Home
»
Trains Magazine
»
Forums
»
Passenger
»
Another train to be add between Pittsburgh and NYC?

Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="alphas"] Everyone: The problem with the PA scenario that Sam1 talks about is that the local bus company runs a bunch of direct service buses out of State College on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, plus a bunch of inbounds on Fridays and Sundays during the two Fall and the Winter/Spring semesters.   These are heavily (and almost totally) used by students.  They are non-stop to King of Prussia, then on to Philly, non-stop to Baltimore (via I-83), then on to DC, and non-stop to Monroeville, then on to Pittsburgh.   There is also daily non-stop service from State College to NYC by a Chinese bus company via I-80 which only takes 4 and 1/2 hours or even less if the traffic into NYC is light.   The prices charged are less than even subsidized Amtrak service can compete with and no way can Amtrak currently compete with the time schedules.    Plus the bus stops at King of Prussia and Monroeville are extremely popular and can't be matched by Amtrak.    The one area where a train/bus connection can play a role is at Harrisburg where the Keystone trains servicing Lancaster and all the other towns along the Harrisburg to Philly route can generate passengers since the buses and Amtrak share the Harrisburg station.  I believe, but am not totally sure, that there is one non-stop bus out of State College to Harrisburg on Friday afternoon and one non-stop bus from Harrisburg to State College on Sunday evening that does just that already.   (The normal bus service is several locals a day each way between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, via State College and Altoona, and serving all stops in between the terminals.) One of the problems which no one has mentioned so far is that the highway distance between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh is 30 miles or so shorter than the rail service plus all the rail speed restrictions due to the Horseshoe Curve and the mountain running in general.   And rail is competing with the 65 mph PA Turnpike. Finally, as I have posted several times over the last 3 years, the original PA high speed rail commission "way back when" said that any right of way should go through State College.  However, it recommended against building it since the Pittsburgh end was judged too small in population anymore to justify any hope that "true" high speed rail could come anywhere close to at least breaking even on operating expenses.  (Plus every state legislator wanted it to stop in her/his district so it wouldn't be high speed.)    The now deceased first chairman unofficially and years ago told me the only way he saw "true" east-west high speed rail maybe having a chance was to have frequent service start in NYC , then on to Philly with only a stop in Newark, then on to Pittsburgh with stops in Harrisburg and State College (probably only some of the trains would stop in State College), then on to Indianapolis via Columbus and Dayton, and then on to Chicago--with maybe a line added later to St. Louis from Indianapolis and a line from Harrisburg to Baltimore and DC.  Sound familar?  Its basically the old PRR without the Pittsburg to Chicago direct route and with the bottlenecks removed such as the entrances into 30th St and Baltimore stations from the west.   He thought it might work if the trains could average around 180-200 mph traveling between the cities and avoiding other "political" stops.    However, you have to keep in mind that his discussion with me took place before the rise of the "discount' airlines and their effect on air travel and air fares.[/quote] The Amtrak study recommend that the PADOT look at the possibility of Thruway buses connecting with the frequent Keystone trains at Harrisburg.  Whether there would be enough traffic to justify frequent buses from Harrisburg to State College would have to be determined.  Greyhound has two buses each way per day between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh via State College, Altoona, etc.  It also has one or two others that run non-stop via the turnpike. I drove the turnpike from Harrisburg to Altoona several times this summer.  Most of the traffic was clipping along north of 70 mph.  Motorists in Pennsylvania appear to pay as little attention to the speed limits as motorists in Texas.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag