MED-WCH shuttle round trips Weekdays
29 trips to PHS, 29 trips to MED with 10 WCH-MED Shuttle round trips Saturday; 13 Elwyn-PHS round trips Sundays.

Ivy Ridge-Manayunk: 19 round trips weekdays; 14 round trips Saturdays - No Sunday or Holiday service.

Former Reading Division service - Again all 10/30/1983:

Chestnut Hill East: 22 to RDG TML, 23 to CHE weekdays; 19 to RDG TML and 20 to CHE Saturdays and 9 Sunday round trips.

Norristown-Shawmont: 20 trips to RDG TML, 21 trips to NOR weekdays; 16 Saturday round trips; 7 trips to RDG TML and 8 to NOR Sunday.

West Trenton: 21 trips to RDG TML, 23 trips to WTR weekdays; 18 Saturday round trips and 9 Sunday round trips.

Fox Chase: 26 Weekday round trips; 19 Saturday round trips and 8 Sunday round trips. I also have a 12/12/1983 area mailing timetable promoting
this service level "Changes for the Better" mentioning hourly service and service hours extending past Midnight on Weekdays and Saturdays.

RRD Saturday service is operated on President's Day and Good Friday; Sunday service on New Year's, Memorial, Independence, Labor, Thanksgiving
and Christmas Days.

There was another significant schedule change during 1984 - I have these timetables in storage someplace (remember the short-lived "skyline"
cover graphics)...They would be the last timetables issued before the major changes for the CC Tunnel opening in late 1984.

MACTRAXX

Found this on another RR.Net forum.

Ah what once was.