I cannot understand why - if PA pays billions to widen highways, it seems pathetic that service has not been restored from Phila. to Reading, given the amount of car traffic congestion between those points. Could there not be a joint venture between NS and SEPTA, since the Reading was able to run freight and many passevger trains along the Main Line? My idea of a simple solution; All diesel - like the NJT run to AC. Run from 30th St. to the PRR Belmont Branch and onto Reading's Main Line. Make Bridgeport the 1st stop to serve Norristown customers and continue as usual to Franklin St., restoring the handful of parking lots and stations. Any thoughts or updates on this? How many more wasteful "feasability studies" do we need?
John Johnstone wrote:I cannot understand why - if PA pays billions to widen highways, it seems pathetic that service has not been restored from Phila. to Reading, given the amount of car traffic congestion between those points.1) If SEPTA cannot be bothered to create a realistic & useful service proposal,
2) If present "landlord" Norfolk Southern doesn't have their requirements met,
3) If there's no political will to fund all of the above,
...then no service. Surely that's simple to understand.
Could there not be a joint venture between NS and SEPTA,Such a joint venture could exist if both parties actually want to work together. So far that hasn't been proven.
since the Reading was able to run freight and many passevger trains along the Main Line?45+ years ago there was a LOT more triple- and quadruple-tracked sections of the Main Line. Today, it's nearly all double-track at best. That has to change before NS will agree to anything. That level of disinvestment in the infrastructure is likely the biggest obstacle to resuming passenger service to Reading.
My idea of a simple solution; All diesel - like the NJT run to AC. Run from 30th St. to the PRR Belmont Branch and onto Reading's Main Line. Make Bridgeport the 1st stop to serve Norristown customers and continue as usual to Franklin St., restoring the handful of parking lots and stations.Interesting notion you've proposed. I admit I'm troubled by the lack of a direct R6 connection at DeKalb St. Station, though.
How many bottlenecks exist on the first few miles of this route? That connection in the Zoo vicinity from Amtrak to NS is, IIRC, single track. Can it even be reached without fouling other moves thru ZOO from New York and Washington? There may be other congestion closer to Belmont as well. And can this gateway be reached from both the lower level and the upper level of 30th Street Station? Amtrak is not going to easily give up one of its lower level tracks during rush hour. Depending upon what kind of locomotives and cars you propose using, they may not clear the catenary wire under the platform canopies on the upper level.
It's worth exploring, though!
Any thoughts or updates on this? How many more wasteful "feasability studies" do we need?Until someone actually creates and then publicizes a workable plan, we don't need any feasibility studies. Once such a plan exists, then it can be examined by other parties to assess its congruence with existing operating realities and the necessity of paying for the whole thing. I'm very glad that DVARP put SEPTA's Schuylkill Valley Metro plan under a microscope. As taxpayers, we all should be.
I, too, would very much like Reading--Philadelphia passenger trains to return. It's been nearly 30 years since we lost them. But I don't want them "at any cost". The operating plan has to make sense before anyone is going to provide a nickel of funding -- minimizing interference with the line owner's freight trains, moving the most people for the lowest price, fast enough to compete with cars on Route 422, with enough service frequency to attract riders, and not cost half a billion dollars or more. That's asking a lot. I hope someone can find the best solution, if indeed a solution exists.