2016 Capital Budget Unveiled (Expansion Map Included)

[Push&Pull Master]

http://septa.org/strategic-plan/reports ... oposal.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
One thing that interests me in the report is that Septa is talking fairly seriously about extending service back to Perkasie, but I'm probably just getting my hopes up.

the Authority is able to advance planning efforts for a small number of poten􏰀al future system expansion projects. SEPTA is currently involved in planning work for several of these potential future expansions: an extension of the Norristown High Speed Line to King of Prussia (the King of Prussia Rail Project), an extension of the Broad Street Subway to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and restoration of rail service on the Bethlehem Branch from Lansdale to Perkasie.

[NorthPennLimited]

They've been paying consulting firms for decades to study expanding north of Lansdale and weat of Norristown.

Don't hold your breath or buy the bottle of champagne just yet.

My best guess.........20 years from now they will be putting in a bike trail between Lansdale and Bethlehem once the last few remaining industries along that line dry up and the freight business cashes in their chips and goes home.

[TrainPhotos]

I was just in quakertown yesterday & passed the old station on my way to ABE area. Shame they can't seem to get SEPTA trains up that way. Electrification to perkasie is a good step, though, i think. In my own personal opinion there are too many trails and not enough trains based on the population & development explosion between philadelphia through to the lehigh valley area i've seen in my lifetime. The state of good repair projects should have priority over anything else. You can't run any trains of the substation fails or a bridge sags.

[o484]

My best guess.........20 years from now they will be putting in a bike trail between Lansdale and Bethlehem once the last few remaining industries along that line dry up and the freight business cashes in their chips and goes home.

I don't see that happening; none of the freight customers along that stretch of the line seem to be faltering in the slightest. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Northeastern doesn't seem to be the kind of railroad to pull up track when freight customers disappear (look at the Stony Creek Branch). I also don't think that the PN or East Penn would allow SEPTA to pull up the rails between Quakertown and Lansdale without a fight.

[bikentransit]

I didn't see anything in SEPTA's budget for the expansion of the Regional tRail Division.

[ekt8750]

I didn't see anything in SEPTA's budget for the expansion of the Regional tRail Division.

There's a small map on one the first few pages and it shows various extensions like Wawa, BSL to Navy Yard, Pennridge, NHSL to KOP, and a rail line that appears to use the City Branch and CSX's Trenton Line to Wissahickon TC.

EDIT that last one is actually some stupid graphic designer or cartographer that decided it was a good idea to make bodies of water gray which was the same color they used for the Regional Rail lines so what I was looking at was actually the Schuylkill River. -_-

[JeffK]

In my own personal opinion there are too many trails and not enough trains based on the population & development explosion between Philadelphia through to the Lehigh valley area ...

We're hitting a crunch that some of us were worried about when the whole rails-to-trails concept started. I'm both a trail and rail user so I get both sides of the problem, but I long ago expressed concern that trail conversions couldn't successfully "bank" abandoned lines for future restoration. Trails now have such a constituency of their own that it'll be difficult if not impossible to revert some of them, even if that would be the most beneficial step.

[bikentransit]

It's safe to say that every conversion permitted by SEPTA is permanent. Even if they wanted to, trains will never operate on those lines again. SEPTA already has NIMBY issues with operating lines. For example, SEPTA has gotten complaints about trains sitting on the new passing siding on the Doylestown line, so trains were retimed so they wouldn't sit as long with trains full of riders staring at NIMBY backyards.

[trackwelder]

i'll give 'em credit, for once. judging by septa standards, they're thinkin' big.

[Push&Pull Master]

i'll give 'em credit, for once. judging by septa standards, they're thinkin' big.

I was more surprised too see an actual long range plan for SEPTA apart from KOP and Wawa. I thought maybe the map was worth mentioning since they haven't done that in a while. I didn't even know that Pennridge/Perkasie was still being studied at all. Unfortunately, I still don't think there's gonna be trains heading north of Lansdale before 2040. Maybe they will get to KOP around 2025 though.

[R3 Passenger]

http://septa.org/strategic-plan/reports ... oposal.pdf
One thing that interests me in the report is that Septa is talking fairly seriously about extending service back to Perkasie, but I'm probably just getting my hopes up.

the Authority is able to advance planning efforts for a small number of poten􏰀al future system expansion projects. SEPTA is currently involved in planning work for several of these potential future expansions: an extension of the Norristown High Speed Line to King of Prussia (the King of Prussia Rail Project), an extension of the Broad Street Subway to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and restoration of rail service on the Bethlehem Branch from Lansdale to Perkasie.

[TrainPhotos]

I have to say that i personally find SEPTA's non-start expansion plans extremely frustrating. We all know expansion is needed, yet the best they can do is wawa, which..... i mean i dont need a hoagie THAT bad... Even the extended and reactive trolley lines could be more useful. Is it a money thing, or a politics thing, or some other thing? I try not to get too involved in SEPTA, but this is a definite sore spot for me.

[bikentransit]

SEPTA's lack of expansion is unfortunately a comedy of errors with bad politicians who don't care and take orders from SEPTA (instead of vice-versa), a regional planning commission that only cares about highways and bike paths, and counties that listen to NIMBYs instead of reason. Other states are expanding hand over fist, while SEPTA claims they are "hanging on to what they got".