Electric Keystone service returns

benltrain wrote:Amtrak running on SEPTA trackage? Never going to happen.

However, it has happened. Atlantic City to Philadelphia International Airport service, and Harrisburg service from Suburban Sta. with Silverliners and Metroliners.

JimBoylan wrote:

benltrain wrote:Amtrak running on SEPTA trackage? Never going to happen.

However, it has happened. Atlantic City to Philadelphia International Airport service, and Harrisburg service from Suburban Sta. with Silverliners and Metroliners.

I meant in these times, and probably we won't see Amtrak service on SEPTA trackage again for a long time if ever. Amtrak doesn't need two stations in Philadelphia, just like they don't in most other cities. Cases like Boston are different that Philadelphia, due to two different lines and having a stub terminal where it is.

According to a September 13th article in the Inquirer, all-electric service returns to the Keystone Corridor on October 31st. Amtrak is adding three express frequencies to the existing schedule.

Read the whole article here.

-Robb

Yesterday I took train 642 from Harrisburg to Philadelphia and train 647 back to Harrisburg. AEM-7 917 was on both trains. It's nice to see the electrics returning to the Keystone Corridor.

Interesting, though, is that there were "equipment" shortages preventing this from happening, but no info is forthcoming on why that changed.

ryanov wrote:Interesting, though, is that there were "equipment" shortages preventing this from happening, but no info is forthcoming on why that changed.

Dissapearance of the metroliners is probably one of the big factors. Maybe they decreased doubleheadings on NEC trains.

Will amtrak purchase Septas AEM-7's and use them for service on the Keystone Route.

Maybe Amtrak or PennDOT should by all Septa's push/pull sets. They can probably get them cheap and it would give Septa a good excuse not to expand service due to lack of funds and equipment.

dreese_us wrote:Maybe Amtrak or PennDOT should by all Septa's push/pull sets. They can probably get them cheap and it would give Septa a good excuse not to expand service due to lack of funds and equipment.

SEPTA equipment will not be running on the Keystone anytime soon (except thanksgiving and special occasions like such). It has become apparent that Amtrak can field plenty of equipment for electric service.

If Amtrak really needed more electric locomotives, it could always repair AEM-7's 922 and 930, which are still out of service. Also, HHP-8 #663 and possibly one other one are semi-permanently out of service.

dreese_us wrote:Maybe Amtrak or PennDOT should by all Septa's push/pull sets. They can probably get them cheap

They are for sale, delivery about 2010, but I don't know about the cheap part. S.E.P.T.A. must think that the Silverliner Vs can replace them.

The Silverliner V cars are supposed to replace to II and III cars, not the push-pulls.

And I believe i saw an HHP-8 today passing my train with a Keystone, but this is based on a very quick look that could mean I'm wrong. It was eastbound at about 6:10 near Overbrook.

Those who would propose Amtrak buy this consist or that system of cars need to ask themselves a simple question:

"Whither the funding?"

Amtrak cannot even maintain the State of Good Repair, let alone due course materiel replacement!

I was not necessarily proposing that Amtrak by these train sets. However Septa did put out a request for interest, August of last year. http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 57&start=0
This is a state subsidized service and I don't have a problem with this equipment staying in Pennsylvania if the price is right. Its not like Septa ran this equipment into the ground, why give it away?

Th word out of Harrisburg on local media outlets is that the HIA station has become a go. Amtrak will process the paperwork later this week. Estimated cost in $16 million I think. Patriot news had a front page article about it yesterday. The other big question is can we run trains to Baltimore and Washington because Rabbit Transit of York announced plans to investigate possible express buses to Balitmore today. These would be luxury coaches running from center city to center city hitting many of the Southern York County locations. That begs the question could the North Central be put back in or could Amtrak get day time trackage rights on the port road to make a more convenient run to Baltimore and DC. I would rather see that than electric service to Pitsburgh, however I would love to see Amtrak put in a single track main line with passing sidings on the NS ROW since PRR was four tracks and is now two in most places. The state would largely fund this (in my vision) so lets not say where will Amtrak get the money? As for the run to Pittsburgh, in 1942 PRR trains average 44 miles per hour...running time 5:35, mileage 244.7. Amtrak averages 35 miles per hour, however if they had a dedicated track designed to handle lighter higher speed trains versus slower heavy trains you might be able to pull a 60mph average, 62 mph average gets you HAR to PBH in under 4 hours...and if you really wanted to electrify a portion of that line I'd go Harrisburg to Altoona, though somewhat curvey, its pretty fast running with many straight aways and gentle curves. Its where you would really have to cook speed wise to get that average down. Its certainly impossible to really speed up west of Johnstown without major changes. Even the great PRR took 100 minutes to go these 80 miles...WOW...I just looked up the Amtrak schedule for this portion of the run. I can barely beleive this but Amtrak bests the PRR PGH to Johnstown by six minutes, granted thats 1 minute for every decade since my timetable was published but still I expected a lot of lost time here in the Amtrak era. Also in 1942 the Broadway covered the PGH-HAR distance in 4:56, Amtrak does it in 5:25, all things considered that ain't to bad...now I don't know what the Broadway did in the hey day of the late 40's and 50's but still Amtrak being only 25 minutes slower than the great Broadway Limited ain't all that bad, and Amtrak makes a lot more stops. Broadway only stopped in Altoona. No other stops HAR to PGH. Thats my $.02
Cheers,
Nick