Irish Chieftain wrote:RDGAndrew wrote:
I really don't feel too bad about the lack of trains in the shed when I'm there
How about the lack of trains bound for Reading, Newtown, Bethlehem et al two floors down? Reading Terminal used to host trains going to New York, itself...now for trains bound for there, you have to ride three stops westwards, get off, and go two floors down to another operator...
The Pennsy always had the better ROW into NYC, the B&O/Reading/CNJ routing would only appeal to railfans these days. Once the railroads around here were unified, what organization would pass up a through-running 125mph electrified, 100% grade separated ROW which hits Trenton, Princeton and New Brunswick on it's way into NYC for one which terminates here in Philly, is non-electrified, non grade separated, and follows a somewhat roundabout way into a terminal across the Hudson from NYC? The only way the Reading and it's terminal could have survived would have been if the subsidized competition of the highways and airlines hadn't made their long distance passenger services unprofitable. However, we did blow billions on the highways and true to darwinian form when unification came the railroad which had devoted a greater capital budget to it's infrastructure came out with the remaining intercity trains. Reading Terminal was doomed from the moment Amtrak, SEPTA and Conrail were formed, it just took a few years to realize that. There can be no doubt that SEPTA is better off with Reading Terminal stricken from it's system and the Center City Tunnel replacing it, 'lost' diesel services or no. If SEPTA actually cared about Newtown they could have easily electrified it, and a Swampoodle or Ivy Ridge connection would allow trains from Quakertown or Reading into 30th St lower level. We have lost little operational capability that Reading Terminal gave us, and have theoretically gained far greater utilization of commuter equipment than the terminal would ever have allowed (it must be allowed that SEPTA's management of the CCT is somewhat lacking). Overall Market East and the CCT can only be ruled a success when weighed against what would have been the no-build option in the 1980s, it is perhaps the greatest success SEPTA or the City of Philadelphia have been party to in the past 50 years.
If you're so desperate to have some form of LD service to NYC from Center City just get Amtrak some cab cars for the Keystone Corridor and run the Keystones or the soon-to-be-departed Clockers into Suburban Station. SEPTA has the track space on the four terminal tracks at peak hours, they just have to send the Cynwyd branch somewhere useful on the Reading side of the CCT (like Fox Chase). And the current switching of the Cynwyd branch shows that SEPTA has few problems crossing a train over all four tracks outside Suburban, so there's really no excuse other than bureaucratic nonsense. There's little reason Amtrak cannot have a small pair of ticket windows and maybe 4 Quik Trak machines sitting in the concourse at Suburban. It'd take a bit of work at 30th St Station for SEPTA and Amtrak to convince their riders that the Keystones would be arriving on the upper level mixed in with R5s, R6s, R7s and R8s, but in the end it'd likely be a worthwhile use of time. The removal of the Clockers and a change in terminal for the Keystones would have the benefit of possibly allowing NJT or SEPTA greater access to 30th St Station Lower Level. This, coupled with an Ivy Ridge connector means that SEPTA would at least potentially have the means to bring peak hour trains to Quakertown and Reading to the edge of Center City, utilizing the former slots at 30th St LL's tracks 8, 9, and 10, where the Clockers, Keystones and ACL trains frequently turn.
