New user here, but have done a fair amount of research on this issue, including reading John Pawson's excellent book. I've also discussed rail restoration (primarily the R6/Reading) with my actual state legislator and staffers from Bob Casey's office and Jim Gerlach's. All 3 were very generous with their time and seemed interested that they actually heard from a constituent. They all expressed support for the rails but all said that, at least for the time being, our Federal government is not as generous with this type of funding (I guess Congress is too busy spending taxpayer money everywhere else but in our own country). There seems to be overwhelming support from the municipalities and the general public along the routes, and there seems to be bipartisan political support. As is typical of Pennsylvania, though, we can't seem to get out of our own way.
Does the R6 really need to go to Reading? While I think it's a great idea, service to Pottstown (20 miles past Norristown instead of 40) would push SEPTA all the way out to western exurbia at a greatly reduced cost. Does SEPTA really think the dual-mode locomotives purchased by NJT are "not proven technology" or is that simply their excuse to act in their typical one-horse, small-town fashion? The SVM seemed to be a bloated boondoggle and I don't blame the government for denying it but service via diesel to Pottstown seems very reasonable and would probably account for more than 50% of the increased ridership while only being 50% of the distance. In my first job I started with about 15 other kids out of college and 3 of us rode the R6 from Norristown to Center City (2 of us lived in Collegeville, the third lived in Pottstown, and had a parent who also worked in Center City). There absolutely exists a ridership for this line. In addition, imagine the private developers that would flock to build denser in Phoenixville, and imagine what could be done with the old Pennhurst Asylum, a mile from Royersford Station. But I digress - I don't need to convince the users of this website of the validity of passenger rail restoration. Of course you'd think more politicians would see the benefits of leveraging government spending to spur economic growth in previously distressed areas.
From what I've read Norfolk Southern's requirements are no liability for passengers, no impact on their schedules, and a user fee from SEPTA (these requirements all seem reasonable to me). Seems that if we stopped dreaming and started acting like the rail powerhouse we once were this could happen relatively painlessly. There's an estimate of $400 million to Reading that includes equipment procurement as well as station upgrades. Stopping, at least for now, at Pottstown, would lop off a huge portion of this price. Let's show success starting at Pottstown and spread the other money to other projects (see below).
As for Newtown and Quakertown, since the distances are shorter, can't they simply be electrified? This may also be the best option since there are not currently many diesel trains operating on these lines and they do cut through some fairly developed residential areas. It seems to me that the cost to electrify is about $25-$30 million per mile (someone who knows please tell me the correct amount). The Newtown extension is 15 miles and the Quakertown is 16. It appears these three long-overdue and much-needed projects could be done for less than 1/2 of the cost of the SVM, and this is over 10 years later.
I'm not trying to sound naive other regions in this country are seeing rail expansion - why can't we, especially considering the groundwork is already there.
Does the R6 really need to go to Reading? While I think it's a great idea, service to Pottstown (20 miles past Norristown instead of 40) would push SEPTA all the way out to western exurbia at a greatly reduced cost. Does SEPTA really think the dual-mode locomotives purchased by NJT are "not proven technology" or is that simply their excuse to act in their typical one-horse, small-town fashion? The SVM seemed to be a bloated boondoggle and I don't blame the government for denying it but service via diesel to Pottstown seems very reasonable and would probably account for more than 50% of the increased ridership while only being 50% of the distance. In my first job I started with about 15 other kids out of college and 3 of us rode the R6 from Norristown to Center City (2 of us lived in Collegeville, the third lived in Pottstown, and had a parent who also worked in Center City). There absolutely exists a ridership for this line. In addition, imagine the private developers that would flock to build denser in Phoenixville, and imagine what could be done with the old Pennhurst Asylum, a mile from Royersford Station. But I digress - I don't need to convince the users of this website of the validity of passenger rail restoration. Of course you'd think more politicians would see the benefits of leveraging government spending to spur economic growth in previously distressed areas.
From what I've read Norfolk Southern's requirements are no liability for passengers, no impact on their schedules, and a user fee from SEPTA (these requirements all seem reasonable to me). Seems that if we stopped dreaming and started acting like the rail powerhouse we once were this could happen relatively painlessly. There's an estimate of $400 million to Reading that includes equipment procurement as well as station upgrades. Stopping, at least for now, at Pottstown, would lop off a huge portion of this price. Let's show success starting at Pottstown and spread the other money to other projects (see below).
As for Newtown and Quakertown, since the distances are shorter, can't they simply be electrified? This may also be the best option since there are not currently many diesel trains operating on these lines and they do cut through some fairly developed residential areas. It seems to me that the cost to electrify is about $25-$30 million per mile (someone who knows please tell me the correct amount). The Newtown extension is 15 miles and the Quakertown is 16. It appears these three long-overdue and much-needed projects could be done for less than 1/2 of the cost of the SVM, and this is over 10 years later.
I'm not trying to sound naive other regions in this country are seeing rail expansion - why can't we, especially considering the groundwork is already there.
