It's no secret that our civic leaders in Philadelphia have been lacking in initiative and inspiration lately, and that the public transit within the city has remained relatively unchanged for the last twenty years. With a little more experience in the transit industry under my belt, I have been toying with a potential expansion of Philadelphia's heavy and light rail infrastructure. Taking inspiration from our friends across the pond, I have tried to use existing infrastructure and ROW where possible. I would love any and all feedback on my little thought experiment.
The PRR High Line has been catching my eye since I was in high school, but especially since I began my time at Drexel. It would be the perfect candidate for conversion into a heavy rail line. I envision a line running from just north of ZOO (a connection with the 15, or soon to be G), south over the High Line to Arsenal, at which point it would take the bridge over the Schuylkill and either run under Washington Avenue (preferred alignment) or continue on the 25th Street Viaduct into South Philadelphia. Assuming an alignment under Washington Avenue, this hypothetical line would have direct connections to both the Market Frankford Line at Market and the Broad Street Line in South Philly. In addition, it would have indirect connections to SEPTA Regional Rail at both 30th Street and University City/Penn Medicine Station. A station could be constructed where Spring Garden currently runs under the High Line, giving access to the Art Museum and Powelton Village. This would also serve any future plans to cap Penn Coach Yard. The Zoo, University City, and South Philadelphia would become far better connected. The value of a network is the sum of its nodes, and this hypothetical would add at least two to the system. In addition, there is the potential of using the excess ROW on the Harrisburg Line west of ZOO to use this hypothetical subway line to completely replace the Cynwyd Line.
I realize that this idea has issues, the biggest being that CSX (or Conrail? Uncertain.) currently owns and frequently operates on the High Line. However, there is a parallel track on the opposite side of the river which also serves Eastside and Greenwich. CSX cannot switch traffic entirely onto this line as it currently stands, as there is no access to Greenwich when approaching Philadelphia from the south. To solve this, part of this project could include the construction of a wye bridge (see: RBMN in Jim Thorpe) near Bartram's Garden to allow CSX to completely switch to the river line from the High Line. The only issue at this point would be the double stack cars clearing the tunnel under the Art Museum, but I am fairly certain that it is on their list of tunnels to be rebuilt following construction on the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore.
In addition, I think that it has become increasingly necessary to build out a Passyunk Avenue Spur from the Broad Street Line. The Airport Line (RR) is incredibly limited in potential, as all trains must go through Amtrak Dispatch before entering the line. I don't think it should be done away with entirely (quite the opposite, in fact), but I do think that there needs to be a better, more frequent connection to the Airport. The spur would branch off where the existing pre-built flying junction lies, and then take Passyunk/Essington to get to the Airport. There are already cities of comparable size that have multiple rail connections to their airports in this country, and I am sure that Philadelphia could warrant it.
Finally, the cancellation of the Roosevelt Boulevard Spur of the BSL remains a thorn in the city's side. Running the BSL up to at least the Northeast Airport would make sense (and even allow for Northeast Philly Airport to expand to become a second city commercial airport, should demand warrant). The MFL could be extended a few blocks north to meet this spur.
Note: I am not concerning myself with how this will be funded. This exists only in my mind, and my concerns at the moment are any operational, logistical, or logical problems that I am missing. There are plenty of other ideas too, though most aren't necessarily original or groundbreaking (Delaware Ave Light rail, Spring Garden Light Rail, etc).
The PRR High Line has been catching my eye since I was in high school, but especially since I began my time at Drexel. It would be the perfect candidate for conversion into a heavy rail line. I envision a line running from just north of ZOO (a connection with the 15, or soon to be G), south over the High Line to Arsenal, at which point it would take the bridge over the Schuylkill and either run under Washington Avenue (preferred alignment) or continue on the 25th Street Viaduct into South Philadelphia. Assuming an alignment under Washington Avenue, this hypothetical line would have direct connections to both the Market Frankford Line at Market and the Broad Street Line in South Philly. In addition, it would have indirect connections to SEPTA Regional Rail at both 30th Street and University City/Penn Medicine Station. A station could be constructed where Spring Garden currently runs under the High Line, giving access to the Art Museum and Powelton Village. This would also serve any future plans to cap Penn Coach Yard. The Zoo, University City, and South Philadelphia would become far better connected. The value of a network is the sum of its nodes, and this hypothetical would add at least two to the system. In addition, there is the potential of using the excess ROW on the Harrisburg Line west of ZOO to use this hypothetical subway line to completely replace the Cynwyd Line.
I realize that this idea has issues, the biggest being that CSX (or Conrail? Uncertain.) currently owns and frequently operates on the High Line. However, there is a parallel track on the opposite side of the river which also serves Eastside and Greenwich. CSX cannot switch traffic entirely onto this line as it currently stands, as there is no access to Greenwich when approaching Philadelphia from the south. To solve this, part of this project could include the construction of a wye bridge (see: RBMN in Jim Thorpe) near Bartram's Garden to allow CSX to completely switch to the river line from the High Line. The only issue at this point would be the double stack cars clearing the tunnel under the Art Museum, but I am fairly certain that it is on their list of tunnels to be rebuilt following construction on the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore.
In addition, I think that it has become increasingly necessary to build out a Passyunk Avenue Spur from the Broad Street Line. The Airport Line (RR) is incredibly limited in potential, as all trains must go through Amtrak Dispatch before entering the line. I don't think it should be done away with entirely (quite the opposite, in fact), but I do think that there needs to be a better, more frequent connection to the Airport. The spur would branch off where the existing pre-built flying junction lies, and then take Passyunk/Essington to get to the Airport. There are already cities of comparable size that have multiple rail connections to their airports in this country, and I am sure that Philadelphia could warrant it.
Finally, the cancellation of the Roosevelt Boulevard Spur of the BSL remains a thorn in the city's side. Running the BSL up to at least the Northeast Airport would make sense (and even allow for Northeast Philly Airport to expand to become a second city commercial airport, should demand warrant). The MFL could be extended a few blocks north to meet this spur.
Note: I am not concerning myself with how this will be funded. This exists only in my mind, and my concerns at the moment are any operational, logistical, or logical problems that I am missing. There are plenty of other ideas too, though most aren't necessarily original or groundbreaking (Delaware Ave Light rail, Spring Garden Light Rail, etc).
